Month: June 2023

The early birds today, Susan R and Karina who teed off at 7am were seen and heard coming down the path from the 18th with a 2 hour 44 minute round of golf under their belt! Very impressive!

The weather was a change from what we had come to expect! Umbrellas were up! There was a comment how still it was to start with moody backdrops over the Firth of Forth and Fife. It was a different story a bit later as the wind got up, trolleys were seen flying off in different directions with various players haring after them at great pace, whilst their playing partners were looking for lost balls, oblivious to the commotion!

Sarah L had seven keen members sign up for the 9 hole Stableford at Wee Braids, running in tandem with our June Extra Medal. Possibly several of those who played in the 18 hole competition would have preferred to have entered a Stableford as it was one of those days!

Walking into the coffee stop at the Braids Starters Building afterwards there was much ado about everything! Talk of an unruly dog wandering across various fairways with their owner shouting excuses for their behaviour, a greenkeeper planning on moving the red tee positions during the competition, Tricia uttering lots of sweary words due to her 5 off the tee at 14th, Catherine disbelieving that her ball could land in the gorse and not drop to the ground and our Captain hitting the marker post at the 18th with inaudible chunters emanating from that area!

Maxi spotted a deer galloping across the 16th fairway and Fi pointed out a Murder of Crows at the first hole. Maybe the rain had brought them out? Never seen so many of them before!

What about today’s golf? Karina eagled the 5th, Susan R got a 2 at the 17th, Mandy birdied the 6th, Sarah L birdied the 1st and the 16th, Jaci birdied the 7th and 16th and Lesley birdied the 7th. The Extra June Medal was won by Diane with a net 70 with Maxi one shot back with a net 71. Sarah L got the Scratch with a 79. Well done to you all!

On Wee Braids, congratulations go to Elaine who was today’s winner with 15 points just ahead of Zandra with 14 points. It was good to see Kirstin back playing again and by all accounts she enjoyed her round. As has been mentioned before, Wee Braids isn’t easy and so the first par scored(by Gail) was met with great excitement! Well done Mairi for hitting a great tee shot at the 9th which landed very close to the pin!

Thanks to Lesley who was the competition organiser today.

It was a busy day for golf for some today, in particular Susan Randall, who played early at the Braids in today’s competition, then headed to Dundas Parks for the R&A 9 hole competition partnered by Diane and then this evening she was playing at Turnhouse in their Championship. Not sure anyone can beat that!

The Championship Qualifier is always an exciting day and there was a good number signed up for it. The day was perfect so no excuses! Eileen was delighted to shoot a gross 78 with an 8 on her card! There were 2 twos with one at the 9th by Sarah L and one at 13th from Susan R. Very well done!

The ball was travelling further than of late as the ground was so dry. It was noticeable that several gorse bushes had been cut back, not a bad thing! Lovely to spot a young deer at the 15th tee and a weasel(?) bolt across the fairway before we teed off.

Top of the leaderboard today with a gross 76 were Louise and Sarah L. Great scoring!
Eileen was next with a 78, Mandy 82, Anne 84, JRT 84, our newbie Catherine who was keen to crack the Braids with 86 (think she just has!) and 8th qualifier, Viv C with an 87. It’s definitely going to be exciting!

On another course (Dundas Parks) Karina (who has decided that a 9 hole competition is much more to her liking!) had qualified a few weeks ago at Wee Braids in the R&A 9 hole competition with her playing partner Bev. They were playing early with 2 very pleasant chaps, Jock and Patrick from Pitlochry who were very encouraging to play alongside. Anyway still awaiting official confirmation on their joint score of 37 points but reckon they could be second qualifiers to go to Hoylake on 14th July. Will keep you posted.

Wishing all the Championship qualifiers the very best!

It was lovely to see Jane back from Switzerland for a few days and have her sign up for the June Stableford. There seemed to be an abundance of greenkeepers today or maybe it was the same one popping up all over the course! Anyway at the 4th hole Jane’s ball was on the green in two,lying close to the hole. As she walked towards the ball, the greenkeeper called to her that he was just about to move the hole! She had a moment of panic and then realised he was being funny! Luckily for him she got the birdie!

Provisional balls are always a good idea at the Braids, what with the gorse acting like a ball magnet and using a 3 minute timer on your watch is a must to keep everyone moving. Violet had a couple of rather odd red golf balls in her bag(a Christmas present from her husband)that she was intent on losing and was delighted as she did!
Some of the greens were being watered today and so a few shots from the fringe required a bit more imagination than usual to get them up to the hole. Putting favoured the brave.

Looking over to the 6th green we could see Fi and Maggie on the green and heard clapping from the greenkeeper. On closer inspection he wasn’t, unfortunately, clapping a putt dropping but he was in fact, trying to chase the crows attempting to steal his lunch from his buggy parked at the side of the green!

At the 12th tee after we drove off, another greenkeeper told us that he had heard the most absurd excuse for a bad drive that he’d ever heard from a chap playing earlier. He had lamented that the birds were singing too loudly!

The guys at Braids United were once again so hospitable, dishing up a choice of either fish or vegetable soup with a scone and soft drink for the bargain price of £5! Some of us were introduced for the first time to the interesting combo of cheese and jam in a scone - yum!
Sarah L arrived in time to join us for lunch having just played a golf tie elsewhere and was getting ready, to play again in the Stableford with the later group. Maggie, competition organiser once again, had a working lunch with her laptop, logging the scores as they came in.

There were 17 scores tightly packed with a score of 30 plus. The winner this week with 39 points was Maxi with the Runner up with 36 points was Sarah L. Well done!