Tankard Qualifier

Round One of the Tankard Qualifier takes place on Sat 3rd May. If you have not already done so, sign in at the club. Draw will be made Thursday, and posted Thursday evening both on the web and at the club. This competition is not drawn in Handicap Order.

Video Tips on Demand

In addition to the Joe Beck tips on the left, every so often we'll through up a little video tip from eleswhere on the Web, aimed strictly at us amateurs. Hope you enjoy them, feedback is always welcome, and if there are any specific tips you'd like to see up, let the blog team know, and we'll see what we can do!

72 Hole Competition - Round 2 (Part 2)

With the competition running over 4 rounds we thought it would be good to have a single post showing the running scores for the Top Ten Gross and Nett Scores, so here we go:

Top Ten Gross

1. Mark Scott 73 75 - Total 148
2. Scott Robertson 80 73 - Total 153
3. Lee Bushby 81 73 - Total 154
3. Iain Butchart 79 75 - Total 154
5. Craig McKenna 76 84 - Total 160
6. Ian Scott 85 82 - Total 167
6. Brian McGowan 80 87 - Total 167
8. Sandy Robertson 84 85 - Total 169
9. Matt Bell (Jnr) 92 78 - Total 170
9. Jack Scott 85 85 - Total 170

Top Ten Nett

1. Lee Bushby 74 66 - Total 140
1. Mark Scott 69 71 - Total 140
3. Iain Butchart 73 69 - Total 142
4. P Barnett 76 70 - Total 146
5. I Clark 75 73 - Total 148
5. Brian McGowan 70 78 - Total 148
7. I Scott 76 73 - Total 149
7. Sandy Robertson 74 75 - Total 149
9. Craig McKenna 71 79 - Total 150
10. A Aird 80 71 - Total 151
10. SA Robertson 79 72 - Total 151

So there we have it, halfway through and still very tight in both categories, so all to play for.

Final Two Rounds on the 24th and 25th May.

72 Hole Competition - Round 2 (Part 1)

What a wonderful day the weather forecasters missed out on when forecasting rain for the weekend. And what a great day for scoring in the second round of the competition. With some excellent scores all round it was Lee Bushby who took the honours with lowest Gross and Nett scores of 73 and 66 respectively. Well done Lee.

Round 2 Placings

1. Lee Bushby - Nett 66
2. Iain Butchart - Nett 69
3. Matt Bell (Jnr) - Nett 70
3. P Barnett - Nett 70

Handicap Reductions.

Matt Bell - New Playing Handicap of 7
P Barnett - New Playing Handicap of 12
L Bushby - New Playing Handicap of 6

Handicap Up-Revisions.

W McGregor - New Playing Handicap of 13

2's

Lee Bushby had a 2 at the 4th and Alistair Aird had 2's at both the 4th and the 6th.

72 Hole Competition - Round One

The BBC said rain, STV said heavy showers, Radio Tay said a lot of things totally unintelligible to anyone outside the Fair City, however, dull as it was in the morning for the early risers, conditions improved to T-shirt weather for some in the afternoon! Despite the differing conditions the top ten places after the first round were evenly split between those who played in the drizzle and those who had it a little bit fairer. Overall Winner of the Round One Sweep was Mark Scott with an excellent Gross score of 73 for a Nett of 69.

The Top Ten Nett Scores after Round One:

1. Mark Scott - 69
2. Brian McGowan - 70
3. Craig McKenna - 71
3. Gus Miller - 71
5. Iain Butchart - 73
6. Lee Bushby - 74
6. Sandy Robertson - 74
8. Ian Clark - 75
8. Fergus Martin - 75
8. Brian Jackson - 75

With another ten players within 3 shots of the Top Ten, there are sure to be some twists and turns in this event in the next three rounds.

Handicap Changes.

The following Handicap Reductions will only affect the Master Handicap Record and will not be in use during the remaining rounds of this competition. All players are to continue to use the Handicap allocated to them at the beginning of Round One, even in the unlikely event of the system being wrong!

Gus Miller - New Playing Handicap - 10
Brian McGowan - New Playing Handicap - 9

The above statement also applies to Up-Revisions after Round One.

Alfie Dochertty - New Playing Handicap of 13

2's

2's were recorded by Gus Miller and Mark Scott at the 6th and Craig McKenna on bothe the 4th and 6th. Well done.

Round Two - Sun 27th April. Can the bodies take any more?

Bell Trophy v Blairgowrie

At 5 o'clock on Friday night, the rain began to fall on Strathmore Golf Course and what had been a pleasant day looked as if it was going to take a nasty turn for the evening. Not at all promising conditions for the team selected to play in the Bell Trophy match against Blairgowrie, Iain "El Capitano" Butchart, Sammy "Das Englander" Bolderson, Derek "Oh, Matron" Gordon, Fergus "The Invisible Man" Martin and Eric "Steak Pie with Guinness, easy on the steak" Gray.

The rain eased after an hour however and a pleasant evenings golf was enjoyed by most. Iain, for the first time in living memory actually receiving shots, managed to eke a half out of the Blairgowrie Scratch man, Sammy and Derek both losing out before Fergus soldiered in with another half, and Eric going down 2 and 1 in the last match. All however enjoyed the matches which could all have gone either way, except possibly Sammy, who's cold appeared to have gotten worse by the time the match finished!

Once again, thanks to Dave and the staff for the hospitality after the event, which as always was well appreciated by the visitors.

72 Hole Competition Rounds 1 and 2

The draw for the first two rounds of the above competition take place on Sat 26th and Sun 27th April are as follows:

Round 1 - Sat 26th April

AM

0800: SA Robertson, M Scott (ER) & L Bushby
0807: K Band, G Miller (ER) & R Miller (ER)
0815: B McGowan , B Jackson & C Davidson (ER)
0822: Mike Bell, A Docherty & A Valentine (ER)
0830: R Howkins, G Ironside & M Melville
0837: I Clark, I Gall & C Fairweather
0845: I Stewart, D McDonald & C Long (FH)
0852: S Schofield, D Findlay & I Long (FH)

PM

1300: C McKenna, I Butchart & J Scott
1307: D Gillespie, S Thomson & Matt Bell (Jnr)
1315: M Tinker, I Scott & A Aird
1322: S Robertson, G Martin (Jnr) & R Michie
1330: E Ritchie, W McGregor & P Barnett
1337: J Morrison, F Moran & F Martin
1345: M Truswell, R Tinker (Jnr) & D Thomson
1352: C Thoms, E Gray & FJ Moran (Jnr)

Round 2 - Sun 27th April

AM

0800: M Scott (ER), S Thomson & B McGowan
0807: B Jackson, Mike Bell & C Davidson (ER)
0815: R Howkins, M Melville & I Clark
0822: I Gall, S Schofield & D Thomson

PM

1200: SA Robertson, C McKenna & I Butchart
1207: J Scott, D Gillespie & Matt Bell (Jnr)
1215: I Scott, A Aird & S Robertson
1222: R Michie, E Ritchie & W McGregor
1230: P Barnett, J Morrison & K MacLeod
1237: F Moran, F Martin & M Truswell
1245: C Thoms, E Gray & FJ Moran
1252: L Bushby (LR) & L Duncan (LR)

ER - Early Request, LR - Late Request, FH - For Handicap

It is accepted that many competitors will be unable to play in all four rounds, however entry fees are required from all competitors, no matter how many rounds they take part in. Only one entry fee is required, payable when a player takes part in this event for the first time. All monies are to be deposited in the Gent's box prior to taking to the course.

72 Hole Competition

The newest event in the calendar, the 72 Hole Competition starts this weekend, with the 1st round being played on Saturday and the 2nd on Sunday. The final two rounds will be played on the weekend of 24th/25th May. If you think you are up to the challenge, get your names on the sign in sheet before Thursday. This certainly looks to be an interesting event.

Summer Competitions

The completion date for the first round ties for both Singles and Doubles Knock-out competitions is currently set as 27th April. This has been extended to Sun 11th May due to the clash with the first two rounds of the 72 Hole Competition. The second two rounds of this competition also fall on the same day as the completion date for the second rounds, however there will be no further extensions to this date. Challengers are to ensure that these ties are played before that date.

F Martin
Comps Sec

Problem Solved!

Full results sheets for the April Medal are now displayed on the Notice Board in the Gent's Changing Room. Below are details of 2's and handicaps for this event.

Handicap Reductions

Ian Scott, New Playing Handiap of 9
Rory Tinker, New Playing Handicap of 21

Handicap Up-Revisions

Brian McGowan, New Playing handicap of 10
M Hill, New Playing Handicap of 20

2's Scored

Lee Bushby and Parker Crockart at the 6th and Mark Tinker at the 4th.

April Medal Results

An abbreviated results board for the April Medal due to some technical issues. Scores and handicap reductions/up revisions have not yet been published in the clubhouse, however we can currently provide you with the final placings.

1st. Ian Scott with a Nett 70
2nd. Mark Scott with a Nett 71
3rd. Rory Tinker with a Nett 71
4th. Matthew Bell with a Nett 71
5th. Craig McKenna with a Nett 73

Well done Ian on winning the first medal of the year, and again we have a couple of the young guns making their mark, congrats Rory and Matt.

Collins Trophy

The Collins Trophy Mixed doubles event takes place on Sunday 20th April. Pairings and timings are as follows:

12.00: A Grewar & D Norman - B Buckett & M Truswell

12.07: R Fraser & G Gray - L & G Haynes

12.15: M & S McDiarmid - P & C Tinker

12.22: J Groom & C Brand - C McNab & K Macleod

12.30: M & S Robertson - S & L Bushby

12.37: G Allardice & D Gillespie - J & M Menzies

12.45: K Finlay & P Simpson - R McGeoghegan & C Davidson

12.52: J Griffiths & D Douglas - J Thomson & A Christie

13.00: M West & P Barnett - S & R Peacock

13.07: J & I Taylor - D & I Butchart

Format – four ball better ball Stableford

Gents - White tees – ¾ handicap

Ladies – Red tees – handicap +1 then ¾ handicap

Both ladies and gents use ladies stroke index.

April Medal

A couple of minor changes have been made to the original draw due to someones inability to read the handwriting of the drawmaster, and a case of carpool chaos! Please recheck the post below for updated timings.

April Medal

The first Medal Competition of the season takes place on Sat 19th April. The draw is as follows:

Early Risers:

0800: M Scott, G McDonald & L Bushby
0807: L Duncan, K Band & I Gray
0815: B McGowan, B Jackson & G Millar
0822: Mike Bell, G Hunter & R Millar
0830: B Simpson, A Docherty & R Milligan
0837: G Ironside, C Davidson & M Melville
0845: I Stewart, N Colville & M Grieve
0852: J Wood , A Blair & I Clark
0900: C Fairweather, S Schofield & A Jones
0907: P Crockart, P Simpson & A Valentine
0915: M Hill, D McDonald, C McDonald & D Findlay

Lunchers

1200: I Butchart & D Gillespie
1207: G McKenna, S Thompson & S Bolderson
1215: J Scott, M Tinker & Matt Bell
1222: G Martin, I Scott & A Aird
1230: S Robertson, P Barnett & W McGregor
1237: E Ritchie, R Michie & D Gordon
1245: DM Alexander, G Haynes & J Buttar
1252: J Morrison, F Moran & F Martin
1300: M Truswell, G Brand & C Thoms
1307: A Ross, E Gray & R Tinker

Another good sized field, lets hope the weather holds!

Strathmore v Taymouth Castle

Having arranged to have all four seasons, the hailstorm was a particularly effective touch, in the same day, Iain Butchart led a willing band into battle against Taymouth Castle. A close encounter with many of the matches nip and tuck saw Strathmore emerge as 4-2 winners. A big thanks to Pete Barnett for coming to the rescue at the last minute to replace Lewis.

So well done Pete Barnett and Eric Ritchie, Iain and Ken, Grant and Graeme, Derek and Sammy, Fergus and Peter Simpson, Frank and Eric Gray.

Parker Mk 2 or Just Another Hoax

Rumour has it, that the indomitable Parker Crockart has a challenger for the "lets see how far out we can Putt from" title. It has been reported that one Mike O'Toole was spotted going to the driving range armed with only a putter, and when questioned, merely tapped his nose and smiled. A singular sighting of Mike approaching the 18th reports that from at least 75 yards out, the trusty stick got the airing the range practice had hoped for, drilling the back of the hole in fine fashion.

Now, here at the blog, we are not so sure, as we reckon the "supergrass" may not yet have moved over to decimilastion and that he actually meant to say 7.5 feet, so we look to you the reader to verify, whether Cloning has arrived in Strathmore with a new Parker, or whether a good story is getting in the way of the truth.

Spring Meeting Results

A very successful Spring meeting saw 63 players tee-off on what turned out to a fair, well for Strathmore, day, whilst the wind when it was up, managed to calm down the scoring. At the end of it all, Winter League specialist Ray Michie emerged victorious overall, whilst Iain Butchart shot the lowest Gross score. Well done to both.

Final Placings:

1st. Ray Michie with a Nett 70
2nd. Iain Butchart with a Nett 71
3rd. Dave Findlay with a Nett 71

2's

A few 2's were recorded this week, so well done, Gus Miller, Brian Jackson, Craig McKenna, Lee Bushby, Alistair Aird and Fred Barber.

Handicaps.

No Handicap reductions this week, however the following were revised upwards.

FJ Moran. New Playing Handicap of 26
F Martin. New Playing handicap of 17
R Howkins. New Playing Handicap of 12
K Taylor. New Playing Handicap of 9
G Dolby. New Playing Handiap of 13
C Davidson. New Playing Handicap of 14

There have been some great fields so far this year, so remember to keep your diaries free on the weekends and keep on turning out!

Wednesday Competitions

Due to full time work commitments of members of the Gent’s Committee, the issuing of prize money from Wednesday competitions will now be issued at the weekend once the weekend competition has finished.

This will allow the Competition Secretary to issue both prize funds at the same time and will avoid a possible delay in the issuing of prize monies when the Competition Secretary is unavailable.

Lewis Duncan
Gent’s Captain

US Masters 2008

The Masters got underway today. Click on the PGA or BBC links to keep up to date with the scoreboard.

Spring Meeting

66 Golfers will tee-off on Saturday for the Spring Meeting, which is another great turn-out Hopefully Spring will have sprung by then! Tee times are as follows:

Early Risers

0800: M Bell and G Miller
0807: D McDonald, M Scott and R Howkins
0815: C Fairweather, M Grieve and I Gall
0822: S Schofield, B Simpson and P Arkell
0830: B McGowan, I Stewart and R Miller
0837: G Hunter, M Tinker and G Ironside
0845: GS Allan, K McLeod and A Jones
0852: K Band, R Milligan and A Docherty
0900: P Simpson, G McDonald and B Jackson
0907: D Gordon, M O'Toole and I Gray
0915: R Tinker, K Taylor and N Miller
0922: I Clark, L Bushby and P Crockart
0930: M Melville, J Wood and AM Blair

Late Starters:

1200: A Aird, F Moran and R Michie
1207: E Gray, DM Alexander and F Barber
1215: F Martin, D Gillespie and DJ Alexander
1222: S Thomson, P Tinker and D Findlay
1230: FJ Moran, J Morrison and E Ritchie
1237: P Barnett, I Butchart and J Scott
1245: G Haynes, A Hughes and A Ross
1252 C McKenna, G Dolby and R Peacock
1300: J Menzies, J Davidson, C Davidson and M Truswell

Remember to ensure that you have completed the sign-in sheet and deposited full payment in the Gents Box prior to going on the course.

Have a good one Gents.

Hall of Fame Qualifier

There are days when mastering the conditions are more difficult than mastering the course. So it was on the 5th April as the competitors teed up for the Hall of Fame Qualifier. The course was looking in good nick, the greens were slick and the wind howled in from many different directions at once. Apparently there is some-one who competed still walking around in a daze after standing on the 4th tee and upon looking to the left saw that the flags on the clubhouse were allegedly blowing from left to right, but when looking at the green ahead, is utterly convinced the flag was blowing right to left. The committee may have to be asked to look into the gentleman's medication dosages. (The doctors reckon I'll be fine in a couple of days!)

Results.

1. Rory Tinker with a Nett score of 71
2. Fergus Martin with a Nett score of 73
3. Ray Michie with a nett score of 74
4. Alfie Docherty with a Nett score of 74

Congratulations then to Rory on winning todays event, all the more so, as Rory is one of 5 of our Junior boys who took part. Unfortunately as Rory is a Junior Member, he cannot be put forward to the Regional Qualifier, and so Fergus will represent the club.

Handicap Reductions. The following players will be reduced as a result of this event:

Rory Tinker - New Playing Handicap of 24
Fergus Martin - New Playing Handicap of 16
Charlie Davidson - New Playing Handicap of 13

2's

Derek Gordon and Neil Colville both managed 2's during this event

This being a charity event, a grand sum of £116 was raised from entry fees from the field. Thanks to you all.

Hall of Fame Medal Qualifier

The Hall of Fame Medal Qualifier will take place on Sat 5th April. Entry has now closed and the draw for play is as follows:

Early Starters

0800: Mike Bell, J Morrison & M Melville
0807: T Ogg, G Millar & C Thoms
0815: K Taylor, M Scott & A Jones
0822: R Milligan, P Arkell & A Docherty
0830: P Simpson, G Ironside & N Colville
0837: M Hill, C McDonald & M Grieve
0845: A Ramsay, B Simpson & Ray Miller
0852: M Tinker, M O'Toole & L Bushby
0900: GS Allan, R Tinker & I Stewart
0907: S Schofield, A King, I Gall & K McLeod

Afternoon Starters

1200: D Gordon, E Ritchie & F Moran
1207: R Michie, DJ Alexander & W McGregor
1215: G Martin, M Truswell & D Gillespie
1222: J Scott, C McKenna & Matt Bell
1230: DM Alexander, D Robinson & C Brand
1237: AM Blair, J Wood & I Scott
1245: N Miller, A Easton & P Crockart
1252: G Haynes, F Barber (FH)* & FJ Moran
1300: I Butchart, S Thomson (FH)* & F Martin
1307: P Barnett, C Davidson, A Ross & B Morrison (FH)*

*FH denotes For Handicap.

Best of Luck to all those taking part.

Match v Taymouth Castle

The first Gents match of the season will take place on Sunday 13th April at Strathmore. The following willing volunteers have been paired together:

1. Lewis Duncan & Eric Ritchie
2. Ian Butchart & Ken McLeod
3. Derek Gordon & and Graeme Hunter
4. Grant Martin & Sammy Bolderson
5. Fergus Martin & Peter Simpson
6. Eric Gray & Frank Moran

Reserves:

Charlie Davidson

All players should be at the Club by 1130 for a 1200 start. Players are requested to confirm their availability on the sheet currently displayed on the Notice Board. If you are willing to add your name to the Reserve List please do so on the same sheet

Gents Summer Knockout Competitions

Its that time of year again, when the Comps Sec loses even more hair, and uses up even more of the "leettle grey cells" in making the draws for the three Summer Competitions. With fantastic turnouts for all three events, the draws will be posted in the clubhouse shortly. We wish everyone taking part the best of luck, and I'm sure there will be some tales of glory, and of woe, published on this page in the near future.