December 1st 2007
PAT & PETER CAP FINE WEEK
Unlike their team, who left it until the last possible minute to claim another European scalp through the week, Peter Grant & Pat Aird went out last Saturday morning and quickly killed off any opposition with a stunning display of golf. Shooting a nett 36 (7 under par) the rest of the field were left to play for the minor points as the weather worsened, and the afternoon participants, in the main, lost heart. Peter is no stranger to the winners’ rostrum, having triumphed previously in both summer and winter competition. Pat is in his first winter league season, having “earned” his card at the end of the summer, and is picking up his clubs again competitively, for the first time since participating as a junior some, oooh, ten years ago (?).Having seen their handicap reduced by one stroke, they will still be very competitive, and will appear in the points again before the end of the league. Peter working offshore is the main obstacle to their sustaining a challenge.
George MacAskill & Jamie Duncan as well as the two Georges, Mould and MacLeod shot excellent nett 38’s scoring 11 points each. This was the latter’s first scoring points, but sees the former move ominously into the top 5 , eleven shots adrift of leaders Murdo& Magnus Johnson, but still with a handicap of six. Could they be the main challengers to the twins, who squeezed just a point, despite breaking par gross and nett? They maintain their lead, with Ali Nicolson & Al”Greens”MacLeod moving into 2nd spot by virtue of their fine nett 40 for six points. Also scoring 6 points were Donnie Murray & Duncan MacLean and Murdo’s, O’Brien and Fraser. Claiming 8 points on their own, and sandwiched between the aforementioned teams were D.J.MacLeod & Andrew Reeves.
The junior section continues to thrive, and young Kevin Gillies claimed top points at the weekend with a fine nett level par 43. Kevin has been competing since only July, and with three runners up finishes to his credit before the summer season ended, he will be delighted with this, his first win. Leader at this stage is the ever improving Kenny MacLeod. Reducing his handicap by 10 and winning no fewer than six times over the summer, he is keeping at bay “seasoned” junior campaigners, Scott and Stuart MacAulay.
News from the senior section from my “correspondent”
Relatively calm conditions throughout the week saw several scores breaking the par mark of 24 points. Best of the bunch was 28 points from Norrie Munro, with Harris MacKenzie (27 pts) and Robbie MacRae (26 pts) winning the sweeps on Wednesday and Friday respectively. Robbie played the first half of the course in level par (gross) and displayed a standard of golf that is not natural for a man approaching his 70th birthday.
Lest anyone be under the illusion that such good scores are greeted with cries of “Congratulations” or “Well Done, Old Chap” from the Bodach’s Corner of the club house, let us put the record straight. These occasions generally give rise to dark mutterings about bandits and the inadequacies of the handicapping system. On the other side of the coin, a dreadful round doesn’t get you any sympathy either.
Just in case anyone might derive some satisfaction from a good score, Dixie MacLean is working on a complicated handicap system, only comprehensible to those familiar with sheep subsidy forms that is designed to penalise any senior golfer living east of Cameron Terrace.
Rudhachs are likely to be particularly disadvantaged.
Henk Graauwmans was being treated with reverence and respect in the clubhouse this week. You have to hand it to a man with the ability to split the head of a Lynx driver straight down the middle.
A gentle reminder. The senior’s Summer League prizegiving is being held in the Committee Room at 5pm on Friday 7th December. Details are on the notice board.
Looking back over the summer scores, and with a huge thank-you to Dave Gilmour, our Match & Handicap secretary, whose records made this possible; we can all see how our “best” scorecard would have looked, had we been able to “keep” our best score at each of the18 holes for 2007 summer season. This is what is known as “eclectic” scoring. The dictionary definition is below, but in essence it shows us all what is possible as we strive for that “perfect” round.
Eclectic Golf scores…An eclectic, or eclectic tournament, is a multi-round golf tournament that results in one 18-hole score per player. The lowest of each round's scores per hole are recorded on one scorecard and turned in as the final score. An eclectic can be a stand-alone event contested over consecutive days, or it can be a tournament that runs concurrently, over longer time periods, with other, unrelated tournaments.
As we have a par of 68, and considering a birdie a hole is our starting “target”, then 18-under is as good as we should reasonably expect it to get. Or is it?
We have two par 5’s, therefore we might consider a three (an eagle) as “achievable” until you consider the 11th, the formidable “Dardanelles”, has only seen this feat three, (or is it four?) times, in competition, ever. We also have several driveable par fours (for the bigger hitters); therefore, again, you might expect that the possible eclectic score might be lower. Long hitting however, is not a measure of ability, though our better golfers can give the ball a good “whack”. Lower than 18 below par may well be achievable over the course of a career for our more accomplished golfers, but over a season to manage a score of 18-under is good shooting indeed. So good in fact, it was only managed by one player. David Black. One shot back were a posse of five of the most accomplished golfers in the club, Andy MacDonald, Norrie”Onions”MacDonald, Cal Robertson, Neil Rowlands and Murdo O’Brien, on 16 under (alone) was Norrie”T”MacDonald, proving even a hacker can “cut it” over a season (but seldom in the same round) and a further shot adrift on 15 under were the consistent Alasdair Henderson and Ali”Greens” Macleod. To find out how everyone scored, you can find these and many other interesting, if not so flattering, statistics at http://www.stornowaygolfclub.co.uk/latestnews.htm
Some interesting figures from the eclectic scores show that young Mr Black did not birdie the 1st ( Castle) or 15th ( Ditch) in competition all season , but eagled both the 5th ( Heather) and the 13th ( Cabarfeidh). His 2 on the 5th being the only one recorded all season. There were two eagles on the difficult 12th ( Ranol) , bagged by Cal Robertson and Michael Smith, several on the 6th ( Memorial) but no holes-in-one, anywhere, for the first season for a while.
The best outward 9 scores were by Murdo O’Brien and Andy MacDonald who both shot incredible 10 under par 25’s with their best efforts. David was on his own covering the back 9 in a stand alone 9 under 24.Par being 35 out, 33 in.
Unfortunately for David there is (as of yet) no trophy for eclectic scoring, and despite being (by this format) the “best” player in the club, his only reward was a trip to Shetland to trouble-shoot their top supermarket, and a free transfer from the pool league champions to the distant runners up in the summer. Siverware may well elude him there too.
Scores Saturday 01.12.07.07 Gross H/C Nett Points
P Grant & P Aird 48 12 36 15
J Duncan & G Macaskill 45 7 38 11
G Macleod & G Mould 47 9 38 11
DJ Macleod & A Reeves 45 6 39 8
D Murray & D Maclean 51 11 40 6
M O'Brien & M Fraser 44 4 40 6
Ali Nicolson & Al Macleod 44 4 40 6
J A Macleod & KW Galloway 46 5 41 1
D Rattray & KN Macdonald 50 9 41 1
C Robertson & R Galloway 45 4 41 1
R Martin & N Mackenzie 49 8 41 1
A Macintosh & JD Macintosh 47 6 41 1
Mag Johnson & Mur Johnson 42 1 41 1
W Macaulay & C Macaulay 50 9 41 1
League Leaders Points
Murdo & Magnus Johnston 55
Ali Nicolson & Al"Greens"MacLeod 49
Ian" Todd" MacKenzie & D.J."Zebo"MacLeod 48
Jamie Duncan & George MacAskill 44
David & Black & Murdo MacLennan 43
Scores last Week Points
Norrie Munro 28
‘Bronco’ MacArthur 25
Norrie MacLean 25
Cammy MacLeay 23
Colin MacAulay 23
Top of Table Points
Norrie Munro 172
Robbie MacRae 169
‘Bronco’ MacArthur 166
Norrie MacLean 158
Norrie MacKenzie 150
Junior scores last Week Gross H/C Nett Points
Kevin Gillies 64 21 43 10
Charlie Morrison 59 12 47 8
Kenny Macleod 63 14 49 5
Scott Macaulay 56 5 51 3
Stuart Macaulay 74 21 53 2
Top of Table Points
Kenny Macleod 54
Scott Macaulay 43
Stuart Macaulay 41
Peter Grant & Pat Aird
Norrie Munro
Kevin Gillies