Firstly I must start with an apology for not providing an update before now. It has been a busy few months but I will aim to provide more regular updates.

Now we are into July today I thought a quick update on what has happened would be good to start with.

We have had great start to the season so far. To start with we had the return of the seniors open which was well received with 60 players battling it out on the day. Our members done well in it with 3 out of the 5 sections being won by a Scoonie Member.

Next up as the Scoonie Open which had 85 players entered. Again a good result for our members with 2 out of the 5 sections being won by a Scoonie member. There was also a Mixed Texas Scramble Open run which had a better turnout with 100 players entering in 25 teams. 1st place was taken by a team made up of Scoonie and Lundin Links team members.

2 weeks ago we managed to hold our very first Sponsors day which was well attended. It was great to see the clubhouse full with the sponsors team members and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day. We started with bacon rolls and then headed out onto the course for a shotgun start and a 3 man Texas Scramble. 1st place went to SM Roofing, 2nd place went to Upstream IT and 3rd place was H C Bar and Catering. The day was finished off with a meal and presentation for the prize giving. We would like to thank all the sponsors for their support and look forward to seeing them again for next years event.

Next up was the Club Championship Qualifiers. It was a good turnout for the 1st round with 66 players entering. The 2nd round however had a little less with 51 players entering. I think for future reference even with a less than perfect score in the 1st round you can still pull it back in the 2nd round as I found out personally as I managed to qualify amazingly. With this years championship being seeded it was all to play for. After making sure all the players were available the draw was made and the games were set. Final day then came with the finalists being Sean Smith vs Iain Smart in the Scratch and Alan McNicol vs Angela Quinney in the Handicap. There was definitely not a one sided match out there on the Sunday with the Scratch match being decided on the last putt on the last hole with Sean holing an amazing birdie putt from off the green to clinch the Club Championship. In the Handicap match Angela and Alan had a great match with a lot of back and forth wins on holes. In the end Angela managed to claw it back to win on the 15th hole for a 4&3 win to make history as the first lady champion ever in the history of the club. Congratulations to both Club Champions on their wins.

We have a members fun day coming up where Iain Smart has again come up with a great format for the day. More details will follow but make sure you get yourself added in for it as I am sure it will be a lot of fun. There is also the Merchants Open coming up as well as our new 4 Ball Better Ball Open.

In the background your club committee are working hard keeping the club running and improving things for the benefit of the members. We still need to get a Match Secretary for next season but we are looking at splitting the role to make it easier on those who are taking on the role. This is one of the most important roles in the club so we really need this filled so if you have any interest in taking this one please reach out to one the committee members to discuss it further. We are always looking out for members to join the committee so even if you would not be looking to take on a responsibility your input into the running of the club would be more than welcome.

I think I have wrote enough for now and if you are still reading this I appreciate your time and look forward to seeing you out on the course at somepoint.

Regards

Phil Renwick
Club Captain

The golfing season has started at Scoonie !! It was great to see you all playing in the Captain v Vice Captain. We had 44 players battling it out in a 4 Ball Better Ball format and the Vice Captain team ran away with it and finished with a 3-8 victory. I will need to work on that for the re-match next season but well done to Tam King and his team, great result.

The first official medal of the season has also been completed too where we had 56 players play for the Morris Cup. The winner was Gareth Allenby with a score of 40 points, one to keep an eye on this season Mr Match Secretary ;-).

This weekend sees the B Gibson Memorial Trophy. Unfortunately, if you had not heard, Brian sadly passed away 2 weeks ago after suffering a long term illness. This competition was brought in to celebrate Brian’s involvement in Scoonie in the past but now we have renamed it to a memorial for him. I am sure you will all join me in honouring this great man and continuing the tradition for many years to come by entering this competition and competing for the trophy.

On the 23rd April we will have the J Gilbert Cup which is being used as a qualifier for the singles matchplay Herd Cup. This was brought in to try and reduce the number of matches being played for the matchplays. If you are looking to play in this matchplay make sure you enter this competition and the top 16 will qualify for the matchplays. There is the Scoonie Trophy is the other singles matchplay that will be drawn as has done in the past so there is no qualifiers for this one.

We continue to work with Scottish Golf on the issues we have with our handicapping system. As part of this we have moved the iPad into the clubhouse and it is located near the emergency exit at the side of the bar. It has been mentioned though that there are at times too many people congregating around the iPad. The restaurant staff have asked if you can keep the numbers to a minimum as there was an occasion where someone who was visiting the restaurant was unable to get past those using the iPad. Please be aware of those sitting at tables and make space for them to get past you. Other issues with the app are being investigated too so bear with us whilst we get these issues resolved. We also ask that if you run into any issues with it please let us know otherwise we cannot fix something if we don’t know about it. I know there are a few that would rather see us go back to a paper scorecard system but this new system might take you a few more minutes to put your scores in but it saves our Match Secretary hours of manually checking everyone’s cards, which I am sure no one wants to go back to.

Speaking of the Match Secretary role we are still looking for anyone that might be interested in taking on this very important role in the club. The offer for the position is a free membership at Scoonie and the full FGT green fees paid. The work involved is not as much as it used to be and if we can get someone in this season we can give you full training before the start of next season so you are up to speed with things and can hit the ground running.

As we move through April we should see some improvement in the condition of the course. Although at the moment it is in pretty good condition for the time of year there are some areas being worked on for the drainage. The greenkeepers are doing a great job with the course so please help them out by following the local rules in place at the moment where there are areas of GUR. Preferred lies are still on at the moment but we hope to remove those by the end of the month. Preferred lies have already been removed from the bunkers so follow normal practice and rake any bunkers if you end up in one.

I look forward to seeing you all out on the golf course in the coming weeks and as always if there is anything we can help with please get in touch.

Phil Renwick
Club Captain

As the season fast approaches, I thought it would be good to start with a pre-season update.

Our AGM had a disappointing attendance from the membership which is something we must improve on for next year. Maybe the day the AGM is held needs to change perhaps but I look forward to having a chat with some of you to get an idea on why the attendance was low. We did manage to hold the meeting by meeting the needed quorum by 1 member. There has already been an email sent out giving an update on all the things discussed so I won’t go over it in this update but if you have any questions on any of it please get in touch with myself or any other Committee Member.

I am looking forward to my time as Captain of Scoonie and hope to continue with the great work that Tom Goodsir has done up until now, I am sure however they will be big shoes to fill. He has been an active member in the club by taking on almost all of the roles available and he will be missed from the Committee but hopefully now he can look forward to just enjoying his golf.

First up in the official start of the season we have the Captain Vs Vice Captain which will pit myself and Tam King against each other in matchplay. As with previous years teams will be randomly picked so all you need to do is enter as normal, stating your preferred teetime in the notes. This season will see the introduction of a few new competitions with two new memorial competitions and two new scratch and handicap competitions. We are also introducing a split in sweep and two’s with two division’s as well as introduce new trophies for some of these competitions. There has always been a healthy discussion around this to make it possible for the lower handicap players to have more of a chance to win anything so this should help. We hope that this will encourage more of you to enter the sweep and two’s for the Saturday medals and make it more competitive.

At the end of March there will be two pre-season medals to get you back in the swing of things before the start of the season in April. I am hoping to send out monthly Captains Updates to give you updates on things moving forward but I will try and keep them brief. It will hopefully be an exciting year ahead and I look forward to seeing you all out on the course. If there is anything that the Committee can help with please do not hesitate to get in touch. We are always keen to hear from the membership on all aspects of the club.

Regards

Phil Renwick
Club Captain

On Saturday 11th September in our KP Shield Competition our member Iain Smart managed to sink a hole in one on the 14th. A great achievement and another to add to his tally. Being over 33 years since his last hole in one we hope it wont be as long before you get your next one.

This weekend sees the re-scheduled Club Championship Finals.

Club Champion Final
Neil Jones v Kyle Cushnie

Handicap Club Champion
Colin Brister v Alan Given

Both finals play over 36 holes to decide who is crowned champion. First tee off is at 9am and after some lunch the second tee off is at 1pm. If you would like to follow them round you are more than welcome but please be aware of the players and keep your distance as well as any other golfers that may be on the course. Please keep noise to a minimum to allow the players to play their best golf.

Good luck to all the players and we look forward to crowning two new champions.

It is that time of year again where we are offering a half year membership to Scoonie Golf Club. It is a great time to try out our club and see what we can offer.

This weekend will see the start of our Club Championship Qualifiers. The draw is up on Facebook and in the app.

Saturday 26th June – Club Championship Qualifier 1
Saturday 3rd July – Club Championship Qualifier 2

From these two qualifiers we combine both of the players scores and the 16 best combined gross scores will go through to the matchplays for the Club Championship to compete for the Hutchison Trophy. Then the best 16 combined handicap scores will go through to the matchplays for the Handicap Club Championship to compete for the Couper Cup.

The draw for the matchplays will be done straight after the last scores are in for the 2nd Qualifier and will hopefully be drawn live on Facebook for those that want to see it done live. For those that may want to see it in clubhouse there will only be limited numbers allowed in so please follow COVID guidelines if you are going to attend in person.

If you qualify for either competition you will be contacted to make sure you are going to be available to play so please make sure you are available to take a call.

The dates for the matchplays are as follows:

Sunday 11th July from 9am – First round of matchplays
Tuesday 13th July from 6:30pm – Scratch Quarter-Finals of matchplays
Wednesday 14th July from 6:30pm – Handicap Quarter-Finals of matchplays
Friday 16th July from 6:30pm – Semi-Final of both Scratch and Handicap matchplays
Sunday 18th July from 9am – First 18 holes for both Scratch and Handicap matchplays
Sunday 18th July from 1pm – Second 18 holes for both Scratch and Handicap matchplays

Good luck to all that are competing and we look forward to seeing who will be qualifying this year.

There was an issue with the draw showing on the app but that has been resolved and should be showing correctly now. Good Luck to all playing tomorrow.