SATURDAY
A small turnout for this fun competition as only three teams were formed to participate in a Two-Person Scramble-but it was game on.
On yet another day of unpredictable weather the winners were the father and son pairing of Jim and Ross Cumming.
They navigated each of their two ‘nines’ in 30 shots en route to victory by seven clear shots.
Nothing too exciting in a rather mundane first six holes of their game before the fireworks began in a 2,3,2 finish-that’s birdie, birdie, eagle-the latter when the old fella holed out with his wedge for the deuce off the young fellows big drive!
In a round of impressive symmetry nothing much happened on the first six holes of the second round either till they finished 2,3,3-birdie, birdie, birdie.
What I find particularly impressive is the fact that they birdied both seven and sixteen, same green but different tees and angles-and neither tee shot is easy!
Well done to the other two teams for making the effort to support the cause-Stevie Coull and Ivan Goodwin from Raasay and Fraser and Shona Jackson from Plockton.
SUNDAY
A morning of blustery showers greeted the loyal cohort of golfers for this Sunday Stableford-what would we do without them?
After a wee break Geoff Williams was back in town and he rode straight into the winner’s enclosure.
Once again the weather was to be a factor and the odd cold shower courtesy of the heavens kept the boys honest.
17pts were accrued from a modest first nine holes of golf but game on second nine as 20 more were added for the winning total and victory by two points.
Runner-up was John Finlayson with yet another in his extending line of trademark steady and efficient performances
A fine total of 20pts was garnered from lap number one but a disappointing second circuit only added another 15pts which was good enough however to secure second place.
How very nice to see a new name in the frame as Fraser Jackson took third place.
Outward bound he harvested a modest 15pts but he smartened things up coming home with a 19pt haul.
He and his ‘good lady’ obviously used the previous day’s outing just to loosen up.
LADIES
Four ladies came out to compete in their stableford competition on a fine March, sorry May morning. It just felt like March as the girls made their draw for partners-I don’t write that too often-and as luck would have it the stalwarts were drawn together as were the very welcome additions to the ladies section of the club.
Donalda Johnston’s nice wee run of good form continues as she took the honours with 32pts-a total that compared quite favourably with some of the gents who were sharing the Sconser sward on the rather sharp morning.
DJ scored 16pts on each of her two laps of the track.
Hard to believe that Jill Mackinnon, Helen Hamilton and Sheena Jackson each scored 27pts but that did indeed happen so the better inward half procedure was required to determine the order in which they would finish.
JM had 16pts, HH had 11 and SJ 9 so that was how the result was decided.
Unfortunately the recently aborted ladies ‘get-together’ has had to be cancelled so the next date on the calendar for them is Sunday 19th June.
YOUNGSTER
Archie Macaskill has been on his travels again recently when he participated in the Barrie Douglas Scottish Junior Masters under the auspices of the Stephen Gallagher Foundation at the Strathmore Golf Centre in Perthshire.
Three times round the tough 18-hole track in three days was a fair old outing and although he finished in the lower half of the 80 competitors it’s all part of the learning process?
By my reckoning four of his sets of nine holes were decent but the two ‘others’ caused the damage.
Onwards and upwards young man.
FIXTURES
The Senior Open takes place on Thursday 9th June and once again it is being sponsored by Craig Campbell, Opticians, Kyle of Lochalsh. The IOSGC is grateful to our club member Craig for his continued interest and much appreciated generosity.
Last year’s competition turned out to be something of an ‘event’ when Billy McMillan from Traigh ran away from the field to be declared the winner in the gent’s section-although that wasn’t the main ‘story’.
There was a timely reminder of the integrity, at least in the lower echelons of the game when James Colven, whose fine score might very well have won him the trophy disqualified himself later in the day when he discovered that he had made a typographical error in juxtaposing two digits when electronically recording his score.
Let’s hope for an incident free competition this year.
This weekend it’s the first qualifying round for the blue riband competition on the gents fixture list-the Club Championship.
Good news that defending champion Ryan Macaskill, the holder for the last three years is hoping to be able to return home to defend his trophy.
Ryan has just completed his third year at UHI Dornoch and such is the insatiable demand for tee-times, particularly from Americans on the Championship course there following the two-year Covid hiatus that he and several of his fellow students have found seasonal employment working at this world class facility.
Non-golfing readers(you’d be surprised) in particular might be astonished to learn that Royal Dornoch is rated in just about every credible list imaginable as one of the top ten courses in the world!
That’s right-not in Great Britain but the whole wide world!
That puts it on a par, no pun intended with the Old Course in St Andrews and miles above the much vaunted and publicised Pebble Beach, California and Augusta, Georgia where The Masters is played!
The only reason it’s profile isn’t higher in the public eye is that the remote location and consequent lack of the infrastructure required to hold high ranking, world class events denies it the opportunity for television exposure to the wider audience.
While there then Ryan will assist in the pro shop, do some caddying and also some coaching work with the juniors.
His current temporary job title is ‘assistant professional’ and this will likely be his final opportunity to play in our club championship as he hopes to ‘turn’ professional if he concludes his fourth and final year successfully.
This event is yet again being very kindly and generously sponsored by ‘Gaelic Whiskies and Gaelic Gins of Eilean Iarmain’ and we offer them our sincere thanks and gratitude for their continuing support.
Round two of the Strath Cup will be played on Wednesday.
The ladies will be competing for the First Ministers Quaich on Sunday then playing in round two of the Isle of Skye Shield on Tuesday.
PLATINUM JUBILEE
With regard to the above one of our members had a tale to tell of when he had the opportunity to play golf on the private golf course at Balmoral Castle.
Having launched his ball off the tee our friend was commencing his walk up the fairway when he saw a woman and two wee boys walking across the course. On spotting the golf ball one of the wee guys excitedly ran over and picked it up!
Mum was less than amused and told the wee lad to replace the ball from whence it came. She then feigned a kick up the rear end of the miscreant for the benefit of and to the great amusement of our member.
Mum was Princess Diana!
RESULTS
Gents Section
Saturday 28th May, Two–Person Scramble.
1) J Cumming and R Cumming.
Sunday 29th May, Stableford.
1) G Williams 37pts; 2) J Finlayson 35pts; 3) F Jackson 34pts.
Ladies Section
Sunday 29th May, Stableford.
1) D Johnston 32pts; 2) J Mackinnon 27pts bih; 3) H Hamilton 27pts bih; 4) S Jackson 27pts.
JOHN MARSHALL