It was great to see such healthy numbers playing on the club opening day Saturday past. Our new Captains Dr Bobby Robertson and Fiona Whitton were treated to a healthy dose of Scottish weather on the day. Bobby and the men got a good soaking in the morning.

The forecast as ever was very accurate and Fiona and the ladies got blown away with some gales in the afternoon. The weather however didn't dampen the enthusiasm and there were plenty of laughs and stories in the clubhouse afterwards. Well done to all who played in the tough condions.

Midweek Competitions

Effective Wednesday, 8 April 2015, the Match & Handicap Committee will run midweek competitions every Wednesday until 23 September. Midweek Medal Competitions will be held as per Club Diary. All other Wednesdays the M&H Committee will hold Midweek Stableford Competitions. These will be Qualifying Competitions played off White Tees.

A) Use of White Teeing areas will be monitored by the Greens Committee.
B) The additional 'workload' on the Match & Handicap Committee will be monitored.

If either is found excessive then these additional competitions may be suspended / cancelled.

Competition Sweep Prizes: With effect from April Medal on 4 April 2015 all competition sweeps will be paid out on countback basis. Only first 3 places in each division will receive prize money.

Pro Shop Entry sheets: Would all players playing in every completion clearly mark if they are entering the sweeps with a tick and if they are not entering the sweeps place a cross (X) in the box. This will alleviate confusion.

Our annual LCL matches kick off again shortly and we are looking for players to sign up on the gents match and handicap notice board in the main foyer.

Please add your name if you can manage on any of the given dates.

Our new Junior Captain has been announced as Lewis Ballantyne from Cupar. Lewis and Sam Nicholson were the two candidates for the role.

Sam our junior champion indicated it perhaps better if Lewis fills the role of Captain as Lewis will be around the club more than Sam during the summer season. It was very good of Sam to be so thoughtful and we all thank him for that. Congratulations to Lewis and we wish you well on your Captaincy for the coming season.

Junior Competition Results

Stage 1/ 2 29/03/2105 - Texas Scramble

1st - Lewis Ballantyne / Josh Wyllie / Charlie Gilfillan / Innes Barbour 
 - Thomas Johnstone / Fred Bull / Nairn Ballantyne / Jess Wyllie

Both teams were tied with a 4 under par score of 29 on the 'Practice Wee Course'.

Quiz Nights

Alas, our quiz nights are now at an end but what a great final night. The club house was packed to capiticy and £1041.31 was raised for Cancer Research. The final total raised over the 3 quiz nights was £2673.71. Congratulations to all the winners.

Thank you so much to everyone for all your support over the last three months to raise this massive amount of money for Cancer Research.

Thank you to the club for allowing us to use the club facilities, Elaine and her staff for all there support in-front and behind the bar, Martin McDermitt and Forbes Catto for their great quizzes, and finally to everyone who very generously gifted raffle prizes and who came along and supported the quiz.

Without your support we would not manage to raise this amazing amount.

- Thursday, 2nd April - Wedge gapping session 15 min appointments available/ Booking essential at the Pro Shop. 3pm - 6.30pm FOC Booking essential at the Pro Shop

- Thursday, 9th April - Putting school with Sandy - 6 x spaces available 5.30 p.m. - 7 p.m. £15 pp Book your slot in the Pro Shop

An evening with John Mather Golf Psychologist

- 18 Jun 2015 - Golfing Psycology Evening With John Mathers HPC Registered Golf Psychologist at Stirling University. As an elite amateur golfer himself he may provide some help in unlocking your golfing potential? 7pm - 8.30pm. £12 per ticket Tickets available to buy in the Pro Shop - limited to 50 people

- Thursday, 22nd April Callaway Demo Day - 30 min appointments available, 1.30-5.30pm FOC. Click here to book your spot now!

- Thursday, 7th May - Know your Yardages - come warmed up / 15 min appointments available FOC Booking essential at the Pro Shop 

Golf Phycology Evening with Dr John Mathers

- 18th June book in now at the Pro Shop - £12 per ticket

As little prelude to our Golf Phycology evening taking place on the 18th June at 7pm, I wanted to highlight an area of importance in this field as I see it.

The Practice vs Play mind sets!

Many people don't differentiate between how they operate mentally on the course with what they do when they practice. This I believe is one of the biggest areas holding people's performance levels back. I strongly believe that you must operate in practice in a left side of the brain mode I.e being analytical, thinking about what you are physically doing and making repetitions of the same movement again and again to in grain a new technique or skill.

However the opposite is true when you operate in a playing golf mode on the course. It then becomes key to switch the side of the brain you utilise and operate in a right side of the brain mode. I.e not thinking about what your body is doing, not thinking technically about body movement. Once you get on the golf course you have to hope that any practised skill is becoming in grained/learned. This obviously takes time and is the main reason people jump around looking for quick fixes or band aids as many like to call them.

Many simply don't understand the time factor required to efficiently learn a new skill to its conclusion. Ie once you can do it without thinking about it. I strongly suggest when you play golf that you play with the right side brain and go out there visualising what you hope the ball is going to do rather than what you are going to do over a shot.

I can guarantee more success if you operate like this in the future with any golfing time you may have. The greatest golfer of them all, Jack Nicklaus, once said "my most powerful tool was my ability to use visualisation on the course." Powerful stuff indeed from a great.

This season we resume our very popular 'trade in' your old lead acid battery for a New Lithium Battery offer with the lite power lithium and Motocaddy Lithium batteries effectively being reduced to £174.99 from £199.99.

This is a great time to go light and go Lithium.

With the added benefit of a five year warranty we highly recommend these batteries for any make and model of trolley.