Captain’s Newsletter – June 2017
Dear Ladies,
What happened to all the lovely sunshine? It seems to have been raining constantly since I mentioned the good weather!
Well we must all be really hardy because we’ve just kept going and lots of golf has been played.
May Winners
7th May– I managed to move myself to the top of the eclectic chart. I’m not sure how long that will last. I’m sure you’ll all be chasing me down.
14th May – Yet another successful Come and Try Day resulting in three and perhaps four new members for the club all of whom are coming to the coaching. A winning combo. The ladies will soon need practice on the course and will be looking for buddies to play with.
I’ve suggested that they come and join in at 11.00 on Thursdays where there will usually be someone available to go out with.
21st May– The Bring a Buddy Greensomes was great fun and hotly contested. It was won by one point by Karen Starr and Susie Cooper from Caroline Bashford and Alison Wilson.
28th May– The May Medal was won, much to her surprise, by Joanna MacKinnon.
3rd June– Lochcarron Ladies Open Report
Our 2017 Ladies Open was a great success. The atmosphere in the clubhouse was fun and friendly. We got a bit of competition going with the quiz teams and everyone seemed to be enjoying the cocktails and mocktails and having a good time.
The overall winner on the day was Kerstin Reich with 37 stableford points and a better inward half than the bronze section winner Cathryn Field who also had 37 points. The bronze runner up prize was won by Joanna MacKinnon with 32 points and the silver section was won by Karen Starr with 31 points. Kerstin also won the Isy Dua trophy for the Best Lochcarron Lady. Karen had the longest drive and Rachael Bannerman from Strathpeffer was nearest the pin in two.
Good results from some of our Lochcarron ladies, and many players from other clubs have told me they enjoyed themselves, so lots of positives to take away.
Many thanks to…
- The team who maintain the course so well…Thomas, Dave and Roddie and their helpers
- Sharon and Morag for lovely food throughout the day
- Starter and ball spotters – Simon and the two Ians
- Entry desk and raffles – Johan
- Everyone who donated a raffle prize
Finally, our grateful thanks to Cathryn Field from Tigh an Eilean Hotel for her continued sponsorship of this event.
10th June – Lochcarron Ladies v Gairloch
We had a great result in our ladies Stableford match with Gairloch with Lochcarron players winning every match. I’m sure that Gairloch will hope to emulate our result when we go to play them on July 15th. Wins and losses aside it was good to spend time with the Gairloch ladies again and we had a pleasant day followed by a lovely lunch provided by Sharon.
11th June– 2 clubs and a putter competition was won by Karen Starr
Communication
Can I ask everyone please to respond to availability queries, by email if possible, in a timely fashion whether they can play or not. Recently I’ve been having to chase round some people for their responses which takes up a lot of time and means that I can’t get things organised till the last minute. It would be so much easier if everyone just took two minutes to respond to requests when they get them.
Dates for your Diaries and Upcoming Events :-
Club Championship– This is a handicap matchplay format. Attached draw and dates to be played at the end of this letter.
18th June– 9 hole eclectic 11.00
25th June– June Medal
2nd July– Shieldaig Trophy 3 stableford
8th July– Lochcarron Gents Open – volunteer ball spotters welcomed
9th July– 9 hole eclectic
15th July– Gairloch Ladies v Lochcarron Ladies (note change of date)
16th July– Skins
23rd July– July Medal
30th July– Isle of Skye v Lochcarron Ladies
If you would like to play at Gairloch or Skye please let me know a.s.a.p. so that I can sort out teams.
I am hoping to reschedule the lady captain’s day which has been moved to make way for the Gairloch match to Saturday 19th August. I’ll confirm this next month.
See you on the golf course.
Cheers
June
Ladies club championship 2017 draw
It is the responsibility of the first named player to make contact and arrange the match in good time. Any difficulties, contact June as soon as possible.
| Round 1 | Play by
9th July |
|
| Joanna | V | Karen |
| Kay | V | Elspeth |
| Ank | V | June |
| Mary | V | Sandra |
Ladies Come and Try Day 14th May 2017
A lovely day! Thank you for coming and for making it worth while for us holding the sessions. We hope you continue to learn lots at the coaching sessions to follow…
Captain’s Newsletter 2 – May 2017
Dear Ladies,
Sunshine golf! Hasn’t it been great and the greens are getting better and better as the season goes on.
April Winners
2nd April – Shieldaig Trophy 1 – Karen Starr 3pts, Ank Carins 2pts, Kay Liston 1pt
10th April – Metoo fun competition – June Miller
17th April – 9 hole eclectic – the competition continues with Ank Carins in the lead
24th April – April Medal – June Miller
30th April – Shieldaig Trophy 2 – Karen Starr 3pts, Kay Liston 2pts, June Miller 1pt (on countback)
Playing Away
A group of 6 Lochcarron Ladies played in the Fortrose pairs competition on 6th May. No winners but some decent scoring and we all really enjoyed it. Some of the Fortrose Ladies hope to come to our open in June.
Encouraging Beginners
We are always looking to welcome new members to the club and we are going to try again the successful beginner pathway trialled last year. For the ladies section this is what we’re going to offer:-
Come and Try Day (14th May) – FREE
5 coaching sessions for £25 (ie £5 each) plus a £20 reduction in joining fee if they choose to join
For those who join a minimum of 3 buddy sessions round the course so that they can gain confidence going round the course and have cards marked to gain their handicap. Once they have their handicap they can begin to join in any of the 9 hole or 18 hole, fun, team, stableford or strokeplay competitions available or just go out for a few holes with friends.
Dates for your Diaries and Upcoming Events
Club Championship – The draw for this competition will take place this month and the first round should be played by June 24th. A handicap matchplay format will be used. Details of the draw will be on the clubhouse noticeboard and on the club website.
Sun 14th May – We are going to have a ladies come and try day so if you know anyone who might be interested, please encourage them to come along. Any offers of help on the day will be very welcome.
Sun 21st May – Bring a Buddy Greensome 18 holes. Lochcarron ladies should bring a buddy from another club to play with them [In greensomes both players tee off. They choose which drive they want to use and from then on play alternate shots with that ball]. If each pair pays £5 we should be able to buy a nice prize for the winners.
We’re hoping to have a fun day with as many pairs as we can get out on the course. This will be a cheap fun day out for your friends from other clubs.
Sat 3rd June – Lochcarron Ladies Open.
This competition will be played in a stableford format once again as it helped keep games moving along smoothly last year and reduced the frustration of some of our visitors at the more difficult holes. I will be looking for volunteers to help on the day. I am also looking for raffle prizes. Any donations will be gratefully received. Please let me know a.s.a.p. if you or any of your friends are going to play so that I can begin sorting out the tee times etc. The draw will be available from May 28th on the website. A big thank you to the Tigh an Eilean hotel for once again sponsoring this event.
Sat 10th June – Home match v Gairloch Ladies
I’m making up a team to play this match and really need some volunteers to make up the team. All welcome.
Please let me know if you are available to play in this or other matches by completing the availability attachment at the end of this letter and returning it to me asap.
Thurs 27th July – Fabulous Foursomes – Pairs will be drawn on the day from the list of entrants. We have a lovely Quaich available for the winners. Entry forms for the foursomes and club championship are available in the clubhouse or from me by email and should be returned to me by June 1st.
Hope to see some of you on the course soon. Cheers for now.
June
MATCH AVAILABILITY RETURN
Please mark either the yes or no column for each match to indicate your availability. Thank you
| Day | Date | Match | YES | NO |
| Sat | 10/6/17 | Gairloch (H) | ||
| Sun | 30/7/17 | Isle of Skye (A) | ||
| Sat | 12/8/17 | Gairloch (A) | ||
| Sun | 20/8/17 | Isle of Skye (H) |
9th April 2017
Congratulations to our first fun competition winner of the year…the “metoo”.
Captain’s Newsletter 1 – April 2017
Dear Ladies,
Ready, Steady, Go!
After a very successful flag day I’m sure you’re all raring to gofor the coming season.
As last season’s combination of fixtures seemed to work out pretty well I’ve decided to repeat them, maybe with a few tweaks here and there along the way.
Our Fixtures
You have all received your fixture lists on your new membership cards and copies of the fixture list will also be posted on the club website and the noticeboard in the ladies’ changing room. Sometimes changes have to be made to the fixture list and if so I will try to give you as much notice as possible. All changes will be updated on the website and in the clubhouse.
As well as monthly medals, 18 hole strokeplay and Shieldaig Trophy matches, 18 hole stableford, which can all be used as qualifying competitions for handicap purposes, I have included once again the 9 hole, foursome, mixed and fun competitions that people were keen to have. We also have matches against Gairloch and Sconser.
I’ve left the Thursday pitch up and play sessions as casual get togethers at 11.00. I feel that it’s important for us to keep to an agreed time frame for these sessions so that any member knows that they can come along then and there’s a good chance that there will be someone to play with. I want all players to feel included and welcomed into our group.
Competitions
There will be a variety of competitions on offer this season:-
Monthly Medals – 18 hole handicap strokeplay competitions, bronze and silver divisions will be separate, lowest nett score on the day wins.
Shieldaig Trophy – 18 hole handicap stableford competition. 3 points for a win, 2 points for second, 1 point for third. Player’s 5 best scores are totalled to give an overall winner.
9 Hole Eclectic – This handicap strokeplay competition which runs throughout the season. It was really exciting and close run last year so here’s hoping it’s just as close this time. Each player will put their completed scorecard in the scorecard dropbox in the ladies changing room. I will keep a running record of their best score for each hole. At the end of the season the player with the lowest nett total is the winner.
Fabulous Foursomes – As last season if I can get a minimum of 8 players entering, this pairs competition will go ahead. Players will enter the competition and pairs will be drawn on the day. We have a lovely Quaich available for the winners.
Club Championship – Usually these competitions are played off scratch but that’s still not a worthwhile option for us at the moment as we don’t have enough low handicappers to make it competitive. Instead I propose to use a handicap matchplay format again.
Entry forms for the foursomes and club championship will be available in the clubhouse or from me by email from April 10th and should be returned to me by April 30th
Fun Competitions
There are several fun competitions on the fixture list and I hope that you will enjoy them. Small fun prizes will be awarded to the winners.
Communication
I will keep the online ladies’ noticeboard on the club website www.lochcarrongolfclub.co.uk. updated so that everyone can keep in touch with what’s going on. I will also post monthly newsletters there and in the clubhouse.
All lady members will have my contact details on their membership card if they need to get in touch. Please feel free to contact me with any ideas or changes that you feel would benefit us.
Encouraging Beginners
Following last year’s success we are going to have another ladies come and try day. If you know anyone who might be interested, please encourage them to come along. This event will be advertised in local shops, on noticeboards and in An Carranach. Any offers of help on the day will be very welcome. Following this I plan to offer a series of basic coaching sessions in May and June for anyone who is interested.
Dates for your Diaries:
Sun 2nd April – Shieldaig Trophy 1- 18 hole stableford – 10.00
Sun 9th April – Metoo – fun competition – 10.00
Sun 16th April – 9 hole eclectic – strokeplay – 10.00
Sun 23rd April – April Medal – 18 hole strokeplay – 10.00
Sun 30th April – Shieldaig Trophy 2 – 18 hole stableford – 10.00
Sun 7th May – 9 hole eclectic – strokeplay – 10.00
Sun 14th May – Ladies come and try day – coaching – 11.00
Sun 21st May – Bring a Buddy Greensome 18 holes. Lochcarron ladies should bring a buddy from another club to play with them [In greensomes both players tee off. They choose which drive they want to use and from then on play alternate shots with that ball]. If each pair pays £5 we should be able to buy a nice prize for the winners – fun competition – 10.00
Sun 28th May – May Medal – 18 hole strokeplay – 10.00
Sat 3rd June – Lochcarron Ladies Open – Stableford
This event will be advertised from the end of March onwards. I will be looking for volunteers to help on the day. I am also looking for raffle prizes. Any donations will be gratefully received.
If there are any questions or suggestions please get in touch.
Looking forward to seeing you all on the golf course.
Cheers for now.
June
