Hello golfers, 

My Scottish Open Dream is Over 

Well after 2 amazing days at North Berwick links my dream of teeing it up at this week's European a Tour event is over. It was an experience to tee it up against the superstars of the Challenge Tour / Europro & the full time players of the Tartan tour. With a rain delay on Saturday morning and over 5 hours on the course I was delighted with an opening 69. With birdies at 1,8,9,11 and 16 only being marred by bogies at 3,10 and 14. The round was spent in the company of Stephen McAllister ( European tour winner & current course record holder @ Gourock GC) This 2 under scorecard left me I the top 25 after day 1.

Round 2 on Sunday found me in the company of Jack Doherty ( Challenge & European tour ). It was a pleasure to play with a full time golfer like Jack. I got off to a solid start with par but after a great drive at 2 I fell foul of a 3 putt to bogey my second hole. My round never got going and after missing birdie putts @ 3,4,5,6 and 7, I then failed to make birdie at the two par fives to complete my front nine. 

The back nine followed a similar story with a bogey at 11 followed by lots of missed birdie opportunities and my frustration at this resulted in another dropped shot at 15 a long par 3 playing into the breeze. My day ended with a poor approach to 17 costing me a double bogey and the only ray of sunshine was a birdie at the last after driving the par 4 green with a lovely controlled driver. It was nice to finish like this after a truly enjoyable couple of days. 

   

If you ever do get the chance to play the gorgeous links of North Berwick then take it. It's a quirky test of golf that requires imagination, good ball striking and patience. I am certain you will receive a warm welcome. 

A final message to all of you, the members who followed my progress on the live scoring app of the PGA Scotland website and on social media. Thanks for all the kind words and support, it was nice to be back in the fold of a major event held in Scotland. My caddy for the week David Bruce deserves a special mention, his preparation & encouraging words helped me to focus and stay in the moment. I think he enjoyed the event as much as I and we hope to repeat this partnership in the future.




Scottish Open & St Andrews 

We have two huge events taking place on our shores this month. This week the superstars are in in East Lothian for our Scottish Open and only a few days later they all arrive in St Andrews for the 2015 Open. 

My tips for the next two weeks are... 
Scottish Open - Branden Grace. 
The Open - Phil Mickleson. 

I hope you all enjoy the golf over the coming weeks.




We have a few busy weeks coming up at GGC. This weekend we have our annual Gents Burgh followed quickly on Wednesday 15th by the Ladies Burgh. Entries are still available for both events. 

On Sunday 19th we have our annual Members/Guests event, again entries area still open.