AUTUMN MEETING AT LIBERTON GC (CSS 68)

Smile Christine! You shot a net 62 round Liberton

 

 

The Autumn Meeting took place on a warm, sunny day worthy of a summer meeting.  It was certainly hotter than early June at The Glen although competitors travelling up from North Berwick and Gullane would not have expected the Liberton sunshine as they left a haar behind in East Lothian.  The conditions were favourable for good scores - hardly any breeze, warm and dry with a course in great nick.....and good scores we certainly got!

 

Best of the day was a net 62 from Christine Clarke of Deer Park who shot a scratch 78 : you're not a 16 handicap any more, Christine.  Three others broke Liberton's par of 69 : Denise Mitchell with a net 67, Kate Johnston with a net 68 and Morag Wardrop (net 67) who won the scratch prize (see below). Carole Ross and Carole MacLeod both scored net 69s as did Margaret Magson who had the leading net Bronze score.  The best scratch score of the day came from Morag Wardrop with a 75 whilst Ruth Brown and Anne Brownie both shot 78s, the same as Christine Clarke.

 

However, not everyone found it easy to score well and there were the usual stories as cards were handed in of putts that simply refused to drop, balls that seemed to delight in finding the trees or thickest clump of grass and, of course, the balls that had a magnetic attraction to bunkers and resisted the most persistent and determined efforts to extricate them. More than one or two cards had a bunker "blip" that spoiled what could have been a tidy score.   

 

Finally, away from the golf scores, some of our readers may remember reports last year at Liberton of a playful fox cub who wanted to join in. Well, in 2013 there is an extended family of urban foxes at the 11th hole with no fewer than three cubs enjoying a playful romp in the sun. Funnily enough, there wasn't much sign of rabbits being around that side of the course!

 

SUMMARY OF SCORES    ( CSS 68 )

 

Scratch

Morag Wardrop  75

 

Silver

1.  Christine Clarke   78 (16) net 62

2 Denise Mitchell      81 (14) net 67

3 Kate Johnston         79 (11)    net 68

4 Carole  Ross           82 (13)  net 69   (on bih from Carol Macleod)

 

 

Bronze

1. Margaret Magson  98 (29) net 69

2. Helen   Lock          92 (22)  net 70  (on bih from Sandra Craig)

 

AUTUMN MEETING ON 26 AUGUST - REMINDER

The revised draw for Monday's Autumn Meeting at Liberton Golf Club has been posted (see Draws).

Please note that the green fee payable on the day is £15.

Here's hoping for an enjoyable day with good weather.

EAST VETS BRING HOME THE ASP FRIENDSHIP TROPHY

Congratulations to the successful East Vets Team (pictured below) who defeated the West Vets in the annual foursomes match  on 13th August,  at Troon Portland - meaning that the Asp Friendship Trophy came back East along the M8.

The team enjoyed the wonderful views from the Portland course (when not concentrating on their shots, of course!!) as well as the tremendous condition of the course (though it was best to keep out of the rather long rough).

Ailsa Craig

  As ever, although the matches were competitive with three of them being very close indeed, there was a lot of banter and fun which made for a most enjoyable day, rounded off by a delicious lunch (and yet more golfing and non-golfing stories) in the Portland Clubhouse.

Marion Stewart, West Vets Vice Captain, presented the Asp Friendship Trophy to Anne Brownie, East Vets Vice Captain - see photo below.

 

For more photos click here

 

The overall result was West Vets 1.5  East Vets 3.5

 

 Individual foursomes matches (home team first)  were as follows:

 

Anabel Kane & Liz Hale lost to Rita Dee and Alice Jack 1 down.

Carol Fell & Jennifer Graham  lost to Fiona Ford & Gilly Glen 2&1
June Lockhart & Morag Key  beat Jane McMinn & Vickie Sandeman.
Anne Aitken & Cathy Morton  lost to Elsa Todd & Gina Thomson.
Trish Brown & Mary Wylie halved with Christine Clark & Mary Richardson.

 

FOURSOMES FINALISTS

The finalists of the inaugural foursomes knockout competition are now known and the Final will be contested between Elinor Blair and Alice Archbold versus Helen Holton and Jean Bryden. 
Well done to these four and play well. 

 (Thanks also to everyone who took part and made this first year a success.)

  

FINAL OF THE RAMSDEN CUP

The Final of the Ramsden Cup will be contested by Morag Wardrop and Dulcie Barnes.

Well done for winning your semifinals and commiserations to your opponents, Kate Johnston and Denise Mitchell

Good luck to both Morag and Dulcie and watch this space to find out the winner ......

EAST VETS FOUROMES MATCH V WEST VETS

The annual foursomes match against the West Vets Team will be held at Troon Portland on Tuesday 13th August. Our East Vets Team lines up as follows:
 

Rita Dee and Alice  Jack

Fiona Ford and Gilly Glen

Jane McMinn and Vickie Sandeman
Elsa Todd and Gina Thomson

Christine Clarke and Mary Richardson

 

Play well ladies and enjoy your day in the West! 

ANNE HANSON WINS EAST VETS CHAMPIONSHIP

Anne Hanson pictured with the Bass Rock in the background after leaving the 16th green at The Glen  GC, North Berwick where she won her first East Vets Championship.
( Click here to link to photos from The Glen ; once you've opened the link it can played as a slideshow.)         A report from Sunday's play follows below  :

In a closely contested Final, Anne Hanson won her first Lady McInnes Shaw Cup to become East Vets Champion for 2013 with a 3 & 2 win over Karen Ballantyne at The Glen Golf Course, North Berwick. Congratulations to Anne, and best of luck at Blairgowrie when representing East Vets on 22^nd/23^rd September when the Scottish  Vets Championship will be decided.

Both semi-finals took place on the morning of the 4^th August in bright, breezy conditions with the yachts on the Forth and the Bass Rock providing a picturesque backdrop to some stunning golf.   Anne Hanson had a 3 & 2  win over Dulcie Barnes in the first semi-final in which both players  scored well against par – after the famously tricky first hole (which Dulcie won). Both Anne and Dulcie had their eye in on the greens but Anne’s putter proved to be marginally the hotter. Even the caddies were impressed by the quality of the golf being played!  In the other semifinal  there was a similar story with both competitors playing some outstanding golf shots and displaying a silky touch around the greens resulting in a 3 & 2 win for Karen Ballantyne over Sue Penman.  Both finalists were very complimentary about the quality of golf played by their opponents and all four players enthused about the condition of the course.

The Final teed off at 3pm with the sun still shining and a few spectators looking forward to seeing how the finalists would tackle some of The Glen’s more challenging holes, especially with the breeze freshening. In the early holes, it was nip and tuck with Karen taking a narrow 1 up lead which she held on to notwithstanding some fine approach shots from Anne which several times looked to give her the opportunity to draw level only for Karen to hole a good putt to halve, and keep her slender advantage. Anne finally drew level with an excellent birdie at the 7^th when she hit her approach to only a few feet. Anne then won the 8^th to go one up and looked in pole position on the short par 4 9^th holes when her tee shot went just through the back of the green whilst Karen was bunkered off the tee. The 9^th was, however, halved in birdie 3s when Karen pulled off a great sand save under the watchful eyes of three Japanese golfers who the vice-captain had persuaded to let the Final play through!

Anne was not to be denied going 2 up at the 10^th but at the 12^th Karen holed her approach shot for an eagle 3 and thus reduced the deficit to just one hole again. The golf really was outstanding with very few shots being dropped to par.  Unfortunately for Karen this changed at the par 3 13^th hole where both players found the green but, for once, Karen’s putting touch deserted her and an uncharacteristic three putt allowed Anne to regain a two hole advantage. Anne’s putting was on fire – to the extent that to spectators it seemed that even four to five footers were like gimme distance as it just seemed Anne could not miss from  five , six even seven feet in. Putting again made the difference in allowing Anne to be dormie three up at the tee of  the long par 3 16^th hole and when her chip from just off the side of the green ran on a bit, it seemed the match might be extended as Karen had a shorter putt left to save her par.  However, Anne’s  unerring putting saved her own par and hence closed out the match.  Both Anne and Karen played some great golf in a super Final  which was fascinating to watch.