Snow is falling!

For those of you who haven't noticed yet, there is a lot of snow out there and a lot of golf courses are closed - bah humbug! As I headed round Tesco today, there was an announcement that due to the snow they are going to be open until 7.30 pm on Christmas Eve. Wow, I thought, the snow is causing chaos in Tesco, what about the Midlothian Winter Foursomes? Only 2 x third round ties have been played so far and a further 6 have still to be played. Will the players be able to find their yellow or orange balls in the snow? Will the power trolleys be able to cope with the depth of snow? And if the answers to those questions are no, when will the snow disappear and golfing life return to normal?

Whilst having these thoughts and trying to decide whether to go for 1 or 2 bottles of gin, the decision was made to extend the 3rd round "play-by" date by 1 week, at the moment. So, please note, the third round has been moved from January 10th 2010 to January 17th 2010, in the hope that a further week will alleviate any snow problems. Any further decision which may be needed will be taken in the New Year.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all of our members. We hope you have a wonderful day on Friday and a great New Year which brings good weather and good golfing!

Braid coaching

Today brought the last coaching at the Braids Driving Range for 2009. 22 girls turned up and all were in great, jovial mood. The Christmas treat of a chocolate had to be earned as Suzie put the girls' putting skills to the test. They had to sink 3 putts in a row to earn a sweetie and boy did the girls bring out their competitive spirit and succeed! It is great to see them all enjoying themselves, laughing and chatting away with one another.

Their swings and ball striking have greatly improved over the year thanks to the dedication of Ian Young, Mark Berrie, Paul Malone and Sandy Stephen. There is going to be some great golfers amongst them. Our thanks to the professionals and also, this month, to Sandra Hennessy to turned up to give a helping hand.

We hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year and we will see you back at Braids on 10th January for the first coaching session of 2010.

Main and Junior Squads

Great fun was had yesterday when a season ending, main and junior squad get together was held at the Hermitage Golf Club. Luckily, a 1 pm tee-time was set and, as the clouds parted, we took to the course on the best part of the day. The junior squad members drew for partners and to, make things a wee bit more interesting, their senior partners were only allowed 4 clubs and a putter. Some of the scores were better than others but everyone enjoyed their game and there was good mixing and banter. Thanks to Karen Marshall, everyone was a winner and received a selection box - even the President, Selector and Captain spectators!

1st Louise Fraser & Hannah Scott
2nd Claire Hargan & Sally Naysmith
3rd Karen Marshall & Heather Tumblety
4th Kirsten Blackwood & Katherine Fisher
5th Hilary Laughland & Kirsty Simpson
6th Gillian Simpson &, junior of the day, Mary Richardson