Dalbeattie junior golf festival a big hit

3 August 2009

Dalbeattie Golf Club juniors enjoyed an all day golf festival in July organised by Portpatrick based Pro, James Erskine

Assisted by Club Level 1 coaches, Sue Biggar and Jean Forrest, along with low-handicap 16 year old Craig Smith, James gave skills coaching for long and short putts, chipping and pitching on to greens, and striking longer shots on fairways.

Skills tests followed in the afternoon points from which were totalled to find the winners for the different sections. They were Kirsten Ireland, David Rae, Charlie Williams and Bruce Wilson.

The grand finale was a 6 hole handicap competition for those with handicaps less than 40 and a flag competition for all other juniors. Both competitions resulted in very closely placed prize winners.

In the Flag Competition first place was awarded jointly to Luke McMurtrie and Christopher Wilson as their flags, although at opposite sides of the final green, were the same distance from the hole. The handicap winner was Iain Rae. Second and third respectively were Andrew Rae and Andrew Niven.

James Erskine presents golf balls as prizes along with further advice to keep practising and encouragement for those who had shone during the day.

“The juniors all enjoyed the day, left with a real sense of improvement and also with knowledge about practise routines to work on,” said Jean Forrest.

“James reminded the juniors that improvement would come through their own efforts and quoted a famous saying by Ben Hogan for them to adopt as their own philosophy – “If it is to be, it is up to me.”

“Funding for this highly successful day of Junior Golf was through a small entry fee for each junior and junior club funds, plus a grant from the Stewartry Sports Council and support from the Kirkcudbright Golfers Association, both of which are greatly appreciated.”