Lawrie wishes more Scottish pros would follow his example

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE
By Martin Dempster
Justimagine how it must be for a young golfer to be out on the course with a major winner, seeing how they play at close quarters, learning good habits and getting the chance to pick their brain.
For most, that's a pipedream, but not for some lucky golfers in the Aberdeen area, where Paul Lawrie is starting to see some exciting results from the Foundation he set up in the wake of his 1999 Open Championship win at Carnoustie.

Lawrie wanted to put something back into the game, and part of his plan was to set up a team and act as a mentor to its members. 'Team Lawrie' currently consists of five players, with amateur trio Laura Murray, David Law and Philip McLean accompanied by two professionals, Ross Cameron and Graham Lornie, being those lucky individuals.

They all play regularly with Lawrie, and the amateurs in particular are reaping the rewards. Teenager Law made history last season by becoming the first player to win the Scottish Boys and Scottish Amateur titles in the same year; McLean won this year's Edward Trophy and is getting better all the time, while Murray chalked up her biggest success to date recently when she lifted the St Rule Trophy.

Law and McLean both receive valuable support, both technical and financial, from the SGU, as Murray does from the SLGA. There is no doubt, though, that they've benefited enormously from having a mentor in Lawrie, who wishes more of his fellow Tour players would try and put something back into the game in such a way.
"I started it because I felt in my area there were a lot of good players who could all hit it, but they struggled to score," he recalls. "Their short game wasn't good enough and I felt that I could go and make a difference."
The recent efforts of his protégés clearly illustrate he is making a difference.
"I feel, and it's not an ego talking, the time I spend with them is the difference. They've got a Tour player who's been through it to bounce ideas off – that's what's missing with most kids," he adds.
"They don't have time with a mentor, as it were. It may be wrong of me to say it but it seems a bit strange that the kids I play golf with start winning proper tournaments. I text them all the time, spend a lot of time with them, and it's got to help."
In addition to playing between 12 and 15 rounds a year with the man himself, Lawrie also arranges for his team members to get a day's coaching each month with Adam Hunter, who helped the Aberdonian lift the Claret Jug 11 years ago and is back working with him again.
"Adam does the short game with them and I do on-course stuff," says Lawrie. "It's something I think that more Tour players should do, though I understand that some others don't see it the way I see it.
"I can do my job playing in a tournament but when I'm not, I want to help Scottish talent get better. There don't seem to be many others with the same idea."
Not surprisingly, Lawrie is reluctant just now to push too much extra work Hunter's way as he recovers from leukaemia, but he is set to play a role in the Foundation as it spreads its wings in the future.
"We already stage our Junior Jug event right across the country, and I'd like it to go everywhere but the cost is substantial," says Lawrie, who values the support given to the Foundation by the likes of the R and A, PGA and European Tour as well as a whole host of businesses.
"Adam has got five months before he's fully operational and when he is he'll start up Glasgow for us, we'll do a dinner there and events in Glasgow."
It's not just the members of Lawrie's team who are becoming better golfers through playing with him. He also spends a lot of time when he's at home on the golf course with his two sons, Michael and Craig, the latter having shown that he's developing into a tidy player when he beat his old man off scratch for the first time last week.
"That is really good, but I thought it might have been a wee while before it happened!"

Scotland's "lesser-known" courses are world-class venues
As Scotland braces itself for a "Festival of Golf" over the coming weeks, a trip to the Highlands last week served as a timely reminder of how blessed we truly are when it comes to excellent golf courses.
While the TV cameras will rightly be showcasing the likes of St Andrews, Carnoustie and Loch Lomond, there are many lesser-known venues that, as a golfing nation, we should be just as proud of.
The Dave Thomas-designed Macdonald Spey Valley has been a cracking recent addition to our portfolio, as is Castle Stuart, a stunning new course designed by Mark Parsinen and Gil Hanse on the banks of the Moray Firth close to Inverness.
As for Boat of Garten, it must surely rank up there among the best laid-out courses in the world, the challenge from every tee on the Highlands course being testament to the masterful James Braid.

Murray shows Saltman & Co that patiences does pay in the end

George Murray's splendid win in the Scottish Hydro Challenge at the weekend should have sent out a clear message to the likes of Lloyd Saltman, Callum Macaulay, Gavin Dear and Wallace Booth.
It has taken the likeable Fifer four years to chalk up his maiden professional victory and, in waiting for that memorable moment to come along, Murray has had to exhibit considerable patience.
As a former Scottish Amateur champion, he certainly had the talent to try his luck in the paid ranks but that on its own isn't enough for a player to taste success on the Challenge Tour, far less the main European circuit.
Murray has had to learn how to become a winner all over again in a much tougher school than the amateur circuit, and now Saltman, Macaulay, Dear and Booth are in exactly the same boat.