GARY FORBES SAYS ALLIANCE PLAY TOO SLOW, PRIZE MONEY TOO LOW

TIME FOR A NEW APPROACH TO NE 

ALLIANCE  FOURSOMES - AND THE 

REGULAR EVENTS TOO

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
The North-east Alliance foursomes match-play tournament used to be the closing highlight of the circuit's season.
Not any more. This past week's staging at Murcar Links featured only ONE professional and 15 amateurs in the scratch section when it should have been eight pros, partnered by eight amateurs.
In years gone by, the pros who played in the Alliance were club pros. Nowadays, they are
young pros, marking time until the various circuits on which they can play start up again in the spring.
David Law, Jordan Findlay and Philip McLean were playing in Egypt, Ross Cameron in Portugal, and Kris Nicol, Craig Lawrie, Sam Kiloh and others were playing in the PGA EuroPro Tour Qualifying School Stage 1 events in England.
"Local" pros such as Joel Hopwood, Laura Murray, Colin Nelson, regulars during the NE Alliance autumn-winter-spring season chose not to make themselves available for the NE Alliance foursomes.
Dave Wilson and Dave Mackay, joint organisers of the NE Alliance circuit, realise that something has to be done to avoid another end-of-the-season foursomes damp squib.
From what I can gather they will look for dates a little bit earlier in the year that don't clash with the annual EuroPro Tour Qualifying School nor the German PGA developmental tour or Jamega Tour events that.
Once upon a time, the eight pros did not have to qualify for the foursomes although the amateurs did through the championship.
Perhaps it is time to return to that format. Messrs Wilson and Mackay would then draw up a list of pros who would play in the foursomes if available.
Time and money also hold the key.
Gary Forbes, the Murcar Links pro, told me that he no longer plays in the Alliance competitions because the play is too slow, and he cannot spare
five hours + travelling time away from his pro's shop.
"The other factor is money. The prizemoney in the Alliance in general and the foursomes in particular is probably the same as it was 10, 15 years ago," said Gary.
"Golf professionals play golf to make money and I feel the organisers have to take a long hard look at the question of prizemoney."
Personally, I don't agree with the fact that the North-east Alliance championship does not have prizemoney as such for the 36-hole aggregates.
Prizes are allocated to amateurs and pros as if the
two rounds, admittedly played on different days, were two separate NE Alliance competitions.
Contrast that with the Edinburgh and East of Scotland Alliance championship at Gullane last week.
A total of £1,000 was up for grabs in the professional section alone. Lloyd Saltman who won the title received something like £400 plus the title plus the Uniroyal Trophy.
That's the kind of thinking the North-east Alliance has to adopt to move with the times. A £1,000 prizelist for the NE Alliance foursomes would also change a few pros' attitude to playing in the tournament.
If it means that entry fees, on top of their usual fee for a weekly competition, have to be charged for the championship and the foursomes, so be it.
The amateurs would also receive bigger prize vouchers in both tournaments.
What I really would like to see is a return to the days when most club professionals in the North-east played regularly in the weekly Alliance competitions. Perhaps a bigger "carrot" in the shape of bigger cash prizes would draw them back?
Or maybe a touch of enterprise, as is being shown by Lee Sutherland, the Monfieth pro who runs the Midland Alliances, is called for.
Lee regularly finds sponsors for pro-am team events within the regular Midland Alliance schedule. 
A touch of variety ... bigger prize money .... that's
two suggestions.
Now let's hear yours

IF YOU ARE A REGULAR PARTICIPANT ON THE NE ALLIANCE CIRCUIT, PRO OR AMATEUR, AND YOU WANT TO EXPRESS YOUR VIEW ON THE TOPIC, E-MAIL IT TO
Colin@Scottishgolfview.com and we'll get a debate going.