Royal Dornoch 400-Year Community Time Capsule to be buried on Monday, January 2

NEWS  RELEASE

Dornoch, Sutherland: As the final event of the prestigious year in Dornoch, Royal Dornoch Golf Club and the local community have come together to organise the burying of a Time Capsule commemorating the 400 year celebrations and life in Dornoch.

The capsule will include many items from throughout the 400-year celebrations including a signed pin flag by all the Royal Dornoch Staff and mementos of the year from the club and community.  

 As technology moves apace it was decided, in addition to electronic media printed images of the events, the professional golfers, the celebrities, members, community, and visitors would also be included.

Neil Hampton, General Manager, comments “It caused an interesting discussion within the Club, from our older members thinking of the changes in their lives, to the younger members thinking of what developments they will see over the next 100 years.”

Supporting the project, Lynne Mahoney, Curator, Historylinks Museum, has worked with the Brownies and the Boys Brigade working with each group on a collage that can be rolled up and put inside the capsule.

 The work details the organisations the children belong to and what life is like for them in 2016, then the children's predictions for life in 2116.

“2016 has been a wonderful year for us here in Dornoch.” Commented Joan Bishop, Chair of DA CiC. “Royal Dornoch Golf Club’s celebrations and the embracing of the event by the local business, local people, schools and organisation have created such a positive sense of community.  If we capture that in the Capsule it will be brilliant.”

The time capsule will be buried on Monday 2^nd January 2017, after the East of the Burn v West o’ the Burn match.  An ideal location at the start of the path that leads from the 18th green to the clubhouse, was chosen, with all who play the Royal Dornoch Course over the next century will walk over that very spot.  A plaque will be placed above the capsule, with instructions for the box to be opened in 100 years.

As a closing thought we hope that many of the youngest involved will be there to open the capsule when Royal Dornoch and the Community Celebrate 500 years of golf in Dornoch.

Deeside GC managing to buck the trend with a 

vibrant junior membership of boys AND girls

 

John Allan, Nigg Bay Golf Club's new match secretary, Emailed Scottishgolfview.com a few days ago, asking for help and suggestions from any individual or body with regard to the drastic falling off of junior membership at the Balnagask club, Aberdeen.

It has only two junior members.

We asked GB and I Curtis Cup-winning team captain Elaine Farquharson-Black, who is Deeside Golf Club's junior convener, how the Bieldside club is managing to buck the trend with a vibrant junior membership of boys AND girls:

We try to make it fun for all the boys and girls

Says ELAINE FARQUHARSON-BLACK

Deeside Golf Club junior convener

Club golf is meant to encourage players who are not members of a club. Hazlehead runs Clubgolf, but I am not sure about other clubs.

Murcar Links  is providing free junior membership as is Peterculter. A municipal club can't do that as the Town Council charge for playing the course, so the Council would need to reduce prices for juniors, but I can't see that happening as there would be other sports arguing for free use of facilities.

Peterhead have withdrawn from the Junior |Pennant Leaguethis year as they can't field a team, so it is a wider problem. 

Karyn Dallas, club professional at Kirriemuir GC,  runs two-hole events for juniors to try it out. That might be an idea worth exploring.

In terms of Deeside, the club is very welcoming of juniors, both at member level and by the staff. As junior convener, I sit on Council representing the junior members so they are considered in all decision-making, recognising that the juniors will sustain the club going forward. 

We run junior competitions on Saturday afternoons. Those with handicaps of 18 or below play on the Haughton course off the same tees as the men/women for that day's competition and their scores are included in the CSS for the day, again reinforcing that they are part of the wider membership.

On the Deeside GC Blairs course, the juniors can play nine or 18 holes, depending on their ability and stamina!

I am generally there on a Saturday to see the juniors off and when they come in for something to eat at the end of their round.

In the holidays, there are also junior competitions on Mondays and Thursdays and over the winter we run an eclectic and have a team playing in the men's winter foursomes competition.

We run coaching sessions for the juniors once a month, different classes for different abilities.  Deeside GC Director of Golf Frank Coutts and his assistant, Graeme Nethercott,  are very supportive of the juniors. 

We run a Facebook and Twitter account for the juniors, posting pictures of what they have been up to, at Deeside and at other events. 

We try to make it fun; encouraging juniors of all abilities to enjoy the facilities. Not sure that we have all the answers!

ELAINE FARQUHARSON-BLACK

JUNIOR ORANGE BOWL INTERNATIONAL GOLF – Day 2

Karl Vilips stays on top in Boys, Somi

 Lee now leads Girls

FROM DAVID MACKINTOSH

JOB Press Officer

CORAL GABLES, 28^TH Dec: On a virtually windless day overnight leader, 15-year old Australian Karl Vilips, added a smooth 67 to his opening-day 65, racing to a five-stroke lead at 10-under par.

In the Girls Division, with a two-day total of 137, South Korea’s 17-year old Somi Lee overtook France’s Agathe Laisne, who added 72 to her opening 67. Canada’s Monet Chun (68, 73) and Mexico’s Ana Laura Collado (69, 72) are tied third, 12-year old US phenom Alexa Pano posting 71 for a share 5^th place.   

Lee became interested in golf at age 7, when PGA Tour star K.J. Choi offered golf classes at her school and she was quickly hooked. “I immediately liked the discipline of the game,” she said through a translator. Over time she has become one of her country’s most talented amateurs, winning a national tournament for her spot at the Junior Orange Bowl.

“Today I wasn’t as sharp on the greens as I would like,’ she explained. “I missed a lot of birdie chances, by just an edge on several. I need to improve on that but otherwise I’m happy with the way I’ve performed so far.”

Agathe was also pleased that she was able to recover from a poor start. “I don’t know what or why, maybe because the sun was really hot, but I felt tired at the beginning, not sharp, and after seven holes I was three-over. But somehow I was able to switch on some concentration and finish strong.” Birdies at both back-nine par fives help cement that recovery.

Again Vilips made simple work of a less-than-easy golf course. Starting at 10^th with a birdie, pitching to tap-in distance, he held steady for that nine, then pounced on three more birdies on the shorter front side. “I could have putted better, but it was a fair round, nothing too much went wrong. No eagles like yesterday, but my driving was fine, and I had good flight control.”

Chile’s Joaquin Neumann, the 2014 winner, complied a solid 1-under par 70, marred only by a double-bogey at the par- 12^th, moving him into a second-place tie with 16-year old Argentine Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira. 

“I had a good driving day and my long iron play was accurate, so I was able to make a lot of chances,” the Argentine Junior Champion said, disappointed only by a short putt missed at his 17^th hole.

USA’s Brian Tech’s 67, highlighted by an eagle 3 at the final hole, 

tied Vilips for low round of the day.

Scottish boys champion Eric McIntosh (Bruntsfield Links) is tied 

for 46th place with rounds of 79 and 75 for a 12-over-par tally of 

154 over the par 71 Biltmore Course.


Eric  is finding the outward half hard to master.  For the second 

day in a row it cost him 40 strokes (five over par). In contrast he 

covered the second nine in one-under-par 35 with birdies at the 

11th, short 14th and par-5 18th


 

SECOND-ROUND LEADERBOARD

BOYS

par 142 (2x71), yardage 6,742

132 Karl Vilips (Australia) 65 67

137 Joaquin Niemann (Chile) 67 70, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveir 

(Argentina) 69 68

138 Edgar Catherine (France) 68 70

140 Bryan Teoh (USA) 73 67, Will Dickson (USA) 71 69, Pedro Silva (Portugal) 70 70, David Rauch (Germany) 70 70

SELECTED SCORE
154 Eric McIntosh (Scotland) 79 75 (T46)

GIRLS
par 142  (2x71) yardage 6,089

137 Somi Lee (South Korea) 68 69

139 Agathe Laisne (France) 67 72

141 Monet Chun (Canada) 68 73, Ana Laura Collado (Mexico) 69 7

72

144 Tanya Eathakotti (USA) 71 73, Alexa Pano (USA) 73 71