Mr Hahn

Just back from a wee holiday on the north coast in which I took in a couple of courses. Nairn Dunbar on Monday with my dad was a treat. Really enjoyed it and thanks to a reciprocal agreement with Newmachar, got on for a great price of £25. Helps that I played really well and brushed my old man aside 4&2. Took the lead with a birdie (holed the putt below) at the lovely par 3 3rd and never lost it from then on. Was holding my score together really well with some nice putting and was 1 over par teeing off at the 9th. I thought the best holes on the course were 9 and 10 but they proved to be my downfall with a lost ball at 9 and a ball in the burn at 10. 18 as well was a cracking closing hole. Course was playing pretty firm with a steady breeze throughout but glorious sunshine so really couldn't have hoped for a better day. Thought the only think lacking from the course was a view of the sea which its slightly more illustrious neighbour at Nairn has in abundance. That was going to be that for the golf but we were due to leave our accommodation in Nairn by 10am this morning and I didn't really fancy wasting the day so had a look at Moray GC as it's on the way home and realised the New course was going for £30 a round for a single. Was very windy which made it very challenging and the course was playing even firmer than Nairn Dunbar. Played the front 9 quite nicely in a couple over par but a couple of balls into the gorse early on the back 9 and I stopped counting my score. Must admit, I didn't like it as much as Nairn Dunbar. Thought a few holes were a bit uninteresting and, with gorse flanking both fairways on most of the holes, you really can't afford to go far offline or it's a lost ball. I don't mind gorse to an extent, but it's absolutely the defining hazard of this course. I also thought it lacked a stellar par 3. They all felt pretty short and fairly easy, I played them in 1 under par. Best holes for me were the 7th, long par 4 with bunkers framing a narrow area of fairway to thread your drive through, and 18 which is an excellent closing hole. The strong helping win and rock hard fairways meant I only had 60 yards into the 421yd 18th, meaning my 3 wood must have gone about 360yds . All in all, a great round in lovely weather, particularly at that price, but not sure I'd play it again at full price.

I've walked across it a couple of times to get to Pittodrie from the beach but never actually played it. It's always looked like an absolute tattie field to me.

I actually didn't mind Louis Laing. He wasn't the best defender we've ever had but thought he was serviceable at our level (cue those with better memories than me posting clips of him scoring OGs). How Mark O'Brien ever made it into professional football let alone a club as famous and magnificent as ours is beyond me.

I like the look of that. If it worked, we could sink the titanic with the amount of deadweight we'd be left with in the squad.

Goalie through to midfield, we're actually really good and I'm actually enjoying watching those aspects of our game. Carson is a Guardiola-esque kind of goalkeeper, great passer, excellent shot stopper. O'Donnell is a big upgrade at right back and Gallagher has been solid so far other than a silly tackle up at Ross County. Bevis has improved a lot, even just this season IMO. He's a solid defender, his distribution isn't always great but I'd actually say it's improved a bit in the Hibs and Accies game. Lamie isn't a LB but he's filling in and not doing bad considering. Our midfield 3 are a joy to watch, particularly Turnbull and Campbell. Turnbull's touch and passing range is first class and Campbell's energy and desire is a perfect compliment to him. Then we get to our forwards and they've been dreadful so far. Seedorf gets a pass from me, mainly because of the low opinion I had to begin with and the flashes he's shown. The rest, hopeless. White is trying his hardest but not convinced he's a premiership level player, Lang might have something but just hasn't shown it the past couple of games. Hylton looks poor, IMO against both Hibs and Accies, him coming on has made the side look severely weaker. Long, I just wish we hadn't signed him tbh, he doesn't suit our style and major questions still about his attitude. Hastie is fucking horrific. Hold my hands up, I thought he'd be a good signing, he wasn't. Which leaves Tony, who I think needs to start the next game assuming he's fit. He's the only one I can see holding his own in that CF position. Our upcoming fixtures don't make for great reading, but who knows, maybe playing against teams who don't play 11 behind the ball might suit us.

DJ birdied the 5th too, played the first 5 holes in 13, 7 under par. -9 through 8 now? So thankful the PGA Tour courses are so tough to make up for how easy the European Tour is.

Finally decide to bite the bullet and join the trolley club for the first time in my life. Have always carried my clubs but recently found that on days when the weather isn't great, the bag starts to weigh a fair bit with all the waterproofs and is bursting at the seams, not to mention carrying is a real faff if the rain is on and off as it frequently is in Scotland. Hopefully a bigger bag and a trolley gives me a bit more energy closing my rounds! Got a lesson booked for a week on Saturday to iron out a few issues I've been having. Been hitting my mid/long irons really nicely but can't hit my shorter irons for toffee and my driver seems to have developed a massive right miss (my bad shot has always been left).

Cheers for that. As much as I'd love to play Castle Stuart, not sure I can resists two rounds at quality courses for £110. Think that combined ticket sounds excellent value.

Linfield

Long coming on. I can hear the sighs of dispondency from Motherwell all the way up here.

O'Donnell down.... Pls lord no

To be fair, he's probably been learning off Peter Hartley most of his time at Motherwell.

"absolutely nothing on target" says Andy Walker just as the attempts on target graphic comes on screen showing 1-1.

We're going a family holiday to Nairn at the end of the month and was looking to sneak some golf in. Was thinking possibly Castle Stuart but hadn't made up my mind yet. Were those courses easy to book for visitors given corona and what were they like pricewise?

Posted this in the match thread as well but probably worth a discussion here as well. Certainly not holding back. Wonder who he's referring too when he sites lack of commitment, can surely only be Chris Long?

Robinson not holding back there

Yasssss, gon yersel Alan.

So that's two ridiculous penalties we've given away in 3 games. FFS

Lovely finish there, shocking defending.

This. Wasn't actually that disheartened by the Ross County game. We created chances, we didn't take them, on another night we're walking away with a 2/3-1 win and fairly happy. Today was a different story, we were absolutely dreadful. We could have played all day and not scored, partly down to a solid Utd defence for which they deserve the plaudits they are getting, but also largely down to our attack looking utterly devoid of ideas and creativity. Starting from the back, Mugabi isn't a bad defender but please, keep the ball away from him. He's awful with it. I like Grimshaw, you always know what you'll get with him but again, distribution not good. Lamie just isn't a full back for me. He looked solid at CB on Monday and am happy with his addition but from what I've seen, CB is his position. I don't think he provides the athleticism of a full back which Carroll did last season and McGinley looked like he could do on Monday. Campbell was probably the best of a bad lot in midfield today. Turnbull looked a lot for the ball but with the lack of anything happening in front of him, backwards seemed the only direction he could go. O'Hara was fine in the first half but again, so little happening in front of him, not sure there was a whole lot he could do. Then the front three. Hastie is shite. That purple patch he had with us to get his move seems to have been solely based on a young player with confidence a plenty. With that confidence stripped away, it's like we're playing with a man down. I didn't think we could sign a worse wide option than Seedorf but Hastie looks to be that player. Speaking of Seedorf, he was alright actually. Looked to take on his man and when he gets up to full speed he's rapid. Still not convinced by him but promising. Long has pace but he's just not a lone striker. He always wants to go in behind but that's not always an option. Sometimes you need to come deeper for the ball and he doesn't seem able to do that. He also has my least favourite trait in a player, he's fucking ball greedy. There was a moment in the second half, he was about 30 yards out, shoulder to shoulder with a defender, on his weak foot and he decided to shoot. Who knows what combo we'll go with up top on Wednesday but I'd get Long and Hastie out. Would go with Watt, Seedorf and probably Hylton. He was decent last season and can't possibly be worse than Hastie.

Could have played all night and not scored. What an absolutely feeble second half.

Not convinced these aren't foul throws from Gallagher..... Hastie still looks shite.

2 doubles on his card killed his round. Koepka with a good start but we all know who we're all here for....Bob McIntyre just getting started.

Suspect I won't be able to head up for a game for a week at least then as my course is just over the border into Aberdeenshire. If that is the case, the local driving range have at least tweeted that they can stay open so at least will be able to hit balls.

Agreed. I think Seedorf's performance on Monday actually raises more questions about Hastie than Seedorf. Seedorf was flying past their full back pretty much every time he got the ball as soon as he came on. I don't think Hastie got past him once and he didn't really look like he believed in himself. I think we saw enough of Seedorf last season to say with confidence that he isn't very good, so if he was destroying a full back that Hastie was struggling against, that's a tad worrying. Obviously Hastie hasn't had a whole lot of football recently, so will take a few games to see where he's at. Just wasn't the best start. Caveat this post by saying I will happily eat all the words I've posted about Seedorf if he comes good. He obviously has the raw pace.....if he could just stop falling over whenever he got the ball.