funky_nomad

Took the new irons out for a spin in the midweek medal at Ladybank yesterday evening - learned hee-haw about their "true" distances due to a 2-club wind blowing for the first 15 holes, but the putter definitely got the message that I'm having a clearout of old technology as it was on fire last night. 27 putts (including 9 up-and-downs) certainly smartened the scorecard up and, bar a stupid left-right-left-right fairway-avoiding double down the last I'd have won the thing. Still, a wee confidence boost ahead of 36-hole club champs qualifying at Ladybank this weekend, and attempting a salvage operation for the Tulliallan qualifying on Saturday afternoon.

Aye, they are incredibly easy on the eye, but just wait until I post a pic of the Vokey wedges in brushed steel when they arrive - instant stauner...

Magnificent. Great track.

Took delivery of these sexy bad boys yesterday evening - just looking down at them at address makes me feel like a proper golfer. Could've done with them arriving 12 hours earlier as it might've saved me an absolute howler of a day in a Club Champs qualifier played in perfect conditions...

Anyone else having trouble fathoming out their Competition Handicaps? Over my last 3 games my Course Handicaps have been 9, 8 and 8. Corresponding Competition Handicaps have been 8, 7 and 8. I know there's a 95% allocation for Strokeplay and Stableford comps, but the numbers don't appear to make sense, and they don't tally with what I see on the HDID App. In my head I've started using my Handicap Index as my Competition Handicap and anything extra comes as a bonus, but I still find it annoying not knowing what I'm playing off standing on the first tee.

It'd be interesting to see what numbers Scottish Golf have budgeted for in terms of income from Open Play - I recall being at the Scottish Golf Conference when this was initially proposed and the forecasts were pretty wild then! At £5.99 a month the price point only looks sensible for those that already play a decent amount of golf, so I'm not sure where the benefit for casual golfers who only play a couple of times a year with their mates is. SG may of course be hoping that people sign up initially and then forget they've got a direct debit every month... I'd be concerned that those golfers who just want to play in Opens but need a CDH number to play will give up memberships, as this system suits them down to the ground - not sure how many that'd be but it's probably more than I imagine. Even the name would indicate that this is the core market. That could affect club membership much more negatively than the numbers "converted" from Open Play to take up club membership.

I can't think of any other act I've seen live as solo act, duo, trio and four-piece.

They're clearly fond of skating/skaters:

Ooooh, you're in for a treat Estuarine may well be his finest 8+ minutes...

The TV Priest record is a hoot, although possibly best avoided if you don't like Mark E Smith-type vocals. Looking forward to catching them at Stag & Dagger.

The double-whammy of Keel Timing/Bed Head is superb, but the album as a whole hasn't grabbed me by the nuts like Black Mile To the Surface did.

Singular - Loscil is Scott Morgan, and a top bloke he is too. But I'd agree the new record is a belter, has an Endless Falls quality about it. Mind you, he pretty much can't put a foot wrong for me. My favourite discovery over the last year or so has probably been Craven Faults:

Kokrak big into S&M, I hear. Nominative determinism and all that.

Now they just head to Scotscraig, Lundy or Crail. Win/win!

That was effectively the same as getting people to pay for a 3 and a half our advert to come join Ladybank...

Ladybank appear to have picked a few members up from Leven this year for some reason - clearly they don't want to play winter golf as Ladybank shuts at the first sign of frost...

He wears his headband much lower than in his prime

I prefer unknown bushes, keeps things fresh and exciting...

What is this "practice" you speak of???

Ladybank's Championship (Green) Tees add about 200 yards over 6 holes, and they're traditionally only in play for the Spring, Summer and Autumn Meetings and the Club Champs. They really do make 3 or 4 of the holes totally different, and in "old money" Standard Scratch take a par 71 which plays SSS 72 off the Whites to SSS 73 off the Greens. Often the CSS would go up to 74 or 75 when they were in play. Of course, now that they have to be "in play" all the time under WHS (ie if they're listed on your card, you have to be able to play them any time), I do worry whether they will lose their allure slightly - it always felt like a wee treat to play off them 4 or 5 times a year, but I can now pitch up an play off them for a Casual Score (not that I'd actually ever do that unless I wanted to jack my handicap up...)

Is your meeting in Bolton, Blackburn, Burnley, or any other random town in the NW of England beginning with B? If so, you may be in luck... https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-travel-and-transport/

A pretty poor day yesterday with two free-hits - 10.5 and 11.2 doesn't cut the mustard, caused by some poor shots from the middle of the fairway and an ice-cold putter. My next 4 scores are all current Top 8's so on current form I may do some real damage to the Handicap Index over the next fortnight...

Meanwhile, Ladybank have just started selling branded versions of those rake attachment thingies: An absolute bargain at £9... What odds will you give me that they'll be selling these at £1 a pop in a couple of months once Scottish Golf sees the logic behind approaches like Balbirnie's?

It'll be interesting to see if some clubs decide they won't revert to flags that can be taken out due to the number of seniors who love not having to bend over to grab their balls...

Job share?