On a beautiful late autumn day with the sun shining out of a cloudless sky 12 boys attended the Development Centre at Brighouse Bay on Sunday 22 November. It was cold but this did not deter the South elite squad from enjoying a day’s golf under the tutelage of PGA coaches Chris Robinson and David Broadfoot. It was a culture shock for David who had only returned from a fortnight of warm sunshine in Florida the night before. By the end of the day he had goose pimple on the goose pimples!
In the morning, after a few tips on warming up, the boys played a 10 hole singles competition to use the best of the weather. The course, although in good condition, was heavy underfoot and accurate ball striking was extremely difficult. No good scores were returned, but most of the boys recorded good scores at some of the holes interspersed with a variety of disasters. Despite not having played or practiced for a few weeks due to the adverse weather most boys recovered their swing and rhythm by the end and adjourned for a welcome hot plate of soup for lunch.
The afternoon lesson was on Perfect Putting. The professionals focussed on green reading and speed control and the boys listened intently on how to read the borrows and to hit all putts past the hole as the ball only deviates from the line over the last 12 inches. They had a practice at this and then had a competition of snakes and ladders where from a number of selected points around the green the boys had to chip and then sink the putt. If they were successful in two or less attempts they moved on to the next chipping point. If they failed from any point they went back to the beginning to start again. All the boys finished the course but some took longer than others!
As the sun went down in the late afternoon the boys went to the driving range to practice flight control. All the boys thoroughly enjoyed the day and went home with many thought to consider on how to introduce improvements to their game. The Executive of the South of Scotland Golfers’ Association would like to thank resident professional Jim Dougal for his course preparation work and assistance on the day.
The boys who attended the Performance Day were, Ross Whyte (D&G), Ryan Cano (Thornhill), Grant Hannah (Thornhill), Mitchell Cowie (D&C), Angus Bendall (Castle Douglas), Jamie Alison (D&G), Nathan Watson (Kirkcudbright), Fraser Lewis (D&C), Callum McMillan (Kirkcudbright), William Squires (Kirkcudbright), Jamie Marchbank (D&G) and Greig Rice (D&C).