With last week’s competition unplayable due to the snow, Helensburgh Golf Club members were keen to get out and play in Sunday’s Frostbite event.

Thirty-four gents ventured out with half handicaps applied due the number of winter greens in use.

The scoring was very good with almost a third of the players returning 20 points or more. However, the irrepressible Alan Scott took first place on 27 points. Close behind and snapping at his ankles was Terry Smith on 26 points and who recorded a very impressive 5 pointer on the 6th hole with a net 1 stroke! Unfortunately, his good work was undone on the 8th when he reversed the order and took 5 strokes for 1 point!

Dougie Singleton won the scorecard raffle to take home a Titleist leather glove and a sleeve of Pro V1’s. The leader-board is now live, although only two players have submitted the necessary 6 cards. Karl Powell and Ramsay Howarth have set the mark at 19.83 and 19.67 respectively. As previously mentioned Craig McPhee is close behind with 19.17 having only played 5 times, so watch this space. Last year’s competition was won with 22.17 points so there is work to be done by all.

Finally the hole-in-one pot is now £411.

On Saturday, Alan Scott preceded his Sunday performance by coming second in the Pro-shop 11 Hole Stableford along with Jamie Francis and David Tolhurst, all on 24 points. Alan Rankin, however, took the honours in first place out of 33 players, with 25 pts.

Well done to Helensburgh Golf Club’s Ladies’ Section which has raised a grand total of £2150 for Helensburgh & Lomond Young Carers. At the beginning of the year the incoming Ladies’ Captain at the Club chooses a charity for which to raise funds during her year in office. Ludka Aitken, the Captain for 2015 presented Sharon Richardson and Young Carer, Iona Shanks with the cheque. The money was raised by the Ladies Section with the support of Club members and visiting players throughout the season. Sharon thanked them all for their generosity and assured members that the money will be used for projects to help Young Carers in the community. Photo L to R – Sharon Richardson: Young Carer Development Co-ordinator, Ludka Aitken and Iona Shanks.

Warm congratulations to Ian Irving, who was appointed HGC’s new Captain at our AGM on Thursday. Also, congratulations to Margaret Thompson, appointed Captain of the Ladies’ Section for the coming year. We wish them both every success during their term of office.

Fraser Hall, Helensburgh Golf Club’s PGA Professional, has been nominated for the TGI Pro-shop of the Year. TGI are the main Buying Partnership for Golf Professionals and competing with a number of over 500 PGA Professionals, we are delighted to announce that Fraser is included in a short-list of 4 for the Award.

Fraser is the only PGA Professional in Scotland to have his Pro-shop nominated by the TGI Board. The previous recent winners of the Award were Prestwick Golf Club and North Berwick Golf Club so it is a fantastic achievement for him and his staff that our Helensburgh Pro-shop has been recognised for this.

The Award will be decided at the Award Dinner at the Belfry in February and we wish Fraser, Matt & Dominic all the best with this.