....and so into season four. The programme continues to evolve according to experience and the wishes of our members. There was some concern at the beginning of last season that the continual growth in member numbers would lead to constant balloting and the playing exclusion of some of our valued founder members.

Thankfully this has not happened. A combination of additional events and a lowering of the handicap threshhold for new members has removed that problem for now and we shall continue to monitor. 

Bill and Dorothy have been a real catch for the Society and their relaxed efficient manner makes tournament administration seem much more straightforward than it actually is.

 

Our five regional opens remain in place as the core of our fixture list. The Spring meeting provides a good season opener in May and we are more than delighted to announce that Montrose Golf Links Limited is prepared to host the event for next year and hopefully beyond.

Scottish Golf Union have given us the welcome news that the Scottish Seniors Strokeplay will move into June starting 2010.  This will entail a bit of date shuffling for our current June events and we shall contact Dumfries and County to seek a revised date for the South Seniors. Entrants for the Scottish will benefit from an extra month of preparation and courses will be a month further on.

The Autumn Meeting fell victim to freak conditions and we felt very sorry for the Haddington staff who had worked so hard in preparing for our event.

On reflection it was perhaps unwise to have an Order of Merit counting event so close to Finals Day. The OOM has to be finalised, those who had not completed the required number of events deleted, and then the qualifiers contacted to see if they are available.

In response to a suggestion from Steve Ellis we are contemplating a doubles event in line with the successful one run at Hacienda del Alamo. We would like to open this out to members and their guests and we may be able to use two fairly adjacent courses, teams swapping over for round two.  Still some more work to do on this and we'll keep you advised.

Highlight for many will be the new Super Seniors Open at Stirling for the Sandy Pirie Trophy (65 and over) and the 70+ Cup.  This should attract a field of good quality and fine vintage and will be open to non members if not filled by the membership.

We hope to gain a greater level of commitment to the Inter County and shall be working hard to achieve that through all channels. It is an excellent event and we would be very happy if all associations followed the lead of enlightened counties such as Lothians, Glasgow and Perth and Kinross.

 

2010 Fixtures (subject to confirmation)

 

SSGS Dates and Venues 2010 (subject to confirmation)

Date(s)

Event

Venue

Counting

Run By

Thurs/Fri 20th-21st May

Scottish Seniors Spring Open

Montrose

OOM

SSGS

Mon 24th-Fri 28th May

Irish Seniors Strokeplay

Castleroy

No

GUI

Thurs/Fri 10th-11th June

East of Scotland Seniors

Kinross

OOM

SSGS

Thurs/Fri 17th-18th June

Central Scotland Seniors Open

Glenbervie

OOM

SSGS

Tue/Fri 29th June-2nd Jul

Scottish Seniors Strokeplay

Pollok

OOM

SGU

Thurs/Fri 8th-9th July

West of Scotland Seniors Open

Lanark

OOM

SSGS

Mon 19th-Fri 23rd July

Scottish Seniors Match-Play Championship

Kinross

OOM

SSGS

Thurs/Fri 29/30 July

SSGS Super Seniors

Stirling

No

SSGS

August 5th/6th

South of Scotland Seniors

 Dumfries & County

 OOM

 SSGS

Wed 11th - Fri 13th Aug

British Seniors Amateur Championship

Walton Heath

OOM

R & A

Thur 19th-Fri 20th Aug

North of Scotland Seniors Open

Duff House Royal

OOM

SSGS

Thur 26th-Fri 27th Aug

Scottish Seniors Autumn Doubles

The Glen and Haddington

No

SSGS

Wed. 1st - Sat 4th Sep

European Seniors team Championships

Fairhaven

No

EGA

Thurs 9th September

Order of Merit Finals Day

The Blairgowrie

OOM

SSGS

Mon 13th- Fri 17th Sep

Senior Home Internationals

Craighead, Crail

No

SGU

Thurs 23rd Sept

Inter Area Team Championship

Musselburgh

No

SSGS