Merchistonian Golf Club

FROM THE NINETEENTH HOLE

Message from the Captain

I took over from Bill Peterkin as Captain of the Merchistonian Golf Club at the Autumn Meeting at Elie in September 2007. I am honoured to have been elected and will do my best to further the interests of the Club aver the next two years. I would like to do what I can to enable us to bring former pupils of Merchiston closer together with each other, no matter what their golfing aspirations or handicaps may be, by encouraging social golfing activities, all as outlined by Graeme Scott, our secretary, in the detailed fixture list of social fixtures, inter-school matchers and competitive events in the calendar.

Thanks Graeme for all your input and terrific contribution to the Club. Thanks also to the team selectors who carry out the sometimes thankless task of team selection for the matches.

Let us all enjoy our common heritage.

I do hope you will invite some new members to join our unique club.

The Merchistonian Golf Club had an outstanding year in 2006-07. All of us, both young and old, are proud of the commitment and outstanding work put in by the team selectors and the players. We won the Stenhouse Quaich last year and were fierce competitors at the Halford Hewitt tournament, but it was not our turn to win, even ij typical Scottish weather at Deal- high winds, rain and mist!

I am pleased to say that Morison Zuill has agreed to come out of retirement to assist Stuart Briggs and to team select and encourage our committed squad of players- well done. Merchiston has always been a centre of excellence in many sports. The friendships formed in our golf club are lifelong.

I would also like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Bill Peterkin, whose years of office were marked with great dedication to the Club and School alike. Bill has been a faithful supporter of Club events and has guided the Club with a steady hand and great sense of humour during his term in office. I hope I can, in some way, try to emulate his achievement.

On a sad note, it is with regret that I have to advise you of the death of Guthrie Wilson, a former Captain of the Club. I am sure you will join me in sending our condolences to his family.

Campbell McLaren

Captain

Results

Golf Club Membership

Key dates:-

Link to Fixtures in 2008...

Meetings

2008 Meetings

Cross Border Challenge: Goswick Links - 13th June 2008

Goswick Links is situated just to the south of Berwick upon Tweed and, as a qualifying course for this year’s Open Championship, proved to be a good test of golf for the eleven contenders, who had travelled from as far as Cumbria to the south and Perthshire to the north to play in the Cross Border Challenge. Conditions were near perfect as the teams drove from the first tee, with light clouds and a moderate breeze.

As ever the competition, between those living on the English and Scottish sides of the border, was scored on stableford points, with the winning team having the better average score. After a narrow win for the south, last year, a determined northern team just managed to regain the Ascham House Cup by 29 points to the south’s 28.25. Steady scoring by Graeme Scott with 35 points and John Aitchison with 33 gave the team a sound footing while the backing of the rest secured success. From the south, David Robertson’s 38 points was the best on the day and it also gave him the Merchiston Shield for the best nett score of 73, beating Graeme Scott by one shot. The longest drive was won by Hugh Bain and nearest the pin, on the 15th green was won by Alan Christie with a shot that left a putt of about ten feet.

The Scottish team was: John Aitchison, Donald Bain, Alan Christie Malcolm Gourlay, Neil Kilpatrick and Graeme Scott and for the English: Hugh Bain, John Burn, Peter Milne, David Robertson and Gordon Taylor. Next year, when we return to compete north of the border where I hope we can attract more than one Merchistonian below the age of 60!

F David Robertson

Above: John Burm Gordon Taylor, Neil Kilpatrick and Graeme Scott

Left:Hugh Bain, Donald Bain and Malcolm Gourlay

More photos from Goswick Links...

Scottish Wayfarers Senior Team Over 50's, 10th and 11th May 2008, Scratch Foursomes at Prestwick Golf Club

The Scottish Wayfarers is a golfing society nowadays. In bygone days it  fielded rugby,cricket and squash teams etc; to play against the schools,consisting of Edinburgh Accies, Fettes, Glenalmond, Loretto, Merchiston and Strathallan.

The Scottish Wayfarers met for their Annual meeting at Prestwick on in the most idillic of conditions. Sunshine,blue skies and a light breeze. All participants gathered around midday.

Saturday's golf started with a Stableford competition and the best teams qualified to play on Sunday - in a scratch knockout competition for the trophy.  This after a sumptuous luncheon. The last two teams played for the wooden spoon on Sunday morning.

The bad news first. Merchiston lost to Edinburgh Accies to retain the wooden spoon! We went down 2 matches to one -Zuill and McLaren - the only winners, although the other two matches went to the wire.  We were hindered by call-off's from some of our originally selected team members who were low handicappers.To survive and do well in a scratch competition like this one, we have to field asstrong a group of players that we can lay our hands on. Not to be.

Fettes went on to beat Strathallan and Glenalmond beat Loretto in the semi-final . In the final Fettes beat Glenalmond in another action packed 'duel in the sun' on Sunday afternoon to lift the trophy .

Prestwick Golf Club provided a splendid dinner for us all on Saturday evening in their classic, long table dining room.  A fabulous venue steeped in golfing history.

The Merchistonian team comprised  Stuart Briggs, Morison Zuill, Peter Lawrence, Bill Hannay, Bill Peterkin, Douglas Buchanan and the Captain.

All together a fabulous weekend of golf, socialising and networking!

Grafton Morrish, Royal Burgess - Friday 9 May 2008

The Grafton Morrish competition attracted a field of 11 schools to the Scottish regional qualifying at Barton, who were competing for 5 places in the final 32 next autumn.      Merchistonian Golf Club was represented by Sir Peter Burt & Robin Lawson, John McKean and Charlie Simpson, and Chris Cowan & Martin Stein.    The latter were our star pair with 35 gross stableford points, but the three couple total of 88 points missed out on qualification for the finals in Norfolk by just one point.      Dollar, Heriots, and Loretto were among those successful.

Merchistonians v Lorettonians, Sunday 27 April 2008 at Muirfield

On a perfect day for golf, and a competitive team, with handicaps ranging from 3 to 19, we got off to a flier and came into lunch 4 games up. Needless to say, lunch tasted that much better! In the afternoon we managed to stay ahead to win by 2.5 to 1.5, giving us an overall victory of 6.5 to 1.5.   Well done to all - our first victory since 2000.

Team consisted of Roger Baird, Colin Barbour, Stuart Briggs, Alan Caithness, Bill Hannay, Bill Peterkin, David Robertson and Chris Smith

Halford Hewitt Cup.10 - 13 April 2008 at Deal/Sandwich

After last year's Quarter Final we were hoping to go further.  We were welcomed to idyllic conditions for practice, but the usual breezes followed us into the competition proper.  Drawn at Sandwich (the  6th time in 9 years) we disposed of Cranleigh 4.5 to 0.5 in the 1st Round then overcame a plucky Felsted side by 3.5 to 1.5. We were in a confident mood for the 3rd Round versus Harrow who had paired their five experienced players with five  youngsters. Circumstances worked against us in that Chris Cowan's back gave in on the practice ground within minutes of his tee off time.

The Harrovians kindly allowed us to bring in a replacement but we were understandably unable to alter either the pairings or the team order - this made a considerable difference to our chances.  Martin Stein and Michael Rolland lost to their strongest pair playing at One. Dougie Cowan and his new partner Morison Zuill played very well but were overcome at the 15th,so it was down to the final 3 pairs to produce the points. At 3 Charlie Simpson and Andrew Lawson finally won on the 19th after their opponents came back from 3 down - only a brilliant putt by Andrew on 18 kept them alive.  John McKean and Logan Mair playing ever more tidy golf closed out the 4th game 3/2.Back markers Harry Thomson and Ricky Cowan were in the hot seat and did very well to battle back from 3 down at the 12th to All square after the 17th through deft chipping and putting, only to be thwarted at the 18th by a steady 5 up 18 against the strong breeze. A case of "what might have been" but Harrow must be congratulated on reaching the Semi Finals. It is worth noting that during the event, Charlie Simpson played his 25th game, Martin Stein in his 50th and the ever green Morison Zuill his 118th,only 47 years after his first .Also Chris, Dougie and Ricky Cowan became only the second set of brothers to represent their School in Hewitt history, Congratulations to all six!

Team consisted of Chris Cowan, Dougie Cowan, Ricky Cowan, Andrew Lawson, John McKean, Logan Mair, Michael Rolland, Charlie Simpson, Martin Stein, Harry Thomson and Morison Zuill.

Stuart Briggs

Stenhouse Quaich 29/30 March 2008 at Elie

The closeness of Easter made team selection hard for all teams, however it was a more closely fought tussle than usual, with ourselves being squeezed out of a third consecutive victory.   On Saturday morning we played Glenalmond and Fettes.  Both were tight matches with a Tie being registered against Glenalmond and an extraordinary win over Fettes by dint of a 10 up victory from Chris Smith and Quentin Dunlop.  In the afternoon we recorded another narrow win over Loretto of + 2.   Sunday morning was somewhat of a catastrophe - suffice to say we should not have lost to the Strathallians, who took advantage of our poor play.  We finished on a higher note with a win over The Academy, but to no avail as we discovered Loretto had won the Quaich for the first time in 17 years - well done to them.

Results
 v Fettes W +1, Glenalmond Tied, Loretto W +2
v Strathallan L -5, Academy W +3

Team consisted of Stuart Briggs, Chris Cowan, Dougie Cowan, Ricky Cowan, Quentin Dunlop, Dave Hutchison, Campbell McLaren, David Morrison, Charlie Simpson, Chris Smith, Martin Stein, Donald Thomson, Harry Thomson and Morison Zuill.

Spring Meeting - Sunday 9 March 2008

Our successful Spring Meeting took place on Gullane No.3.   18 attended and Martin Stein won both the Medal and Stableford competitions.

2007 meetings

Match v School Muirfield - 17th June 2007

Merchistonians: Roger Baird, Hamish Ballantyne, Alan Brown, Sandy Corstorphine, Malcolm Gourlay, John Harvey Rigg

Merchistonians won 2.5:0.5

Old Glenalmond Panmure - 29th July 2007

During conversations prior to the fixture, all members contacted suggested the Merchistonians need to learn how to lunch. Although in the last two years we have crept away with a tight victory, we have always lost the afternoon matches. We are all talk and no substance! The morning ended halved at 2.5: 2.5 but we only managed to win one match after lunch, losing overall by 3.5 to 6.5.

Harry Thomson and Ken Fisher were the only Merchistonians not to lose a match. Harry only played in the morning and had to rush home without anything to eat. Ken did however make a pretty good effort at trying to lose in the morning along with the writer.We lost a four stroke lead, followed by a dormie three position, only to halve the match. This was not uncommon throughout the day as strong leads crumbled to narrow victories or even defeat.

Old Glenalmond, having suffered two straight defeats, were determined to avoid the hat-trick and wheeled out a Halford-Hewittesque team. Merchistonians, as always, had a much more sociable mix of players, notably Hamish Wilson who agreed to play in the afternoon although only eligible as a Merchistonian by two months.

Thanks to all who turned out for an enjoyable day at Panmure. Next year we shall have a lunch practice the week before!

Ian Wilson

Autumn meeting Elie - 15th September 2007

Nothing was too much trouble! Graeme Barclay jetted in from Australia, Logan Mair and Michael Grint from London, Harvey Rigg helicoptered in much to the excitement of the locals- road works on the Forth Road Bridge were postponed for the day.

There was an excellent attendance with 66 taking part. It was a 20 year celebration for members of the 1987 winning Halford Hewitt team and we were joined by Andrew and Barbara Hunter; Nick Blair, the School Chaplain; two of the boys; Malcolm Gourlay, the Chairman of the Board; and Campbell McLaren, the incoming Captain.

In spite of the propitious weather, the scores could only be described as ‘average’ with one or two notable exceptions. Martin Stein won the Gold Medal with a gross score of 73 and Donald Bain the Silver with a nett score of 70 including a 9 at the 13 th (so much for his apology on the 1 st tee that his golf was poor!).

The catering was excellent, the Woodwards and their staff must be complemented, the buzz of conversation indicated a high level of enjoyment, and the evening terminated with sincere thanks to Bill for his great enthusiasm, effort and humour as retiring Captain.

Graeme Scott

Halford Hewitt Reunion

At our Autumn Meeting in Elie last September, a Reunion of the 1987 Halford Hewitt Winning Team was held alongside the Annual Dinner.

The Captain of that team, Alan Mickel, headed up a table of likely looking lads, some wearing better then others, but all just as competitive, vociferous and confident as 20 year’s ago!

Those who joined the Captain, in their original pairings, were:-

Chris Cowan/ Robin Lawson, Graeme Barclay/John McMillan, Barry Laird/ Morison Zuill, Stuart Briggs/ Donald Thomson. Unfortunately top couple Harry Thomson and Stewart Zuill were unable to attend but were not forgotten, and the late Alasdair MacLaren was remembered for his part in this outstanding victory. It was a splendid night of reminiscing and hilarity. Hopefully it won’t be long before a fourth victory in the competition is recorded- 20 years is too long!

Many thanks go to John MacMillan for his superb organisational and persuasive skills in getting so many of us there.

Stuart Briggs

Old Sedberghians Prestwick - 14th October 2007

Team: Iain Brechin, Stuart Briggs, Ken Fisher, Graham Hardie, Bill Peterkin, Sandy Robertson

Result: Merchistonians 3.5: Old Sedberghians 4.5

On a dry day, by lunchtime Merchistonians had established a lead of 2.5:1.5. Clearly this was considered a secure lead as we relaxed and enjoyed the excellent hospitality to the full. Unfortunately Sedberghians saved their best for the afternoon winning 3 of the 4 matches to win overall.

As the return fixture is on 13 th April 2008 at Muirfield with its own brand of excellent hospitality, I would be interested to hear from any Merchistonian, golfing, Trappist monks!

Ian Ballantine

Representative Competitions Stenhouse Quaich: Elie - 17th/18th March 2007

We were delighted to win this trophy for the second year in succession.

The wind was blowing at gale force on both days which made golf very difficult, but the team rose to the occasion and triumphed.

There was a Dinner on the Saturday night which was well attended and very good.

TEAMS

Saturday:

Stuart Briggs, Chris Cowan, Ricky Cowan, Euan Douglas,

Michael Rolland, Chris Smith, Martin Stein, Harry Thomson

Sunday:

Stuart Briggs, Dougie Cowan, Euan Douglas, David Morrison,

Michael Rolland, Charlie Simpson, Chris Smith, Martin Stein

RESULT.

1st Merchistonians.

Won Halved Lost Holes up

3 1 1 32

2nd Edinburgh Academicals

Won Halved Lost Holes up

3 1 1 11

3rd Loretto

4th Fettes

5th Glenalmond

6th Strathallan.

It was a fine effort and it was most encouraging to have so many good young players involved. My thanks go to Stuart Briggs and Chris Cowan for putting the team together.

There was the usual Medal Competition on Saturday. Three Merchistonians were the only entrants. Graeme Scott won with a commendable gross 90 in the conditions. Bill Peterkin won the handicap with a net 83 as Graeme was not allowed to claim both prizes. Campbell McLaren was a close third. The Medal was still with last year’s winner. Nobody could remember who he was so we came away empty handed!

Glenalmond fielded a very handsome female and our Secretary got quite excited!

Bill Peterkin

Halford Hewitt Deal - 29th March to 1st April 2007

We had a good run in this important competition, being knocked out in the quarter finals by Epsom who lost in the final to Watsons.

In the first round we beat Cheltenham 3/2.In the second we beat Haileybury 3/2 with Ricky Cowan and Euan Douglas having a dramatic win at the 21 st hole. Ricky holed a 15 footer at the 20 th hole to keep the match alive and then hit a wedge dead from 50yds out of the rough. We beat Whitgift 4/1 in the third round and lost 3 1/2 to 1 ½ to Epsom.

The weather was unusually kind for the Hewitt, but there was a strong wind blowing throughout the week.

THE TEAM.

Colin Briggs, Euan Douglas, Ricky Cowan, David Hutchison, Michael Rolland, Charlie Simpson, Gavin Spencer, Martin Stein.

It was a splendid effort by all and it is encouraging that we have a good sized pool of strong and young players to draw on.

Campbell Mclaren joined us on Friday and the Zuill Brothers were present on Friday and Saturday. Their support was greatly appreciated.

My thanks go to Stuart Briggs and Chris Cowan for their wise counsel.

The week was huge fun with much hilarity and laughter throughout. Things look good for next year.

Bill Peterkin.

Queen Elizabeth Royal Burgess - 21st to 24th September 2007

Lost in the 2nd round to Glasgow Accies having beaten previous winners, Hutchesons in the 1st.

Thanks to Bill Peterkin

At our Autumn Meeting held at Elie last September, Bill Peterkin demitted office after two most enjoyable and energetic years as Captain of the Golf Club.

Bill has devoted much time to both the representative and social events. Representative-wise, Bill’s teams have won the Stenhouse Quaich twice, narrowly lost a Queen Elizabeth semi-final and reached the quarter final in the Halford Hewitt in 2007.

From the Club’s perspective, his enthusiasm, humour and unique style of leadership has ensured that he leaves the Club in great heart, with more members involving themselves in Club activities than ever before.

Thank you, Bill, on behalf of the Club for a most successful Captaincy.

Stuart Briggs