The Course
Early in June we had the annual course inspection by a representative of the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI). He was very complimentary regarding the state of the course after the course following the severe winter. Its condition was among the best he had seen so far this year in Scotland – once again, well done the Greenkeeping Staff. The consequent STRI report advises on measures which will aid course recovery from the effects of the winter. With regard to the disruption to the greens caused by coring for thatch removal it was suggested matters could be further improved the use of smaller tines at closer spacings and carrying out the work prior to October.

Tidying of fallen branches has continued and thanks go to David MacLeod and Mungo Farquhar for their help.

Arrangements are in hand for planting the trees along side the practice area which will eventually screen the Grammar School from view. The trees will be a mixture of Scots Pine, Rowan and Bird Cherry. The work will include removing the growth which is choking the saplings which were planted to screen the Leisure Centre from the course.

Competitions
Congratulations to Niall McLeod on winning the Gent’s Club Championship for the second year running and to Hannah McCook on winning the Ladies’ Club Championship for the third year running. Hannah has also lowered her previous course record from 69 to 68.

Finance
The Club’s finances still remain a cause for concern and will remain so for a long indeterminate period to come. We are now 2/3rds of the way through the Club’s current Financial Year and are managing to stay within budget. This is in spite of the fact that income from our two main sources of revenue, subscriptions and green fees, are below the budget figure. The reason we are within the budget is that expenditure has been less than anticipated and kept under very close scrutiny. There will be little income from subscriptions for the remainder of the year so we must hope that it is a good one for visitors.

Marketing
The Club is supporting the newly instigated Speyside Golf Whisky Trail. The idea behind the initiative is to try and attract golfers to the area who are also keen on a ‘dram’! The Grant Arms, Knockomie and Sunninghill hotels have signed up to the scheme as have the Benromach distillery and the Gordon & Macphail whisky company. Other golf clubs who are supporting the scheme are Elgin, Boat of Garten, Moray and Forres. At the end of May as a part of promotional exercise, a group of golf journalists were invited to stay at the hotels, visit the distilleries and play the courses. They contribute to a wide spectrum of magazines including Golf Monthly, Today’s Golfer, National Club Golfer and Golf Internatioal. They were all very impressed with the quality and condition of our course and high standard of the catering. Hopefully this will eventually result in some good publicity.