MESSAGE FROM THE CAPTAIN
The golfing year is passing quickly and the Kildalton Cross week is not too far away once again. Quite a lot has been happening within the Golf Club over the last few months and I hope this Islay Links brings you up to speed with these changes and developments.
Malcolm King has now sold the Machrie Hotel and Golf Course to Graham Lacey, a businessman from the Isle of Man. Mr Lacey owns a number of Hotels and Golf Courses within the UK including Portadown in the Isle of Man.
Firstly, I would like to thank Malcolm King on behalf of all members of Islay Golf Club for his genuine and good relationship with the club, which has contributed to the success and growth of the club. I am sure that all members will agree that his investment in the facilities, especially the Golf Course, has been appreciated and provided us all with a great golf course in tremendous condition. We wish you well Malcolm and we look forward to seeing you back playing the Machrie Links in the near future.
I would like to welcome on behalf of all Islay Golf Club Members, Graham Lacey and his team. We look forward to working with Graham and his management team and continuing the close relationship between Hotel and Islay Golf Club. We look forward to the future developments at Machrie and forging links with your other Courses.
The course continues to improve and Simon and his team have introduced further changes to the course over the last few months. The majority of members I have talked to believe the changes do enhance the course, but I would encourage everyone to continue to give feedback to Simon Freeman regarding the changes to the 12th and 14th holes. A feedback form is available within the clubhouse and Simon is always willing to listen to the Committee and club members.
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CLUB CREST
Our Vice Captain Derek Gray has commissioned a new Club Crest (which is detailed below).
Jumpers with the new Crest will be available for order during the Cross week.
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CLUB SECRETARY
I am pleased to announce that Ian Patrick will take over the role of Club Secretary following the AGM in August. I would like to personal thank John MacIntyre Jnr for acting as Interim Secretary as well as Membership Secretary over the last two years.
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GOLFING MATTERS
On the golfing front we have been very active with Club matches and wins against Kilmalcolm, Tarbet and Logilphead.
Our Match Secretary Bob Hogben and his Assistant John Campbell have introduced a new Order of Merit for the Club competitions. This event is going down great with the members participating weekly and providing a lot of fun as individuals compete against each other to move up and down the Order of Merit.. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Royal Bank of Scotland for sponsoring this competition. I hope your golf is in fine form and I look forward to meeting everyone once again in the near future.
Yours
Captain Iain Middleton
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MESSAGE FROM LADIES CAPTAIN
Good news is that the Ladies Night is back on this year and moves back to its traditional Wednesday evening during the Cross week. The Ladies look forward to welcoming and entertaining all the weary golfers and social members. ————————————————–
COMPETITION RESULTS AND DRAWS
Draws and results are posted on our Web page weekly. Please take the opportunity to keep in touch with the Weekly Winners.
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COURSE DEVELOPMENTS
Simon Freeman and his team have been extremely busy over the last few months and a number of course developments have been introduced. A new green has been introduced at the 14th and has now been in play for a few months.
(New 14th green)
In addition, following feedback from the members from Simon has re-modelled the 12th green. This Hole is not yet operational and we will continue to play to the original 12th. Please feedback comments to the Committee and Simon regarding the changes.
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Kildalton Cross Week
I would like to remind and encourage all members that a handicap certificate stating your playing and exact handicap should be presented to the official starters prior to playing on Saturday. This will assist greatly Bob and John with the Administration and the Club’s Computerised system will manage Handicaps for the week. All away players will still need to present cards to there respective home club .
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Kildalton Cross Raffle
After the success last year we will be continuing with the same format with Kildalton Plate raffle tickets being sold up to Monday pm and Draw being made on Monday night. For the Kildalton Cross tickets will be sold for the 32 competitor places on the Tuesday night and draw will include draw for owner and competition
draw. ———————————————-
MEMOS
The Club’s web site can be found at www.islaygolfclub.co.uk. To distinguish between members with email facility only and those with Internet access would members who are able please visit the web site and record the visit with comments in the ‘guest book’. This way we can save postage once a proper email address book is completed.
NEXT NEWSLETTER
If you have any interesting stories or memories about Islay Golf Club that you would like to share with other Members, please forward your Article for future Newsletters to Club Web Site. ————————————————–