It has been brought to my attention that there has been no report of the Club Championship results, for which I do apologise. I shall rectify that now. Without wishing to be flippant ( I have been called that before, you know) most of you will be aware of the results already, given the event took place about a month ago, but for the record and posterity let it be known that this years Champion Golfer is Paul McVie who is now a two time winner. Paul beat our Captain and multiple times Club Champ, Donald Ballantyne over 36 holes in fine style winning the match by 6&4 Congratulations Paul!

The B Championship was won this year by Alan Kerr who is currently in some fantastic form as I write this. He beat Mark Easson 2/1 in the final and the C Championship was won by Ian Stephenson somewhere out in the back of beyond,and who eventually wore Andrew Webster into submission after about 20 or so gruelling holes!

Well done to all the players in the 3 categories. See you all at the Presentation Night on 17th November.

A shotgun start and they were off and running at 10am on a lovely summers morning. 10 couples took part and the day rounded off with filled rolls and lashings of ginger beer in the Clubhouse afterwards.

The winners of The Muir Cup this year were Diane Cassidy and brother- in- law George Grant who win £25 each for their 73-7=66(bih). Second place went to June Craig and Peter Henderson (£15 each) for their 85-19=66 and the scratch prize with 79 went to Ros and Norman Roxburgh (£10 each). Nearest the pin/nut at the 9th/18th was Peter Henderson who was obviously having a blind squirrel sort of day. Well done to all competitors.

To hell with Freddy Couples golf swing.We all need to hit the ball like Mitch Thomson, because he’s the man.At least he was on Saturday. There was a log jam of 5 players on 63 but the bold Mitch squeezed home to win with 76-13=63 followed by Alan Kerr (74-11=63), Harry Borthwick (75-12=63) and Colin Finlay (67-4=63). And Dante Brugnoni (87-24=63) was fifth and gets nothing but our warmest congratulations and a cut in his handicap. Oh dear. The usual £40,30,20,10 went to the podium places. There were 4 2’s.Each got £5 for their efforts, namely Grant Gill,Alan Brown,Michael McVie, and Graeme Bell who was the only one at the 18th.

An apology is due to Bob Falconer who apparently did pay last week.He tells me he gave me the money and I just put it in my pocket. I’ve given him a free entry next week, if I remember, as compensation. Sorry Bob!

The winner of the Claret Jug and champion golfer of the year is Craig Lowrie who wins £40 (marginally less than Cameron Smith) and a small cut in his handicap with his 78-14=64. Well done Craig! Also on 78-14=64 was Bob Falconer who had £3 deducted from his winnings of £30 to pay his entry fee and who lost out to Craig on the bi6, and third was Alan Kerr who always seems to be in the money, with 78-14=64, but who lost out on bi6 (£20). In fourth was Grant Lightfoot with 70-5=65 =£10. Creditable mentions go to Norman Roxburgh and Andrew Webster who were also both on nett 65’s but get nowt! There were five 2’s who each got £5 and they were Gerald Beggs, Grant Lightfoot, John Mackenzie, Mid the Kid, and Michael Wood. Donald’s Hole In One Fund which had reached £78 and was won last week by an exceptionally lucky Iain Clark (so I hear anyway) is back and running with £5.10 up for grabs The Monthly Medal is this coming Saturday followed by the Muir Cup on Sunday. Thanks to Norman Purves for continued sponsorship of the Claret Jug.

It was scorchio and the bar takings soared along with the temperature. Just as well that Chris Kemp’s second job is as a taxi driver otherwise some people might not have made it home.

Divided again into two handicap classes (-7 to 12 and 13 to a lot higher) the Overall winner of the competition was our own Alan Stuart who batted it round in a rather impressive 74-14=60 ,and as a result pockets a substantial £100. Well done Alan. The A class winner was the bearded one, Grant Lightfoot who was one shot off the pace with 67-6=61, second was John Coyle on 71-7=64, third was Harry Borthwick on76-12=64, and just like my pal Ali McVie I was a magnificent fourth on 76-11=65. El Capitan took scratch on 68. Prizes were £60,£50,£40,£30,and £40 for scratch. The B Class prizes were the same, so I’m not going to repeat all that again

The B class winners were Ian Wilkie 86-24=62 (blind squirrels come to mind), Billy boy Walton (ditto) 82-15=67, Neil Purves (definitely Neil ,not Nod) on 89-21=68, and Hughie Macdonald on 87-18=69 .Scratch went to B Champ Alan Kerr on 82.

2’s got £12 each and they were Grant Lightfoot,David Johnston, Donald Ballantyne,Matthew Brass,Graham Wright,Jimmy Rae,Alister McVie,Michael McVie,Jocky Hume and Colin Finlay.

Nearest the hole at the 6th/15th was Iain Clark who put matters beyond doubt by holing his tee shot and claiming £20 plus the Hole in one pot of £75 or thereabouts. Mind you the bottle of vodka he put on the bar must have cost him at least a fiver and the trip in the car to the shops could have set him back about £20 .Jolly well done Iain. Nearest the hole at 7th/16th was Rodney Pow (£20) and at 9th/18 Ross Glendinning scooped the generous £50 that was sponsored by John Coyle, courtesy of his huge win at the bookies .Nearest the line at 8th/17th was Michael McVie, who wins Jocky Hume’s mystery prize.Mystery prize because I still dont know what it was!

Thanks once again to Donald for all his help with the comp, to Jocky for printing out sheets of instructions,which people still don’t read and Grace for pouring pints. She is my favourite bar person,

It’s now time for the couch…

Played on the 5th July this competition was divided into two age categories In category A (55-65 years) Colin Easton took the first handicap place with a nett 65 and £50 for his efforts. Second on 66 was Andrew Webster (£40), third was Mitch Thomson (69 bih) (£30),and fourth was David Heard (the old one obviously, given that this was a seniors competition) on 69 (£20). Scratch prize went to Jimmy Rae with a 79 (£30).

Category B (66-still breathing) was won by Ian Borthwick with a nett 60 (£50),second was Robert John Wilson, who came into the clubhouse like a dog with two tails on 64 (£40),third was Billy Walton who has hit a rich vein of form as you will see from the Selkirk Open results,on 66 (£30), fourth was my pal Alister McVie (he’s always fourth- how does he do that?),on 67,( bi6) and actually gets money again (£20), and the scratch winner was Brian Porteous with 72 and £30.

2’s winners were El Presidente, David Heard,(yes the old one),and…oh no him again, Alister McVie. £25 to each of them. Nearest the line was Colin Easton. Jocky sponsored the prize but I have no idea what it was.Pip pip.

Jimmy Rae got off his bike just long enough to whizz round the course in 68 blows (64 net) to win the competition by a single shot from Dante Brugnoni (95-25=65) with Norman Purves third (81-13=68) and my pal Ali McVie in fourth (78-9=69). Delighted to announce that Ali actually gets some money this time. Hey, it’s only a tenner but its better than nothing which is what he usually gets for being fourth. The usual £40, £30,and £20 went to the other podium places and well done to you all. There were eight 2’s each scooping £2.50, and they were Ali, Jimmy, RDB, Michael Wood, Alan Stuart, Scott Galloway, Norman Roxburgh, and Bob Falconer. 43 players entered and £7 goes to the contingency fund. Thanks again to Donald for doing the cards and money in my absence with covid. I dont know what you all would do without him.

Championship week this week.The Premier event of the year and good luck to all the competitors.Over and out.

There is never a dull moment at Selkirk Golf Club. Drama every week it seems. And I am not talking about the golf. The ipad didnt work,the scorecards were filled in the wrong way round (some of them anyway) one team only had one player entered in the competition,and to round off a fraught week, I was stuffed 4&3 by Eric Middlemas in the Quaich. However, after much calculation, readjustment, and deep breathing the results are in. And the winners were John Coyle and Alistair McVie with bih 60 with Norman Roxburgh and Ian Wilkie in second on the same score and Gerald McMorrow and Kris McLeod on 62 bih in third. Prize money of £60,£50,and £40 to the winners. The draws have been made for the Club Championships and are on the board. Thanks to everyone who has helped me out including Donald who helped with the draw and Les McAllister who printed off the draw sheets. Hole in one is now £73.60. Next week off for obvious reasons. Safe oot etc…

Very sorry to have to report the death of ex Captain and golf club stalwart Jock Easson on Sunday morning, I believe. Jock did a great deal of good for the Club over the years, both on and off the course, driving the tractor, cutting the rough, generally helping out, and latterly boosting the bar takings with his Saturday lunch time visits. I’m sure the members will all join with me in offering our sincere condolences to his wife Kate and son Mark at this sad news, and difficult time. You will be missed Jock.

46 Entries this week and I had to put half of them in by hand because the ipad crashed. I’m not apportioning any blame for this but the last entry on the system before the damn thing went t**s up belonged to Dante Brugnoni. Just saying. It was just as well the Clark family were there to resurrect the system, although it took young Sam to come up with the solution beloved by all computer experts. Turn it off and back on again.

The winner this week was Scott Galloway, by virtue of a bih,with that man Ian Potts again, in second place, both on 41 points,and El Presidente in third also by bih, from Hibernian Football Club’s greatest fan Norman Purves in fourth place on 36 points .Honourable mention goes to Jordan Reid who also had 36 points but gets nothing. Sorry Jordan! There were five 2’s who get a huge £4 each. They were Billy Macdonald, that man again Ian Potts, Billy Walton, Ron Robertson and me. The hole in one fund is now £70 and Donald’s trousers still remain unsullied and indeed still unworn.

The draw for the Club Championship,and B and C Championships will take place after the round next Saturday. Please tick your names on the board if available as soon as you can.Thank you