Thursday, 5 March 2020

JOIN THE PROS AT IRVINE BOGSIDE WHERE THE HOME INTERNATIONALS WERE HELD IN 2009

Scottish Team 2009 at Irvine Bogside for the Home Internationals
Back row - Claire Hargan,(Team Manager) Kylie Walker, Pamela Pretswell,
Louise Kenney, Laura McLardy, Kevin Craggs (Coach)
Front Row - Kelsey MacDonald, Carly Booth, Lesley Nicholson (Team Captain)
Megan Briggs, and Jane Turner - All maiden surnames 
You webmaster has been contacted today by Julie Walker whose friend , Debbie Richards, is playing in the Spanish open this week and mentioned to Gillian Kyle(East Renfrewshire)  that she is running a ladies Pro-Am https://ladiesproam.com/ at Irvine (Bogside) golf club on Tuesday the 6th October this year.

This was the venue for the 2009 Home Internationals and 6 out of the 8 team members have turned pro since then   -- See the course spectators and players by clicking on the following links
DAY 1 PHOTOS 
DAY 2 PHOTOS 
DAY 3 PHOTOS 

JULIE WALKER MESSAGE 
In 2018, the idea of setting up a female only Pro-Am came about after chatting to a few golfing friends, who liked the idea but found most pro-ams expensive and hard to get in to, so I approached my golf club, Burhill, to find out if they would support this idea and they introduced me to the PGA, both were very supportive as there was no other female only pro-am at the time and there is very few opportunities for the female PGA’s pros to play against each other. 

With limited sponsorship, the ladies entry fee of £255.00 per team of 3, pays for the teams food, the pro’s prize fund, PGA levy and PGA admin fee for running the day.  I look to get prizes from partners as we get closer to the event, currently www.arran.com have agreed to provide some prizes and am currently working on other ideas.

The format is a stableford, for both Pro’s and amateurs, everyone play off the red tees, both of which the pros find fun and a change from their normal stroke play events, best 2 scores on each hole apart from par 3’s were all 4 scores count.  The pro’s play their own stableford and the top 10 players, get prize money from £550 to £100  https://ladiesproam.com/meet-the-pros/ 

Following the success of the 2018, Pro-Am at Burhill, in 2019, we played at Cuddington, both in Surrey, I decided to bring the event to Irvine in 2020, to give the surrey ladies a new experience and to support my fathers golf club, I  also played there for a couple of years as a teenager, before a golf gap of 25 years.

We have 22 team slots and I currently have 11 teams from Surrey signed up, they will also play, Glasgow Gailes on Monday the 5th and Kilmarnock Barassie on Wednesday the 7th, which are also options for any team or individual playing in the event.  At the moment, I have 2 scottish teams interested, one is led by Pauline Patrick of Irvine and Susan Wood (Drumpellier) from the Scottish women’s amateur team.  I have written to 70 women via their golf clubs over the last couple of weeks, dropped off posters at Troon Ladies, Irvine, Kilmarnock Barassie, Prestwick St Nicholas, St Cuthbert’s and Irvine.

It would be great if you could add this event to your website and help me encourage some Scottish teams to join in, it is a fun event.

The event website is https://ladiesproam.com/
The PGA website is   https://pgagbi.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/pgagbi20/event/pgagbi20822/index.htm   the logos and more info will go on here in the next couple of weeks,

Julie Walker