Presidents Address

A great year for the Lothians Golf Association and on a playing front, one which will be hard to forget. All our Lothians Competitions that we hold annually were a success and my fellow Executive members made sure they ran smoothly.

As ever, we are indebted to our Clubs who allow us the use of their courses, so a huge thank you to Castle Park, Newbattle, The Braids, Baberton, Prestonfield, Pumpherston, Bathgate, Bruntsfield and Murrayfield Golf Clubs. The courtesy they afford us is genuinely appreciated, without this, our competitions would not happen, so thank you. In thanking the clubs I would like to also extend the thank you to the members of these clubs for giving up their tee times especially at weekends. To our Sponsors, your help and support is so important to us and helps the Association immeasurably and we look forward to continued support from you in the years to come.

I hope to see everyone competing in our competitions again this coming season and like last year it’s great to see new faces and new winners of our competitions.

This year has been outstanding for the Lothians in the Scottish Area Team Championship (ATC) events, it started with the Men’s Team winning their ATC at Paisley Golf Club against Ayrshire in September. Thanks go to West Lothian and Craigielaw Golf Clubs for the use of their courses for the qualifying matches prior to the finals.

After the men’s win the boys had their ATC at Forrester Park and they also pulled off a brilliant victory against some very strong teams. The men’s Senior team then had all the pressure put on them for the treble and their ATC was at Monifeith Golf Club which they also won. A memorable treble for the Lothians teams and players. I would like to say a special thanks to the three Captains of the Teams Ross Mallon, John Hall and Joe McManus for all their hard work in leading their teams to such a fantastic achievement. I also would like to point out that Midlothian Ladies won their ATC at Bruntsfield meaning the Lothians are undoubtedly a strong force within amateur team golf.

This year we held a couple of new events which were a Lothians Senior match versus Fife and at the very start of the season we held a match with teams made up of Juniors, Men, Seniors and Midlothian Ladies. This was a fun event but also a learning event for our Juniors and a way of getting fellow golfers young and old playing together and both events will be held again this coming season.

My first year as President has been very rewarding with the highlight being the ATC victories for the Lothians and I’m already looking forward to next year as I know my other members of the Executive are and our aim is to maintain our high standards with our Competitions, Team Matches and Boys coaching.

The list of individual achievements is too long for me to mention but you will see in this AGM report out list of International Caps for Men and Boys as well as all the other winners in our own Competitions.

I would also like to put on record my thank to my Executive members for their continued support and commitment to the Lothians, the all-important referees at our events as well as all the members that are on Sub Committees.

I wish all Clubs/Societies and everyone connected with the LGA, a successful and healthy 2024.

Neil Anderson,

President