A string of special surprises surrounded David Macklin’s success in the Deeside Golf Club championship this season.
Senior project controller David, 36, said: “Clinching the Deeside club championship came as a massive surprise in itself.
“But I thought my eight-year-old son Cammy would not be able to be there on finals day.
“He was away at Beavers Camp that weekend, but he took ill on the Saturday afternoon, had to leave the camp and was there to greet me when I came off the 16th green as champion – it was a genuine surprise to me and a lovely moment.
“I caddied for my good mate Tom Rennie when he won the championship in 2008, so he had been waiting to repay the favour! It was great to have Tom on my bag, too.
“I don’t tend to play golf over winter and started a bit later than usual this year and my form was a bit iffy to say the least!
“However, I managed to find some form playing for Deeside in the Maitland Shield at Newmachar when we reached the semi-finals.
“I managed to post a few good scores in the lead up to the club championship qualifying and did enough to make into the top-16.”
David defeated Duncan Bickerton by 4&3 in the last 16 before overcoming Kevin Willox by the same score in the quarter-finals.
“The semi-final against defending champion Jason Bruce was high quality,” David added.
“I led by three holes at the turn after going out in four-under.
“However, Jason hit back with birdies at the 13th, 14th and 16th to square the match.
“I managed a two-putt birdie on the 17th before we halved the last to earn me a one-hole success.
“I was nervous, but excited in my first final against Mike Willet, but I played superbly over the first 18 holes to be 5up.
“I started the second 18 holes badly, losing the first three holes.
“I didn’t have my A-Game, but ground out lots of pars and made a clutch birdie at the 14th to go 3up, and closed it out with pars at the 15th and 16th to win.”
David’s hopes for next season include making a good defence of his club championship, winning the Deeside strokeplay championship and helping Deeside clinch a team competition.
Retirement saw Linda re-find form and land fourth Cullen crown
Linda Mair got her game back on track to land her fourth Cullen club championship.
“My golf had been going in the wrong direction over the last couple of years,” admitted Linda, 58, who is also Cullen secretary.
“But after taking early retirement from my work as a vulnerable customer manager with a bank in February, I’ve had more time to work on my golf and it has helped greatly.
“My handicap dropped back down to 13.8 from 16.4.
“I joined Cullen five seasons ago and this year’s win was the most satisfying.
“I led after the first round with a 78, added an 82 and finished with an 80.
“I also enjoyed playing at other clubs and won Kemnay’s Senior Ladies Open.
“I played in the Aberdeen Links Pro-Am, back in the spring, as part of the Old Tom Morris Trail team and that was a great experience – a fantastic three days.
“Next year I want to continue working on my golf so that my game continues to improve – although I haven’t set any targets yet.
“I’m looking forward to playing in the Evening Express Champion of Champions.
“It’s a great way to meet other golfers in the north-east and gives you the opportunity to play other courses.”
Handicap submissions to be put on hold across Scotland
Scottish Golf is putting a hold on handicap general scores being submitted from Thursday, December 15.
The national body is switching to hi-tech provider DotGolf and access to the World Handicap System and CDH on the Scottish Golf app will be offline to clubs and players until Saturday, January 7.
Scores will be accepted after this date.
DotGolf, established in New Zealand 25 years ago, has been recognised as offering enhanced user experience features requested by clubs over the last 18 months.
They include membership management, integrated accounting, better websites and communication tools, as well as an option to integrate packages.
English Golf, Welsh Golf and Golf Ireland use DotGolf for tech solutions, but Scottish Golf will be the first governing body outside New Zealand’s 280-golf clubs to use the full club management software.