Dunfermline Golf Club's Louise Reid wins county title

Louise Reid, who is a member of Dunfermline Golf Club, competed at the Fife County Ladies' Golf Association Championship and was in the swing to come home with the handicap title.

The event, which also saw a scratch competition take place simultaneously, was held at Balbirnie Golf Club, Glenrothes, over the weekend of May 1-2.

After winning her first match on the Saturday – clinching victory on the 17th hole – Louise returned the following day to play her semi-final, which she clinched in a tense deciding 19th hole.

Then, for the first time, she faced the prospect of a second 18-hole round on the same day for the final against Kinghorn's Gill Merritt, and Louise held her nerve to win 3&2 and the trophy.

It was a maiden county honour for Louise who, with the support of husband Mike – the captain at Dunfermline Golf Club – only took up the sport seven years ago.

She laughed: "I was knackered; it's the first time I've ever played 36 holes in one day, and I think at some points the golf was quite telling of that!

"It was a first I have to say, and not one I would relish doing again, because it was quite mentally draining and exhausting. We had a referee in the final but we were just ourselves – we didn't have a caddy or anything.

"I had a match on the Saturday at 3.45-ish. I played a lady from Ladybank and I won that match on the 17th; the first time I actually was up in the match was when I won the 16th hole!

"I then had to come back on the Sunday morning for the semi-final and played a lady from Kinghorn, where I was fortunate enough to get shots from her. We ended up going to the 19th hole – we ended square after 18. I should clearly have closed it out before I did but we went back up the first, which was the 19th hole, and I won on that one.

"Half an hour later, I went back out to play the final, which was against another lady from Kinghorn. I managed to be successful and won 3&2.

"I wasn't expecting to make the matchplay (competition), never mind win any of them."

Louise, who is part of a thriving ladies' section at the Pitfirrane club, which has more than 120 members, paid tribute to her opponents, who she said were "good company", and continued: "As long as the livelihood's not counting on it, you should be enjoying it and having fun.

"All the ladies were so nice; they were competitive but had good chat and good company with it. That makes all the difference really.

"I'm very proud and very blessed to have had good people around me and I've had an incredible coach, that being my husband.

"He has taken me from telling me what a golf club looks like to being able to make a reasonable connection and take it to where I am today."

Proud Mike added: "I think if we'd thought she was going to get to the final I'd have changed my diary and caddied for her. It's a fantastic achievement.

"It' s the annual championship for women for Fife county, so I'm very proud a Dunfermline golfer has brought that trophy back. They were very tight games, all of them, so Louise really played very well under pressure. I've seen that first-hand; she can really handle the pressure and manages to tough it out.

"It is a big achievement because Louise has only been playing golf for seven years now. She's won the club championship for matchplay and she's now won the Fife County Championship for matchplay.

"They're great achievements and it shows it's never too late to take up the sport and give golf a go because you get great enjoyment from it. If you've got any competitiveness in you at all, there's tons and tons of opportunity to have good, friendly, competitive games.

"Louise has definitely got the golf bug. She loves it and we enjoy playing on the course together.

"Having one of our ladies win such a prestigious championship is great for the golf club."