Hello golfers,

I trust this finds you well. You are probably a little fed up with this weather as we all are but I'm sure better times are ahead and it will not be long before we are all out there playing more golf again. Life at the club has kept ticking along as we have been utilising our brilliant indoor simulator to great effect to keep golfers playing, keeping you all sane. 

We are hoping that we can stage the rescheduled Captains' Drive-In event this weekend which would be great so keep your fingers crossed that the weather is on our side. The club diaries are now available at the club so please feel free to come in and pick one up next time you are around. Alternatively, the club diary is now on the club website so please visit www.teignvalleygolf.co.uk. 


 

Valentine's Evening

Our Orchard restaurant is the perfect setting for a Valentine's evening. On Saturday, 13 February Nicola and Tom are holding exactly that. They have put together a superb menu to help create a special evening for you to be able to bring loved ones, family and friends along to and have a wonderful time. Booking is essential and you can do this by contacting Nicola. We hope you come along and support this event and have a fantastic time.

 

Volunteers needed for two projects

I am on the lookout for some volunteers to help me with two different projects. Project 1 is being enrolled as a new product tester and project 2 is for a new "meet the member" feature in my weekly newsletter. Read on for more information.


Project 1 - Product Testing 

In the next couple of weeks we will start to receive demo product for all the new hardware out this year. We would like you, the customer, to get involved and help us test the new products out on our GC2 Simulator and give us some honest feedback about the product which we can then feature in the newsletter. We are looking for a mix of golfers, both male and female. If you would like to get involved then please contact me at the pro shop.

Project 2 - Meet the Member Feature 

I think this will be a nice addition to the newsletter as it will be a quick-fire question format allowing people to find out a bit more about the great members we have here at the Valley. The feature will include a picture of the member followed by a brief introduction and then the quick-fire questions and answers such as "what is your favourite shot to hit?" or "how long have you been playing golf?" those kind of questions. If you would like to get involved then please contact me at the pro shop. 


 

Have you been custom fitted? 

The question of custom fitting is one that gets banded around any golf club a lot. Should you or shouldn't you? The answer is simple: it depends if you want to play better golf and increase your enjoyment of the game! 

If your answer to this question is no then firstly I would question why you are playing the game at all! And secondly, you may as well keep using the ill-fitted equipment you have with more than likely the wrong shafts, wrong lie angles and wrong grip sizes which are helping to decrease your enjoyment of the game. However if your answer is yes, which I'm sure it will be, then having your equipment custom fitted is essential. Golfers can often perceive custom fitting as expensive but it really isn't and the beauty for yourselves is that you have the perfect custom fitting environment right on your doorstep, here at Teign Valley in our Fitting Studio. This year we are stocking products from the following major brands:

Nike - PING - Callaway - Cobra - Titleist and TaylorMade

We will have demo product from each manufacturer, which will enable us to give you the ultimate custom fitting experience. The way our custom fitting works is as follows. There are 2 custom fitting options.


Option 1 - Single Product Fitting 

This is based upon the golfer wanting a specific fitting for a product in their equipment such as a set of irons, a driver, a wedge or a putter. The custom fitting session will be based upon trying new product against your existing product to ascertain which product will be best suited to your game. The fitting will then proceed to ensure that any product ordered will be fitted with the correct shafts, shaft lengths, grips and set with the correct lofts and lies for the individual. These fitting sessions will last for 45 minutes and will cost £25. However the golfer will be given a full report on what they have been recommended and fitted for and also given a voucher back worth £25 when they have placed an order for their custom fit clubs.


Option 2 - Full Bag Fitting 

This is based upon the golfer wanting a fitting on all clubs through the bag. The custom fitting session will be based upon trying new product against your existing product to ascertain which product will be best suited to your game. The fitting will then proceed to ensure that any product ordered will be fitted with the correct shafts, shaft lengths, grips and set with the correct lofts and lies for the individual. These fitting sessions will last for 1 hour and 25 minutes and will cost £40. However the golfer will be given a full report on what they have been recommended and fitted for and also given a voucher back worth £40 when they have placed an order for their custom fit clubs.


All fittings take place on our GC2 Simulator which produces accurate and vital data to enhance the fitting experience and allows us to make correct recommendations to all golfers on the equipment best suited to their game. For more information on custom fitting and for a full a run through on available products, please contact the pro shop team.


 

Junior Coaching - Our junior sessions are starting this Saturday, 16 January at the normal times 9am - 12noon. The sessions will as before run in 6-week blocks costing £5 per child, per session or £25 for 6 weeks if paid on the first one. Due to our facility to run sessions inside they will always go ahead however please be aware that if outside temperatures are cold please can the children turn up with appropriate clothing on. It definitely isn't the time to be cold standing outside at this time of year.


Are you wasting shots? This week I am just going to touch on some small elements of course management that can help through the winter period.

Tee shots - With preferred lies being in place and the rough very difficult to consistently advance the ball from finding the fairway is as, if not more important than ever. It is an idea to choose a club you are most confident in hitting the fairway with - or choosing a distance that gets the ball in the widest part of the fairway. Slashing driver around may not be the most rewarding to the score in winter. 

Second shots - If you have missed the fairway from the tee you are left with a tough choice. Risk the bad lie to fire at the green, or again take a more consistent club to ensure moving forward. From the rough it is crucial to use a club with enough loft and one that can fight through the grass. With carry being the most important it may be a smaller club that can advance you to the same place as that risky low iron. 

Chipping - Choose a club that can get the ball onto the front portion of the green and the rest can be made up in run. A nice small, handle leading, weight forward chip shot will produce a more consistent result than the high tariff lob shot.


Coaching deal - January Special - All sessions booked in January will receive 20% OFF