Hello golfers,
I trust this finds you well and you have managed some golf this week. We are in the middle of a run of major club events at the moment with last week seeing the Anniversary Cup being played for and this week we have the Club Championship. The course is looking and playing superb so there should be some good golf played. It's going to be a long weekend but hopefully a successful one. Good luck to all those playing.
Srixon are kindly sponsoring the Club Championship this weekend. Each player will receive a FREE sleeve of Srixon balls upon entry in to the event.
Last weekend saw the annual staging of the Anniversary Cup. All sections competed for their own sectional trophy. Played over 27-holes it promised to be a tight affair and so it proved. Most of the trophies were decided on countback showing you how close the scores were. The ladies trophy was won by Carol Davies whose last nine-holes of nett 30 secured the win. The junior trophy was won by Nathan Davies with a very solid 27-holes. The Teignagers played for their trophy over 18-holes and the winner with a brilliant nett 64 was Mike Hearsum. There were three players who finished on a 5-under-par total in the men's trophy but it was Matt Lee who was victorious on countback from Gary Pearson and Tom Duncan. Tom Sheffield was the winner of the scratch trophy, winning on countback from Rich Union and Liam Hanslip.
The wind-beating punch shot
Even though summer is now upon us, the wind still swirls around the Valley. This week a simple thought to keep the ball flight under control. The low shot is one that is a great to have in the bag. A simple set up with the hands staying forward of the ball at address, the ball slightly further back in the stance and at least one extra club. A 3/4 swing should be used with a shortened follow through. This is to reduce the spin keeping the ball low and under control. Think of this shot like a long chip and run, no excess movement or attempting to lift the ball. This can be done with a variety of clubs and from many different distances.
June offer - 45 minute lesson with review for £20.00
Upcoming events - Sat 6 Jun - 9.00am-12.00pm - Junior Academy depending on group for time
Wedge Clinic
Myself and James are holding a wedge clinic on Tuesday, 23 June. The time is 6.30pm-8.00pm and the cost is £10 per person to include a sleeve of FREE balls. The clinic is limited to just 12 people so be quick to put your name down to reserve a place. The clinic will cover the following:
This is a fantastic opportunity to improve your wedge play and start saving shots! Contact us in the shop or here to secure your place.
New Junior Academy is up and running
The new Junior Golf Academy is now in full flow. Using the Golf Foundation Passport Scheme the juniors are partaking in structured coaching sessions as well as on-course practice and learning about the rules and etiquette.
We are having a nice influx of juniors from local schools and so we are hoping to see increase in junior members in the near future.
I am delighted to announce that we are now an official Grass Roots Golf Centre. Authorised by The Golf Foundation we have been granted this title with a view to the exciting up and coming contributions we will be making to help grow the game and introduce new people to golf. Our aims include the following:
Build the structure of a new junior golf academy
Run adult beginner golf lessons
Run specific ladies beginner golf lessons
As an official Grass Roots Centre we have access to funding to allow us to successfully implement our objectives. I will keep you updated with our progress in future newsletters.
Our annual Pro-Am is only two weeks away and we are keen to get as many members playing as possible. The event has been a brilliant success the past few years with an average of 36 teams being paired up with a top West Region professional to play in a team event.
The Pro-Am precedes our annual West Region PGA Fourball Championships where the regions top professionals battle in a fourball pairs competition. The Pro-Am takes place on Tuesday, 16 June and is open to members and non-members and there are sponsorship opportunites also available. The cost is £180 per team of three amateurs which includes bacon baps and coffee on arrival, 18-holes with a professional playing in a team event followed by a two-course meal and a superb prize table. We can allocate you a professional to play with.
Entry forms can be picked up from the pro shop and it is advised that you get your team entry in quickly as we only have a few spaces left.
Ted and myself are looking for challengers to take us on in a series of challenge matches. The format will be pairs better ball stableford. The cost is £10 per pair but if any pairs beat us they will receive a sleeve of three balls. At the end of the series of matches the pair with the best stableford points will play alongside myself and Ted in a regional Pro-Am at no cost to the players. There is a list of dates in the changing rooms but if you would like to contact us with a date and time of your own then we will try our very best to squeeze it in to our diaries. Pairs can be made up of any combination and the matches will be played from the red and white tees. We look forward to playing with you.
Custom fitting IS for everyone
Many golfers still do not believe that they would benefit from custom fitting. This is mainly down to the mind set that they do not hit the ball consistent enough. Let's flip that on its head though, maybe the problem behind them not hitting the ball consistently is down to their clubs being ill-fitted? Golfers often blame themselves for bad shots which obviously a high percentage of the time is true. However I have seen golfers swing the club technically superb who just don't hit the shots they should because the clubs are not suited to them.
I remember vividly teaching a customer a few years ago who had been to America and whilst there purchased some clubs. On his return he booked a lesson to fine-tune his game. We had been hitting balls for around 5-6 minutes when I noticed a pattern. Every shot he hit made a loud thud and the ball kept going left. As I took a look through his swing movements I was really struggling to see what if any the problem was leading to these shots. And then it dawned on me. On asking the question of were the clubs custom fitted for him the answer was "what does that mean?". My search for the fault ended as it soon became evident that the club's lie angle was way out for what he should be using. Therefore every time the club was returned at impact the heel of the club dug in and the club head flipped left, exactly where the ball was ending up. Luckily on getting hold of the UK office of the brand we managed to get the clubs sent back and the lie angle correctly changed.
We have witnessed some superb golf the last couple of weeks from two of the world's best golfers. There is simply no way that either player would be producing this kind of golf with ill-fitted clubs, they wouldn't chance it so why should you? Myself and my team are here to help and advise you with any fitting required and we have access to lots of different demo product from some of the best companies in golf. We also have the perfect fitting tool in the GC2 Launch Monitor and Simulator. This helps us analysis a player's key data such as ball speed, spin rates and of course carry and total distance. With this information we can accurately fit you with the best product for you.
For more information come in to the pro shop and talk to us or get in touch here.
