Hi everyone,

The warm weather has continued and the Open Week busy spell, which ended with Pro’s Day on Saturday, doesn’t seem to have let up at all. This week has seen busy days everyday which once again is testament to how well the course is being received by visitors and members alike.


 

Pro’s Day was a big success with a great field of 104 players. I sincerely hope that everyone had a great day as the weather smiled on us. This year I tested everyone out with some short game challenges on the course, which seemed to go down very well. I was genuinely surprised that two of the very testing chips that I put out were actually holed by players! The chip on 7 was fiendish and the 30 yarder on the 2nd wasn’t easy at all. Well done to Chris Antrim and Viv Keen who tamed the monsters! Below we can see our local Italian, Gianni, chiping over the bunker at the 2nd watched by playing partners Dave Wale and Barry Jones.

I also found a really difficult bunker shot on 17 and as a result I thought it best to split the two handicap groups up: 1-15 and 16 and above. Again I was very impressed, mostly (!) by the standard of some of the bunker play (not mentioning any names but some could do better!!). Both groups managed to get very close but the closest shot was actually from Chris Beckley in the higher handicap group, which I was delighted about! Tom Johnston hit the winning bunker shot in the lower handicap group watched by yours truly above! Clearly there are some bunker techniques that need looking at and I’ll get to that again later on.

As usual though the fun continued afterwards and we had Simon and Warren running two competitions after the round. The putting proved a big hit as usual with the eventual winner being Sam Robertson who overcame the current Club Captain Richard Punyer and John Faulkner in a nail-biting play-off! Meanwhile the chipping competition was won by Ben Cook who won by quite a margin.

Here we can see David Bailey trying his hand at the chipping contest outside the clubhouse and is watched by wife and coach, Jenny. Not sure she’s too impressed, David!!

The main competition was won by Dave Wale and Gianni Vitiello who shot an incredible nett 61, which included nine birdies! Longest drive of the day on the 5th hole was from Les D’Souza (father of one of our very promising juniors Zac) and the Ladies was by Jenny Bailey. Well done to all the prize winners and I certainly hope everyone had a great day.


  

Short Game Clinic

So, with Pro’s Day fresh in the memory I think now is a good time for some of you to be looking at your short games. Some of this is technique which I can help you with and some of it can also be equipment based. Therefore I am going to hold a series of short game clinics. These will be a chance for you to receive tuition and help in various areas and also advice on equipment and why you might be finding things difficult. There will be demonstrations and a question and answer session as well as a chance to hit shots and try new equipment. I have no doubt that all of us, myself included, can save shots on our short game, so some time spent in this area, whether you are proficient or not, could be invaluable.

The first will be on Friday, 28 August at 5.00pm. Cost will be just £6 per person (we charge more than this for junior coaching on a Saturday) for a full hour. There will also be 10% discount given on the day for anyone who wants to purchase any new wedges as a result of the session but please be clear that there will be absolutely no pressure to do so. It will be a great chance to try out equipment and to check your technique – it is entirely up to you if you want to take advantage of the offer.

The offer will also apply to the Cleveland 588 wedges that are already on buy one get one half price offer so you will have the chance to buy two new Clevelands for just over £60 each!!

If you’d like to attend please let me know in the shop or put your name on the entry sheet that is going up this Friday in the goldfish bowl area. Get in touch here.