Hi everyone,

Health and Safety on the Course 

No doubt you will all have seen Fabrizio Zanotti being taken to hospital this week after being hit by a wayward drive during the KLM event in Holland. As seems to be the norm on tour, there was no cry of fore despite the drive being way off line and obviously a danger to others. In The Open, Ernie Els hit someone with his opening drive and it completely floored the player rather than the poor spectator and ended his Open chances. We often see Bubba Watson hitting huge drives that, mainly due to the way he hits incredible cuts and draws, end up flying into spectators and we hardly ever hear a shout from the tee. I would like to point out that in contrast to this Phil Mickelson, the classy golfer that he is, does shout and he is a credit to the game for this and many other things that he does.

So why I am I mentioning this? Well I was thinking that surely the time has now come for the Tour to have a players' meeting to stress the need for them to shout not only for health and safety reasons but also, and more importantly if you ask me (considering that it is incredibly rare that someone gets hurt at a large event), because of the example it sets to others and especially juniors. It does seem that this wonderful game is going through many changes at the moment with clubs having to consider changing dress codes and giving different membership options to keep up with trends and many people are loath to consider these changes. Well on this issue I am with them. Golf balls hitting you at 100mph can kill you - we must warn people even if there's a good chance the ball is landing well away from them. So yes, the tour should come down on players but what I then thought is that it shouldn't need that for all of us to perhaps be reminded that we need to be setting this example ourselves. I am well aware that most of us do shout but I also know from playing with many others that some people don't like to shout if it looks like there's no need.

So this is my small reminder to all of us to shout fore when any of your group's shots look like they might be going anywhere close to someone else, or when you can't see where it's landing!!

You will NEVER be criticized for shouting but you will be for not shouting!!

Course News

The winter maintenance on the greens seems to have been done very well this year and they are recovering rapidly. With a bit of rain they will bed down nicely and I fully expect them to be perfect in a few weeks' time for the Autumn meeting. I have to repeat that I think the work that our greenstaff have done on the greens over the last few years has been excellent and this work is why we are all enjoying fantastic greens for very long periods. Good luck to all of you in the Autumn meeting and in all the other events.

Shop News

Our winter garments are about to arrive from Nike so keep an eye on the shop. I am also looking at a couple of ranges of new crested clothing so we should also have a selection of sweaters and vests very soon. In any case, if you have any clothing items that you would like, crested or not, then please do not hesitate to contact me. We will also be selling the ever popular Nike weatherproof trouser, which is a normal trouser that is warmer and water resistant (I have a few pairs that I live in for about 4 months of the year!!).

Annual Customer Survey

As you may have seen previously, we are running our Annual Customer Survey on our website. This survey will be used to help us improve the services we offer you in store. Not only that, but if there are brands which you are looking to buy but do not see in store then this is your chance to tell us!

We would like to use this part of our newsletter to ask you, if you haven't already done so, to spare five minutes of your time to complete this survey - simply click here. It will not only be an asset to us, but it will also be of huge benefit to you, our customers. As an incentive to take part, one lucky entrant will win a FREE 45 minute golf lesson (worth £30)! Our thanks in advance. 


Coaching News

This winter I and Simon will be doing a special winter package of lessons. This is the perfect time to get into your game for next year so in my next newsletter I will be giving you details of the packages on offer and the discounts that we are offering. We are lucky to now have a covered area so this Winter we should all be making as much use of it as possible. 

With that I shall leave you until next week so have a great weekend all of you!