The dining room was full to bursting for the Junior Presentation Night on Sunday with 115 people enjoying the great atmosphere and giving Christine Davies a well-deserved send-off as she hands over the role of junior organiser to Steve Kanes. Thanks for all your hard work Christine over the past 6 years and your help with the junior coaching from Luke and myself.

The juniors and Junior Captain Jake Sheldon echoed this sentiment as they had held a collection over Christmas and presented Christine with a beautiful vase engraved with some touching words from the section. 

Holly Hunt took over as Junior Captain from Jake, becoming the first female captain and Marcus Smith became the Vice -Captain. Luke, Katie and I held a cross-country putting competition for the juniors during the meal (thanks to Alison and the bar staff for putting up with us in their way!) and we had a fun quiz too.

One of the questions was 'How many Professionals are at the club?' Most people wrote down 2, myself and Luke, some put 3 as they saw that John Pugh was in the room but nobody put the correct answer of 4 as Bob Johnson, pro at the club for 42 years was also in the room. After all, I didn't ask how many pros were working at the club.

Another question was how many bunkers are there at Brocton Hall? If you'd like to have a go at answering this one please click here.




The green staff have been busy one the course of the past couple of weeks with plenty of clearing out, winter maintenance and some preventative timing on some of the fairways. We've been lucky that the course has remained open as many are closed which drain less well and as I'm sure you're all aware - it's important to take care as it can get slippy in places. I played with Luke on Tuesday and went round in some ECCO shoes with the spikeless soles and had a secure footing all the way round. I do think it helps to carry though as golfers with trolleys are often leaning backwards holding onto the trolley as they go down slopes which can be less secure. 

Here is a picture of our fresh new look out the Pro Shop window as the bush by the putting green has been taken away.

It was getting so big that the sprinklers couldn't reach the whole putting surface. It's amazing how much more light we get in the shop now!




FREE ACADEMY NIGHT PLACES

Join me in the clubhouse on the evening of Thursday 28th January where I'll be taking centre stage and dishing out some myth-busting, golf improving information which will get you all revved up for the year ahead and it's all FREE.

But how will you improve from an indoor discussion? Well, I come across many of the same 'performance reducing' assumptions each week in my coaching and club-fitting activities PLUS an increasing amount of internet and social media 'coaching' that glorifies the need to swing a club in a particular way or method with no concern about the actual ball-flight. I'll be giving a talk and having an open discussion about lots of aspects of playing the game and we can also talk about many of the issues plaguing golfers on the course. 

My last Academy night was about 4 years ago and the room was packed so there will be a limit on the numbers - click here to place your name on the attendance list or pop into the shop or call 01785 661485.

The evening will start at 7pm until about 9pm and food will be available from the bar menu to pre-arrange with the kitchen. Everyone is welcome, members, newsletter readers, partners so get in quick to avoid disappointment.


 

My launch monitors have been busy tracking over 500 shots this week as I've been conducting Yardage Gapping sessions for a variety of golfers. These sessions are an ideal way to make the use of a cold or wet day and are a brilliant investment in your game. Until the end of February they are just £25 and last an hour. At the end of the session you'll receive an email with a report detailing some areas that you may wish to pay attention to and explaining why some of your measurements may differ.




In the workshop this week plenty of golfers are getting their golf kit ready for the year with some cool Japanese gear:

4-9iron Mizuno JPX 850 forged - KBS C-Taper low flight shafts
5-pw Mizuno JPX 850 cast - XP105 high flight shafts
52 & 58 Mizuno MPT5 black wedges
5-pw Mizuno JPX 850 forged irons left hand - Nippon NSPRO 950 lightweight shafts
3 hybrid Mizuno JPX 3 hybrid
Callaway 5 wood - ACCRA I-series speed increasing re-shaft
Miura 3 wood - ACCRA Japanese FX series lower flighting re-shaft
4-pw Srixon 745 irons - Nippon NSPRO 950 shafts
Srixon 545 driver and 3 wood - Miyazaki shafts
Srixon driving iron and hybrid - Miyazaki shafts
3-pw Srixon 745 irons - KBS Tour X flex shafts 




We drew the Christmas/New Year raffle in the clubhouse on Saturday lunchtime using a random number generator on my laptop. Congratulations to all the winners below - your prizes are in the shop waiting for you:

1st Jason Ashley - Powakaddy FW3 electric trolley
2nd Richard Le Page - 18 hole Lithium battery
3rd Neil Johnson - Mizuno Wedge
4th Trish Franklin - Brocton Logo Towel
5th Maurice Braden - Brocton Logo shoe bag
6th Roy Douglas - 1 dozen Titleist Solo golf balls
7th Colman Whitelaw - Mizuno glove