Academy Night
If you'd like to come along on Thursday to my Academy Night, there is enough room for a few more people. 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.
- Learn how to hit the next ball better
- Are you a 1 fix or 2 fix golfer?
- Why is your driving off when you iron play is good or vice-versa?
- How practicing half wedges can drastically improve your driving
- How does the chop-slicer have the secret to great golf without knowing it?
Click here and let me know if you would like to come along.
The evening starts at 7pm, you don't need to bring anything along and the bar will be open for fluid refreshments.
Captain Drive-in
The new Captain (Steve Bloxham) and President (Ken Bailey) successfully completed their Drive-In on Sunday following the AGM on Saturday night and combined it with a Better-Ball Stableford competition.
There was a charity fundraising competition to guess the combined yardage and I thought I was being a bit harsh with my 280 yard guess but for the 2nd year in a row I was the closest. Honestly, this has nothing to do with the fact that I measure the drives! The Captain's went 142.5 yards and the President's 132.5. yards - exact measurements thanks to Nikon laser Rangefinders! Here are slow motion videos of their drive ins.
I had the Flightscope set up to capture the shots but the President teed up to the side of the tee (sensible course management there Mr Pres.) and was out of the Flightscope window. According to Flightscope, The Captain Steve, actually hit a much longer drive and it hit a tree on the right hand side and came back a good 40 yards. The Flightscope assumed it has lost the ball in flight and continued to predict the flight which would have gone 205 yards. Here's the screen of the ball being tracked, the red part of the line is where the ball hit the tree and the Flightscope predicted the rest of the flight. [screen pic]
One of the numbers that these Launch Monitors measure is 'Smash Factor' which is an indication of the efficiency of strike. Put simply the maximum speed a ball can take off with is 1.5 times quicker than it was hit with, and the Captain's Clubhead Speed was 90.9 Mph, with a Ball Speed of 136 Mph - giving a Smash Factor of 1.50!!
Here's another screen from Flightscope which I use in club fitting sessions to assess the suitability of a shaft to match a golfers swing. In Steve's case this chart shows that he releases the club fully 3ft before impact and then has a stable club for the remainder of the downswing. If a golfer with Steve's swing style was fighting with the shaft there would be peaks and troughs on the chart.
Of course, as I fit and built the driver originally, I'm pretty positive that it would still be right! One of the aspects I'll be talking about at the Academy Night is the need for a 'Solid and Repeatable' impact. Mr Captain, you've got the solid bit covered - I'll show you the repeatable bit on Thursday Night.
The Lady Captains and Lady Presidents Drive In takes place after this newsletter goes in for editing so I'll put some pictures in next week.
Handicap allowance
The handicap governing body, CONGU, has changed the handicap allowance for better ball competitions from this year, moving to from 3/4 allowance to 90%. For some reason this has caused HUGE confusion amongst many of the golfers as memories of school exams come flooding back as they try and work out 9/10ths of their handicap.
So, to stop any further hassle for you when entering the competitions - JUST TAKE 10% OFF!!
Or, remember this:
0 - 5 handicap - no shots lost
6 - 15 handicap - 1 shot lost
16 - 25 handicap - 2 shots lost
26 - 35 handicap - 3 shots lost … and so on
Lewis was in charge of receiving the competition entries on Saturday and he said people were surprised he could work it out so quickly. Whilst he is doing Maths and Further Maths at school, it was a lot simpler than that! Of course, in all seriousness, if you're in doubt you are always best to check with us as too many people get disqualified from competitions each week for forgetting to put their handicap on the card.
Regarding handicaps - for some reason last year we started to get a lot of golfers asking us if the shots were to be worked out from their normal playing handicap or their exact handicap (i.e 19.3 instead of 19). I've never come across this question until last year, but as far as I'm aware in the 300 year old history of the game, no competition has ever been played off the exact handicaps or the allowance worked off the exact handicap, it's always your playing handicap.
Pro's Fiddle
This Saturday there will be a Pro's Fiddle - We'll have a better ball BOGEY competition played off exact handicaps (only joking - 90% of your playing handicap!).
There's no priority on the tee, just something for any white or red tee golfer to come and get involved in. Entry fee will be £4 each person including 2's.
Luuuuuuuuuuke
On Sunday Luke will be competing in the ridiculously difficult 'Tough Guy Challenge' at Perton in Wolverhampton.
He's raising money for Diabetes UK and he'd welcomed some last minute support as it really is quite an undertaking he's doing. Last year he attempted it for the first time and it was the coldest day of the year -he finished well ahead of many of the other thousands and managed to avoid getting dragged off the course from hypothermia like many of the other nutters did! If you'd like to go and watch, it looks like great fun for spectators and I know he'll appreciate the support - even if it's just so he can show you his guns! Good luck Luke! (p.s. no I'm not doing it with you next year!!)
Captain and president drive-in stableford
1st Gary Murphy and Ian Thwiates 49 points
2nd Adrian Dibble and Stefan Skibicki 47 points
(Adrian also completed the Tough Guy challenge a few years ago)
3rd Ian Dowson and David Riley 46 points
