My Weekly Newsletter

The Captain and Presidents drive-in took place on Sunday combined with a betterball stableford competition. The combined drive distance was 369 yards with Ned Edwards guessing the exact distance.

The ladies event takes place on Wednesday so I'll report on that next week.

They both hit good drives down the middle of the fairway and their swings are great examples of the two different styles we see in action every week at the club and TV. As a member of the 'Plane Truth' group of coaches worldwide, I subscribe to the maxim of the Great British coach, John Jacobs, who was credited with being the inspiration behind many of the most famous coaches over the last four decades with the phrase.

'The sole purpose of the golf swing is to produce a correct and repetitive impact. The method employed is of no consequence so long as it's correct and repetitive.'

Anyone who attended my seminars last year will have a better idea of what's going on here, but essentially we can see the Captain on the left, Kevin Mellor, using leverage to swing the club through impact and the President on the right, David Moodie, using a throwing action. For those in the know the Captain is a two plane LOP release and the President is the exact opposite with a 1 plane RIT release.

Here's some pictures of their swings at different position and all the elements that I'm pointing out are the exact opposite of each other and wholly correct for their relevant styles.

Pic 1 - Address: Captain - Stood Tall. President - Tipped over
Pic 2 - Captain - Club moving up in front of his body. President - Club moving around behind his body.

Pic 3 - At the top - Captain - Head moved downwards, hand above shoulders. President - Head moved upwards, hands behind body.
Pic 4 - Half way down - Captain - Left arm aiming at the target line, head lifting into impact and standing tall. President - Right arm pointing at the target line, head lowering into impact and bending over.

Pic 5 - Impact - Captain - Stood tall, weight on the toes, dragging the club through impact. President- Tipped over, weight not on the toes, throwing the club through impact.
Pic 6 - Finish - Captain - Back of right hand facing the camera, twisting the shaft through. President - Palm of right hand facing the target, throwing the head through.

One of these golfers will need to shape the ball to the target, have great timing and will display good bunker skills. One of them will hit straighter flights, hit their long clubs efficiently and be good with half wedges. The golf 'Hall of Fame' is full of a 50/50 mix of these styles. Which one do you think you are? Of course you could be a Hybrid of the two. Hint, the hybrid of the Captain's backswing and the President's downswing works wonders. The hybrid of the President's backswing and the Captain's downswing doesn't work.

Tough Guy Race

Well done to my assistant Luke and to George Johnson who completed the staggering Tough Guy race on Sunday. It was brutal conditions for the half marathon length obstacle course that sees 7,000 people travel from all over Europe to take part. The second half of the race is mainly amongst muddy water sections and with the water frozen in places and the feel like temperature barely above freezing, they certainly look stunned and shattered in the picture after the event, and rightly so, but as Luke says - "they smashed it."

Second Hand Clubs

Don't forget to bring your once loved golf clubs in, to get a new lease of life. I've been using some of them this week, taking the heads off to go to one customer and using the shafts to go for another one. Plus, if you're interested in matching a current club or looking at putting something different in your bag, there are many cost effective options.

Whether it's a second-hand/ex-demo solution or a new solution like the TaylorMade M2 driver that was released on Friday and used by Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson and Jason Day at Torrey Pines in the same group… "Oh, hang on a minute, they all missed the cut - OK, forget that comment".

Just take away the message that we have the solution no matter the golfer swing style or the budget.

In The Workshop This Week