Welcome to another edition of our weekly newsletter, I’ve come into the clubhouse for inspiration this week due to writer’s cramp, and what an inspiring view as we’re forecast temperatures in the high 20’s at last. Yes, the shorts are in stock! In this week’s mail we look forward to the Pro-Am, there is a report on recent club matches, we talk club fitting, and junior coaching is on the horizon. Enjoy this week’s read!
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Pro- Am This year will be the 15th year that we have staged the Midland PGA Pro-Am. It’s become one of the biggest events in the Midlands with £3,500 of amateur prizes, attracts many of the best professional players who join a team of 3 amateurs and has been responsible for the course record tumbling from 66 to 65, then 64, then 63 and finally to 61 three years ago. I’m in the process of contacting sponsors and players from last year to invite them to participate again and if you would like to join in, there are many ways that you can. We will have spaces for Hole Sponsors, team entries and volunteer ball spotters. The event takes place on Friday 17th August and promises to be bigger than ever. Click here if you would like to register your interest and I’ll get back to you. |
Match reports There’s lots of club matches being played now the season is under way. The ladies were narrowly beaten in a knockout after a 4 hole playoff on Saturday, the Scratch Team had a glorious 4-3 win away in their first match after being 3-0 down early on and the Club team beat Leek 9.5 - 2.5 on Saturday with one of the matches being won 10 & 8.
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The captain and I played against Leek’s Captain and Pro and we had a low scoring game with more than one hole halved in birdies before we edged them out. One golfer who didn’t need a birdie was David Robinson who scored a Hole-In-One on the 3rd. This was his 4th on the same hole and his 6th overall. The Captain’s not allergic to Whisky in this picture - he was feeling guilty for missing the ace out of his winners speech! Julie Wells also managed the feat in the ladies competition last Wednesday, resulting in her group doing the conga down the 4th fairway! For those of you who’ve played golf for many years and not scored an ace yet - Julie has been playing for less than 18 months! (It must be the ladies group coaching!!)
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Tuesday Social Amazingly we've had exactly the same number of participants for the first 3 Tuesday Socials. 63 people and not all the same people either! Just on Tuesday's we are now allowed to eat cooked food in any clubhouse bar and wear shorts in the same areas - golf shoes only in the spiked TV bar though. This week’s winner of the parking space was John Nicholls with 20 points, beating myself, Andy Metcalfe and John Maddox on a local rule. Full results can be found here. Next week we will probably be playing off either the front or back nine - your choice on the day, in order to alleviate any queuing on the tee. Looking back at previous year’s results, I don't think the scores will be different overall from either nine so the scores will all mix in together, instead of a front and back nine prize.
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Fit it & rip it Lots of woods and hybrids this week with the latest ACCRA shaft upgrades. ACCRA are only available to the tour and to certified club fitters like myself. Tony Finau, Justin Rose, Luke Donald, Matt Kuchar, Natalie Gulbis, Gary Woodland and Scott Piercy are all recently playing the wood shafts on Tour - the appeal is a signature soft feel combined with Japanese manufacturing tolerances. Other manufacturers often have flexes which change with weight, i.e. the lightest shafts will be the softest, whereas if we want a 50g, 60g, 70g or 80g shaft in regular flex, with ACCRA we know that the flex will be constant no matter what the weight is. They also produce a corresponding driver, fairway and hybrid shaft to feel and perform the same as each other, instead of adjusting one shaft to fit all.
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A US PGA Champions Tour golfer was over last week with two golf bags full of drivers to test out. I’d fitted them with two ACCRA shafts for the Tour School in December and they wanted to compare these to their old favourite drivers. If there is an ‘Average’ driver length from the manufacturers these days it would be 45.5” and the feel of how heavy the head is can be expressed as ‘Swing-Weight’ which has increased lately and is now often around the D6 mark compared to D2 or D3 as in the past. (2 grams on the head is the equivalent to 1 swing weight, or the difference between D2 and D3). Swing weight is the feel of how much weight is towards the head compared to towards the grip and is done by balancing a club on a manual or digital scale with a 14” fulcrum. Here’s a picture of a club on my digital scale. |
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As a club gets longer, the swing weight increases, and it also increases as the shaft gets lighter and as the head gets heavier. Some clubs are coming out with lighter shafts and heavier heads due to the weight slots and I see lots of golfers struggling to control these clubs - they’re good for distance but the heavier clubhead feel gets lagged behind the golfer and they start to hit blocks and hooks. This is a habit I fall into with my current driver, Mizuno GT180, it has 8.5 degrees of loft with an extra-stiff 3 wood shaft in it - some 2” shorter than standard and a swing weight of D0. |
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The Tour golfer last week performed best with a driver which was 1 inch shorter than average and D3 swing weight. Every driver they had liked in the past but discarded at some point or another was an inch longer than this and D5 swing weight. That’s an easy fix in my book! |
Junior Coaching at Brocton Hall Golf Club 2018 Mike Dewsbury is heading up the junior coaching programmes and I’ll be assisting him, which is due to start shortly. After joining the club himself at the age of 11 and getting down to handicap of plus 2, Mike has been involved with the junior set up for quite a while and understands the importance of socialising with others and enjoying the game at a young age. He’s also gained coaching experience with junior football for a number of years. During the spring through to the end of October, we will be running the junior coaching sessions each Saturday. There will also be some after-school dates available, please let us know what days and times suit you. Click here to see the dates, times and cost of each session.
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One week left to take advantage It's been great seeing so many of you take advantage of our latest promotion. Whether you want to stock up on balls for the season ahead or simply want one dozen FREE, now is the perfect time to get yourself sorted as we're offering you four dozen for the price of three on personalised Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls. |
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The changes to the Rules of Golf are fast approaching with 2019 now less than nine months away, so we thought we’d take a closer look at one common rule that’s getting a makeover. |
Change of procedure when taking relief
Currently, you must drop your ball within two club-lengths from the nearest point of relief when taking a penalty drop. Under the new rule (17.1c), from 2019 you’ll need to use the longest club in your bag (other than a putter) to measure one club-length or two club-lengths depending on the situation. The other alteration comes when dropping the golf ball. At present, you must drop your ball from shoulder height when taking relief, but this will change to knee height from 2019. Let us know your thoughts by getting in touch below. |
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