Turning the key in the Pro Shop door on Tuesday morning was the first time in 17 years that I didn't have Isobel involved in the business as she officially retired on Monday, as I mentioned last week. She's been shielding since the middle of March and has missed not being able to say goodbye to you all, we'll definitely be getting her back for a last hurrah once things calm down further and I'll announce when that will be.
Graham's also been off for months with a chronic back and myself and Mike are working seperate shifts just in case, so Katie and Simon have been working their socks off lately and all credit to them especially as Simon's also studying for his A-Levels and Katie's having to cook his mountains of food! Apart from coaching and custom fitting, the roles within the pro shop have changed over recent years with less neccessitiy for product knowledge on every product category and more emphasis put on customer experience and of course, admin. I think as we return to whatever 'normal' will look like, I'll be needing help in the shop and golf experience won't be neccessary. Mind you, Isobel has successfully proved that you don't have to play golf to work in golf. Fortunately we've had eight weeks of golf to get ready for this weekend's first qualifying event and if you didn't have the chance to hit any balls into a net during the forced absence, you may not have actually missed out on much in reality as this classic example shows... One of our golfers came to see me because his driver shaft was broken, or so he thought. As he hit balls in the simulator, his 280 yard drive with draw had changed into a super low fade that hit the ground after 100 yards - shocking difference to what I'd seen before. After a couple of shots, I asked why he had changed what he was doing - whenever I'd seen him before, he used to aim off to the right of target and hit big drives that would start consistently slightly left of where he was aiming and sail miles down the fairway. 'Have you been hitting balls into a net during lockdown?' I asked. 'Yes', came the reply and it turns out this golfer had spent weeks getting used to aiming straight and trying to swing straight. Without the benefit of being able to see the ball flight, none of us can tell what the result of our swing changes would really be. Fortunately, as with all swing changes, the very next shot was better and he was soon smashing his Bryson-esque drives again. The videos I posted on the members-only Facebook page were exactly for this reason, to show you that knowing how YOU play the game is more important than knowing how other people play the game or how you THINK you should be playing the game. As in this case, there's absolutely nothing wrong with aiming off to the right and hitting the ball in a different direction - in fact it's essential in this case. The same thing happens with golf clubs, it's ok to have a club which will eradicate a slice, like the Callaway Mavrik MAX driver, but sometimes we like to expose the fault and allow the golfer to correct the flaw with a technique change. Each situation is different because every golfer is different. Don't forget to check out our men's and ladies clothing ranges as the sun returns this weekend, we have Stuburt, Oscar Jacobson and Island Green and we can embrodier the club logo onto them all. Stay safe and enjoy this week's read... |