I didn't see too many tired faces at the weekend as I think everyone seemed pretty confident that Jordan Spieth had the Masters all wrapped up after two rounds and didn't stay up every night to watch. It was great to see the English trio of Rose, Poulter and Casey challenging for the top places and to see Rory and Tiger close together at the top again. This can only be a good thing for golf, I think.
Two of my picks finished in the top six, Hideki Matsuyama and Dustin Johnson - shame I had them to win outright!
It's amazing how they smash a driver even off the tees with the narrowest fairways like the 11th, 14th and 17th, not to mention the avenue of trees on the 18th. That's what makes the course seem less than its actual 7,200 yard length. Did you notice their alignment though? On holes like the 12th it was possible to see the alignment variances which often confused the commentators. I'm talking about the fact that you don't have to aim your feet at your intended target in order to hit the ball there.
Here's a couple of scenarios from this week which explains further:
A scratch golfer was in hitting drivers on the launch monitor this week and they were changing their natural left-to-right fade shot to a right-to-left draw. The draw shots all started left of the target and drew further left which didn't relate to what the golfer was seeing out on the course. The reason was simple; the golfer would be unknowingly aiming right of the target and hitting a pull draw shot back to the target when on the course. The golfer could either work hard to start the ball more to the right with their swing or simply aim out into the rough to allow for their pull draw. As long as the result is solid and repeatable, the easiest solution is the best one, in this case meaning just aim to the right!
So don't obsess about your alignment, unless you're the golfer who could benefit from aiming right or left and you're doing the opposite - that would be a disaster! Click here if you'd like to book a lesson to see which you are.
Remember if you would like to book a lesson, any of the shop staff can book you in on my behalf - you won't always catch me as I'll be out teaching already.
If you'd like to practice, you can use your own golf balls or we have tubes of 20 balls which you can use and bring back to the shop, just please leave my teaching golf balls where they are on the practice area.
They are the ones which have coloured lines around them as can be seen here. I pick them up most days or get my slaves (erm, kids) to pick them up.
Tony Tompkins recently won the Easter Stableford at Royal St Davids Golf Club in Harlech. His 40 points won by two shots in the popular event. Tony (pictured here collecting his award) suggests it's thanks to all the practice he's got in our Pro's Fiddles over the winter. Nice one Tony!
The Scratch Team, Captained by Neil Johnson, won their first fixture away against Penn Golf Club by 4.5-3.5. Points are only awarded for away wins so an away win is a huge result especially considering most low handicappers are experts at playing their own course. Good start. Next fixture is away again to Moor Hall on Sunday, 3 May.
Tuesday's Social Golf results are as follows. 39 golfers took part this week on the front nine, seven eigths handicap stableford. There was a three way tie for first place with Jeremy Duffy (£16) winning by way of countback from Daz Poole (£12) and Steve Smith (£10).
The Stewart Staples Leaderboard is still topped by Rich Nichols with 16 points using the 'bendy wedge'.
Lots in the Workshop this week:
