Hi everyone,

 

I hope you have all been enjoying a great week so far. I had the pleasure of being invited to the Ladies' Christmas Lunch this week. It is always a great opportunity to chat with friends and see everyone. The tables were beautifully decorated, the meal well received and the afternoon a roaring success. Thanks so much to Paula Crabtree for inviting me and to the Ladies for making me feel so welcome.

    

   

I would also like to thank someone for volunteering to be my next top model - ladies and gentlemen I give you Dr Mike Potts woooo hoooooo! Mike bought these lovely plus twos and some woolly socks, which all went rather fetchingly with his fab Christmas jumper. What a star, I hear there's a fashion show coming next year………………………!!

So come on boys, any more volunteers?!! 

Now I would like to pass over to the male folk for their part!


 

We have been extremely fortunate to have missed the flooding from the storms throughout Northern England and as usual the course is standing up fantastically well to the wet weather.

It was great to see the newly drained greens coming back into play this week and unusually I have played three rounds of golf over the past few days to test them. Matt and the staff have done a brilliant job and for the time of year, even with the slits, the ball is rolling well. I guess this time of year, they would have been bobbly or on temps, so it's great just to be playing on them. I spoke to Matt who said the slits will be filled again every once in a while, but I can see with my own eyes that we will have some of the best greens in the South West by the end of the Spring.

Sunday was a very sad day for me as it was my very last Captain/Pro Challenge with our wonderful Captain and my foursomes partner, Geoff. What was even more sad was that we comfortably lost to Tony Vallance and John Watson 4 and 2. Well done to Tony and John who have won the Salver for the best win against us this year.

Geoff has been a brilliant Captain and great fun to play with. If you want any lessons on how to play around the temporary greens, book in with Geoff as he plays the most wonderful chip and run shots with five and seven irons you will ever witness. 

Our match statistics for 2016 were:- Played 15, Won 11, Halved 1, Lost 3.

We had twelve players beat 36 points at the weekends December Stableford and the winner of Division One was Tony John with 38 points. On count back was Peter Southerby followed by Shaun Bond. Brian Jones also had 38 points but just missed out on a prize.

In Division Two we had a similar count back issue! Simon Beswick won the division followed by Nick Parsons and Rob Bowers. They all had a majestic 40 points!

Just to remind everyone that the competition winnings are always posted in the Men's Changing Rooms and money is credited to your Pro Shop account to spend on whatever you wish.


 

Many people talk of how they struggle in our bunkers here at Bristol and Clifton. With the windy conditions and the fact that the wind tends to blow the sand out of the bunkers over time, we use much heavier sand that can make it more difficult to play bunker shots.

The key to success from our bunkers is club head speed and you need to apply much more power than usual, for the club to move through the heavy sand.

The other key is to make sure that you open the club face at address. Gone are the days of a lack of sand in our bunkers. The open club face presents the bounce angle on the bottom of the club to the sand and ensures that the club glides through the deep sand.

Don't forget to hinge your wrists on the backswing to help with a chopping type action and always look at the sand approximately two inches behind the ball. Pretend the ball isn't there by picking a grain of sand to look at and allow the club to hit that part of the sand and not the ball.

    

Keep accelerating through the sand and follow through! The acceleration will be different from person to person, depending on how much club head speed you tend to produce on normal shots. Shorter hitters will have to hit the sand at full power.

As long as you hit the sand and follow through, 99% of the time the ball will pop into the air and out onto the green.

              

We are always looking for new recruits! From beginner to tour player, we really want to help people's games. If you or anyone you know are looking for some tips then look no further as now is the perfect time to improve your golf, in time for the Spring. Christmas shop or lesson vouchers are available to purchase.

Click here to get in touch if you are interested in improving your game with us here at the Paul Mitchell Golf Academy.


 

You may have noticed our Get Into Golf banners at the entrance to the golf club over the Spring? We managed to attract a number of newcomers to the game and Andy and I took on the role of encouraging these to become involved in the club. We held almost twenty beginner sessions, and from them we have nurtured eight new club members.

On Sunday we decided to hold a friendly Christmas competition for them which was a great success. You can imagine how apprehensive they were, but Andy and I allowed them a professionals mulligan on each hole which gave them an opportunity to see, watch my head get bigger, 'how it should be done'. A nice glass of mulled wine and a mince pie rounded of a wonderful afternoon and we will be looking to hold more events like these in the new year.


 

Dr Karl Morris - The Scoring Zone

We have still got tickets available for our evening with Europe's leading mind coach Dr Karl Morris on Thursday, 3 March here at Bristol & Clifton.

This was a sold out event last year, so make sure you get your tickets booked asap.

We are also offering a 20% discount on any Karl Morris tickets purchased before the 31st of January 2016.

Click here to find out more about the event, or click here to get in touch if you are interested in booking tickets.