Hi all, 

Hope you're all well and getting ready for this week's round up! Let's start with the results this week.

 

Competitions

Last week's Ladies' Bowmaker was a hotly contested affair, although the weather was absolutely horrific! The winning team was a damp but happy Claire Fairman, Linda Smith and Yvonne Wesbroom, and in second place came Dorothy Bastable, Lynne Vowles and Paula Keaney just in front of third place Linda Meaton, Ali Vyas and Hilda Morris. Well done Ladies! 

Last week's Seniors' Stableford was won by Terry Beauchamp with 37 points on count back, with Nick Bailey in second with 37 points and Andy Bartlett in third with 36 points. Well done to you all! 

This weekend saw the March Stableford played. As we are nearing the season opener, the sheets are filling and we had a lot of competitors. Here are the movers and shakers for this week:

Division 1 - 
Winner - Jamie Butt (39 points) 
2nd - Andy Hawkins (39 points) 
3rd - Alan Cowley (38 points) 

Division 2 - 
Winner - Ian Roberts (45 points) 
2nd - Bob Hearne (39 points) 
3rd - Simon Beswick (39 points)

Great golf guys, many congrats to you all. 

Ian Roberts deserves a special mention here - what a great round of golf. Not only did he snatch Div 2 victory with an uber-impressive 45 points, he also got a hole in one on 7th and had a two on the hole before! Ian I am so proud of you. The Pro Shop salutes you! Into single figures now Ian, great job.

   


The Ladies' Stableford was also played on Saturday and the winner was Vicky Reed with Susan Ellis in second place. Well done!

What's on the horizon? 

*15th March - Seniors' Stableford - no need to book 
*18th March - Pro Shop Stableford - no need to book 
*21st March - Ladies' Stableford - booking online 
*25th March - Season Opener - sign up sheet in spike bar 

So what's the academy gossip this week? Let's take a look through the square window.....


 

This week Paul had the next in his series of lessons with Head Greenkeeper Matt, so let's hand over the reins to Paul for his round up:

Hi everyone, 

Don't forget the Callaway Fitting Day during the afternoon of Friday 24th March. We still have a few appointments available between 1pm and 5pm to be fitted by the full time UK Callaway Specialist Fitter using Trackman Launch Monitor. It's completely free and there's absolutely no obligation to buy, its just a great opportunity for you to try the new Epic woods, Fusion and XR lines, particularly for left handers as I know how difficult it is to get hold of left handed demonstration product. Book your appointment right now to avoid disappointment. 

We have had so much stock delivered over the past week and we've been so busy re-merchandising the shop. All of the new men's Under Armour clothing and golf shoes look great as do the ladies Green Lamb and Glenmuir Spring Collections. Just to whet your appetites and strictly until the last day of March, mention this email and you will get a 10% discount on these collections! 


Matt Hawker 

I am getting seriously excited by the progress in Matt Hawker's game. We have both put a lot of time and effort into working at his weaknesses over the past couple of months and it won't be long until he tees up the ball in his first qualifying competition. He has been an absolute pleasure to coach. He has listened to everything I've said and has practised between lessons and each time I see him, I can see huge improvement. I know how difficult it is to get dramatic Improvement out of anyone and as we all well know, we can tend to hit a bit of a brick wall when we reach our potential. The time and effort required to improve has to be relentless but Matt is on track for a very successful season. 


   


I've been experimenting with Matt's posture and knee flex and it is not until the last couple of weeks that I feel we know exactly the best way for Matt to stand to the ball. Everybody is completely different but I wanted to get Matt into a position that could stop him from lifting his body up and out of his posture during the backswing. His spine angle used to be too slumped but now he's in a great position with a straighter back and slight knee flex. From this position he has to feel as if he's in a sitting position as he swings to the top of the backswing. His left hip used to move forward towards the ball causing him to swing the club too much inside away from the ball and over the top at the start of the downswing. All the faults have improved by eighty percent and there's still a little unfinished work here but Matt is getting better and better at doing it. Well done Matt. Let's do this!


The Daisy Garland

I also received a very special letter in the post this week, from the Daisy Garland. Many of you know the work we have done with this charity based in Devon, and it is very close to my heart because of Cameron's epilepsy. 

I strongly believe in giving back and they have been incredibly supportive over the years. We have raised funds for them for the last 4 years doing a variety of diverse charitable events, with help from you wonderful people too, to allow them to purchase SATS monitors for epileptic children to reduce the risk of SUDEP (which Daisy died of in her sleep at just 6 years old) and this letter means so much to me.

Click here to read the letter.

   

I am so so proud to be invited, and I know lovely fellow fundraiser and member Andy Preisner has also been invited. It is an honour to be asked, especially as I have never been to the House of Lords. Unfortunately it will be unlikely I can attend due to the fact I will have both a 14 year old and a newborn baby but I am still very excited to have been one of the selected fundraisers for this award. Later in the year I look forward to doing some more charity work to help more children afflicted by this dreadful disease. 

Next week sees Andy coaching his County Academy Squad - so we will hear all about it in next week's newsletter and in a few weeks time, get ready for video number 3 from Nick and Andy. 

On that note, have a great week. 

Caren, Paul, Andy & Nick