Hi everyone,

Hope all is well for all of you! Let’s commence the news…

The Club Stableford on Saturday was a new roll up, entered and paid for in the pro Shop and it was lovely to have you back! The winner was Ben Davis with 44 points, in second was Phil Jones with 41 points and taking third place was Oli Pomphrey with 40 points. Well done to you all.

I would like to point out all the lovely Christmas events going on at the club this year. Our Academy is running our second Inclusion Christmas party for all the attendees of our disability group on Saturday, 2nd December. Our Santa Tri Golf and Treasure Hunt will be on Saturday, 9th December and our free mulled wine and mince pie giveaway will be on Saturday, 16th December.

On Sunday, 3rd December the club are running a festive carvery, on Sunday, 10th December the Pill Owls return and there is also a festive lunch on the weekend of 16th and 17th December, as the popular family Christmas lunch and Santa returns. For more information, contact Adam the house manager or us for Pro Shop events.

Santas Specials on the Way

What’s on the way?

• December Stableford Saturday, 2nd December - booking on intelligentgolf.
• Inclusion Christmas session and party Saturday, 2nd December - free of charge, booking via Pro Shop.
• Junior 9 Hole event Sunday, 3rd December - booking on intelligentgolf.
• December winter open Thursday, 7th December - booking via the office.

Now onto the Academy!

Saturday saw our last fitting day of 2017 with a fully booked Titleist demo day, and this week Paul also travelled to Farrington Golf Club to see the stock rooms of Titleist and FootJoy. This was to view the 2018 new technology and product hitting our shelves next year. Over to him for this week’s Pro report:

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks for me and looking at my appointment diary it doesn’t look like slowing down in the near distant future.

Last Tuesday morning I visited Farrington Golf Club to attend the annual Titleist and FootJoy Stockroom. All of next year’s ladies and men’s FootJoy shoes were on display and there are some exciting new products for 2018. After the success of the dimple soled DryJoy Pro SL golf shoes, they have created a new shoe which gives more stability without losing the mobility required for the feet throughout the speedy movements of a golf swing. As soon as I arrived at the stockroom, I spotted this new model and had planned to choose two or three colour ways and sizes before they told me the price. At £199 I didn’t order too many in the end! Most of the new Spring/Summer styles will arrive sometime in January, look out for FootJoy’s best ever line up.

On both Wednesday and Saturday the appointment slots were completely full for the PING and Titleist Fitting Days. Thanks to all members who came along to try the equipment as it was an extremely successful couple of days. Myself, Andy and Nick have been busy with club fittings in the run up to Christmas and Titleist are supporting a couple of promotions that may be of interest to you?

The new 2017 Titleist Pro V1 golf balls have been reduced from £44.99 to £38 per dozen, but please note this does not include Xmas Personalised Pro V1 which remain at the price of £44.99. Titleist 917 drivers are now down to £399 from £449 and Titleist 917 fairway woods down 10% from £249 to £225.

I attended the annual England Golf Coaches and Managers Conference on Tuesday at England HQ Woodhall Spa, which got me out of bed at 4am for the long drive! England Golf have just retained the services of two new psychologists under their umbrella ‘Grey Matters’ and are working with all national and regional squads including my South West U18 Squad. The theme of their fantastic presentation was ‘Developing and Fostering the Psychological Characteristics of Developing Excellence’. We were then split into small groups to cover all areas of the theme. It is always good to network with my fellow professionals and as you could imagine, the ideas were flowing freely.

My favourite part of the day was a practical workshop looking at how we could improve how we Coach the short game with the England Head Coaches. Danny Willet’s long term Coach Graham Walker, has become a very good friend of mine and he always inspires me with his ideas and passion for Coaching. His sidekick, David Ridley who Coaches many high profile players is also great to work with and the workshop was both entertaining and enlightening. Silly isn’t it but at professional events with Chris, I have rarely been star struck with other players but whenever I bump into Butch Harmon, David Leadbetter or hugely experienced coaches like Graham or David, I feel like a kid with an autograph book!

Don't forget that we offer gift vouchers in the pro shop. So if you're struggling for a gift for someone special this Christmas, then come and see us and purchase yourself a gift voucher. Purchasing a Christmas present couldn't be anymore easier!

Thanks Paul. I continue to recruit schools for inclusion - this week another six weeks of school work has been confirmed with Kingsweston and further offers made to local provisions. How exciting!

Next week will feature an instructional from the boys so keep an eye out for this!

Wrap up warm, it's winter here.

On that note, have a great week

Caren, Paul, Andy and Nick.