Ola amigos!

As I am currently sunning myself on a Spanish beach and I don't really know many club results, nor have I organised any get into golf days or coaching groups for the last week to tell you all about, I decided this week I would do something a little different and give you the chance to win something.

This week is quiz week Ladies and Gents! This is a fun quiz, covering different Spanish and French subjects, mixed with golf related questions, which will result in two prizes. Our prize for first place is a dozen Pro V1 golf balls (value over £40) and for second place we will give away a dozen DT Solo. The winners will be randomly drawn by me from an empty jug of sangria and I will even video it to prove it. I don't take bribes (unless they're big). Seriously though I am a giver, I love to give stuff to worthy recipients, so please enter into the spirit, do the quiz and win my lovely prizes peeps!

Click here to download my quiz, and please email them to me at paul.mitchell@foremostgolf.com, or bring your completed form into the Pro Shop.

So did you get them all? I tried not to challenge you too much! I will look forward to seeing all your answers and I will write about the winners in my next newsletter.

I hope you are all having a fab week. I have plenty to tell you all on my return!

Firstly our assistant Luke is looking for three people to join him for a Pro Am on the 12th September at Oake Manor, and also another three for the 22nd September at Burnham. Please do give the shop a call and speak to Luke for more details.

Ladies Fashion Show

Ladies don't forget to sign up on the board for the FREE fashion show on September 23rd. Supper also available for just £8. Bring a friend, sign her (or him!) up on the board. See the latest winter golf attire here first! We need to get at least 50-60 names on the list to be able to proceed, so do sign up soon if you want to come.

TaylorMade Demo Week

TaylorMade demo week 22nd -28th September sees all the new and complete demo products arrive at our shop for us to custom fit all you lovelies. FlightScope technology is available for all TaylorMade fittings that week, so book now for your FREE no obligation custom fit. Call us on 01275 393031 to reserve your appointment, or click here to get in touch.

So now we move onto an instructional by pro shopper Andy McGreevy. Enjoy!

Practice, practice practice!

We're all guilty of it. We've the best intentions of going down to the practice ground and spending hours hitting balls in the hope that we find 'it' or fix our swing and suddenly our game will be transformed. What we actually do is spend most of the time hitting the ball with no thought of a target or what it is we actually want to achieve. While this hard work ethic and blind faith is commendable it is comparative to a basketball player going to practice their free throws with out using a net. They are essentially just throwing the ball at a wall in the hope that they get better. It is therefore important that we have clearly defined targets for what we want to achieve out of each of our practice sessions and how we are going to do this in order to improve our game.

If you are serious about wanting to improve your game then I suggest keeping a record of all your competitive rounds. Not only should you record your score, you should also make note of some vital statistics that will help to guide your future practice sessions (see below).

Statistics to record:

Fairways:
- How many fairways you hit off the tee
- Where you missed the fairway i.e. left or right

Greens:
- How many greens you hit in regulation
- Where you missed the green i.e. long, short, left or right
- How close you hit it i.e. 0-10 feet, 10-20 feet etc.

Scrambling:
- How many times you got up and down from just off the green
- How close you chipped it to the hole

Putting:
- How many putts you had on each hole and in total
- How many putts you made/missed from 0-3 feet, 3-6 feet etc.

To begin with I would advise just recording the statistics from the first line of each category. This will give you a general idea of where you need to improve i.e. driving or putting. Then if you wish to make your practice even more targeted, I would suggest using all the categories listed above in as much detail as possible. Once you have a clear understanding of how you are performing on the course your practice can become much more targeted and productive. There are plenty of phone and tablet apps that you can use to record this information but I always find writing it down with good old pen and paper works just as well!

Now you have this wealth of information at hand, there are all sorts of games and drills you can now do to improve your scoring instead of merely bashing ball after ball on the range. Next week I'll introduce you to a few that I like to use that you can try your hand at. So why not record your next competitive round and see where you might need to improve.

Click here to get in touch if you have any questions about this, or come and see me in the Pro Shop,

Yours in golf,

Andy

Thanks Andy. I look forward to part two of this next week. Now onto Paul's round up of the latest events!

Invitation Day

Last Saturday was the club's second Invitation Day which was greatly received. With the course playing soft and long off the back tees, the scoring was surprisingly good. In third position was Pao Poole and her guest, Keith Gadsen with 40 points. Second place was taken by Karen Rix and her guest Sue Garrahy with 41 points. Winning by two clear points on 43 was Andy Smith and his son Chris who played brilliantly. Well done to all of you!

Presidents Putter

The Finals of the Presidents Putter was contested following Invitation Day. It started with the 18 hole quarter finals around the practice putting green, and there were many fine putting performances with each hole being a par 2, victors needed to be at least three or four under par to win their matches. Reaching the Grand Final was favourite and defending champion, Richard Moore, who had beaten an on form Clive Mackenzie in the Semi Final. Jullian Dawes had witnessed a superb performance from Simon Bailey to also lose his Semi final match.

The final was a very close contest with Simon just sneaking ahead after 11 holes. With the knees knocking, the hearts beating and an exuberant crowd, faults started to creep into the nervous putting strokes. After Simon had three putted the short 15th, Richard couldn't take the advantage and also followed with a three putt to stay two down. Surely it was now in the bag? The downhill 17th proved to be a great cause for concern for Simon, who raced his first putt four feet past the hole and agonisingly witnessed the second putt slide past the low side of the hole. Suddenly Richard needed to hole his putt at the right to left eighteenth hole. He gave it a really good run at the hole to see the ball pull up just short and low. Deservedly so, Simon Bailey is the new President's Putter Champion 2014. Well played Simon.

Lastly I would just like to remind all you lovely people that only one supplementary card for activating inactive handicaps can be done per week. I don't want any of your fantastic hard earned scores to go to waste, so please ensure you only enter to do this once every seven days.

Be fabulous, you're worth it...