Hi Everyone,
We are currently still enjoying all that the Costas have to offer so you will have to excuse our lack of results this week. Normal service will be resumed soon I promise! As usual, all the results are posted on our Pro Shop Noticeboard, which also features the majority of our fundraising days, beginner courses and things coming soon to a pro shop near you.......! If you want to know who's won what, when and where, please do pop into the shop and take a peek.
Well we did the draw from the selection of quiz results we received by email, and I am by pleased to announce (drum roll please) that the winner of our special Pro V1 dozen was David James, congratulations David.
The winner of the special DT solo dozen was Christine Taylor (and Mike Biggs).
Well done to you all, your prizes have been put aside in the shop ready for collection. I applaud you all for your knowledge of all things Spanish, French and golf!
As you may remember, Andi Moore from Long Ashton had undertaken to cycle from Bristol to London in just 12 hours to raise money for our disabled golf sessions and Golf Xtreme Kit. Well I am absolutely thrilled to say that Andi rose to the challenge and raised a whopping £800 for us! Wooooo Hooooo! You can't imagine how excited I am that we can do more sessions for those who have special needs and that we can finally afford our own kit to do so. This kit can also be used in secondary schools, so we also hope to use it in our local areas with older children and vulnerable adults. Andi I take my hat off to you for doing something really amazing for me and for all the people who will benefit from the money. We all thank you so much.
Now over to Paul for his weekly small section of MY newsletter (ha ha ha)
Upcoming Demo Week
We have a very exciting week coming very soon at the Paul Mitchell Golf Academy. For one week, I have sole use of a mass of demonstration equipment from TaylorMade Golf. All of the latest ladies and men's drivers, fairway woods, rescue clubs, wedges and irons will be available to try for absolutely FREE, courtesy of my area sales representative.
The demo week starts on Monday, 22 September and there be plenty of available slots on each day to book a fitting session, using the latest FlightScope X2 Doppler radar. This radar tracks the ball from start to finish and gives us accurate information on all the spins imparted to the ball, the carry and total distance travelled by each shot. It's easy to see which custom clubs go straighter and further from the results sent to the FlightScope software on our iPads. Looking for new clubs, more distance and straighter shots then book in.
Click here to request your fitting slot.
I have some extremely happy customers who have purchased a TaylorMade SLDR or JetSpeed driver and have made some massive gains in distance both off the tee and throughout their games. The new SpeedBladz irons blast the ball truly fast off the face. According to my FlightScope, the data shows that the irons have the fastest face in the game of golf. The ball speed is faster than any golf club made, and have huge benefits in distance and the forgiving head shape helps with off centre hits.
I will also be hovering around the putting green with a bunch of major winning putters, fitting you for your correct length, lie and head style to suit your stroke. Of course, the odd free tip will be flying around to ensure the equipment serves its purpose, as we believe we offer the correct advice for all of our members.
Many of the top professionals are at an advantage with the new TaylorMade Counterbalance putters. You may have noticed, for example Justin Rose, putting with an extra long putter? With the putter anchoring rule imminently coming into play, have manufacturers found a possible answer? The extra weight added to the extra long putter maximises stroke stability and even creates a much bigger sweet spot. Over the years, the best putters have always kept the putter head swinging low to the ground moving smoothly and slowly. The heavy head combined with the longer weighted grip, allow this to happen and has proven to give better accuracy and distance control consistency. You must try them. I guarantee they work!
Custom fitted by unbiased Golf Professionals and whats even better, we always price match!
Thanks Paul, now we move onto part two of our assistant Andy's instructional!
Practice, practice practice (Part 2)
Last week I introduced the idea of keeping a record of some vital statistics from each of your competitive rounds in order to highlight what you need to be practicing instead of heading down to the range mindlessly bashing ball after ball. This week I will show you how to use these stats to guide your practice and give you a few ideas of how you can make your practice more effective. Below is an example of some basic stats from my last round.
Fairways 7 out of 14
Greens 12 out of 18
Scrambling 2 out of 6
Putting 30 putts
Not great reading I know, but it gives me a clear idea of where I need to improve. The one that jumps out at me is that I only managed to get up and down from off the green 2 times out of 6! That's four shots dropped around the green with simple chips and pitches. Now if I wanted to go away and practice I could try to replicate the shots that I struggled with on the practice ground. However, in order for me to really see if I'm improving, I need to put myself under a little pressure. This is where practice games and drills are a great tool to use.
One of my favourites is the 30 shot chip drill. In order to do this drill, you will need to mark a circle around the hole that is 5 feet in diameter maybe with some tees. Next you need to decide where you are going to play from. I suggest using a spot that you have been practicing from, or somewhere between 8-10 yards from the hole. You will then play 10 shots with an 8 iron, pitching wedge and a sand wedge. The aim is to get the ball to finish inside the circle, and before you play you must set yourself a target out of 10 for each club. Enter each score as a percentage as shown below and don't forget to record your overall percentage for all three shots.
| Date | Distance | Result | Goal/Target |
| 9/8/2014 | 8 irons | 90% | 80% |
| PW | 90% | 90% |
| SW | 70% | 100% |
| Average | 83.3% | 90% |
So in my example above I finished just short of my overall target of 90%. However, I can clearly see that my performance with the sand wedge was well below my target which highlights my weakness and can now give me a clear focus for my future practice sessions. If you wanted to test other shots you can change the club used or distance from the hole. You can also use this simple method and apply it to all parts of your game from driving accuracy to putting. It gives a clear indication of where your strengths and weaknesses lie and by keeping a record, you can easily track your progress. If you would like to know more or maybe try out some of the drills yourself, pop in and see me in the pro shop and I'd be more than happy to help.
Yours in golf,
Andy
Well done Andy, thanks for teaching us the optimum way to practice to get better results.
Kristian and I finally sat down and signed his PGA contract. He is now no longer an amateur and he has joined the ranks of professional golfers by becoming a PGA trainee. Congrats to Kris and here's to nice hard slog for three years! Well worth it in the end and he has already shown some great ability in teaching the juniors, so I am sure he will fit in nicely with his coaching. From The end of September, Kris will be coaching at the Academy. He will charge £15 for a thirty minute lesson, so please do pop along to see Kris for a check up.
So I hope you all have a great week...I hear the weather has been moving towards winter, and although this depresses me quite a lot, I am really excited that the new Autumn and Winter clothing has already started coming in. Here's to a lovely Christmas.....ha ha that one always gets people tetchy!
Buenos noches,
Caren, Paul, Kris, Luke, and Andy
