Hi everyone,

It's been a week of mixed fortunes for everyone, but it would be seriously boring if everything ran smoothly! Ha the Paul Mitchell Golf Academy laughs in the face of adversity! (Sometimes!)

Chris Wood made the cut at the Wales open last week. His final position did not shine like a star in the end, but he is one serious grafter and we are ready for a real battering of the swing this week. There are a few things needing ironing out, so Paul will be working his little ProDry socks off trying to put the wrongs right this week. Chris and Paul then travel up to St. Andrews for the Dunhill Links in under a week's time, so we wish them both the best of luck in their latest quest.

The Wales Open will not sadly be taking place next year, as Celtic Manor is closing for refurbishment and the development of a new exhibition centre. We look forward to seeing the changes and a new Wales open in 2016!

What's been happening at the golf club this week?

The Fry Cup Final

The Fry Cup final was fought last Sunday, and wow did it not disappoint. Thrills! Spills! Pure adrenaline!

 Gareth Ronson and Steve Robinson won 7 and 6 beating Nigel Berridge and Andy Hawkins.

Gareth and Steve were 4 up after the first round and went 7up on the 29th hole and closing out the match on the 12th. Great work guys, congratulations to you both.

The New Zealand Cup Final

The New Zealand Cup final was also played on Sunday. This was another highly interesting match between four lovely guys. The end result is that David Rae and David Resnekov beat David Robshaw and Les Freeland with a par on the 20th hole in fading light. Rae and Resnekov were two up after 9 but pegged back to 1 up on the 18th tee where David and Les forced sudden death with a par. Congratulations David and David, great golf!

It is interesting that this is the third time in three years that David Rae has won the New Zealand Cup and with three different partners. He has won it previously with Peter Scott and Pete Muddiman. On a roll Mr Rae, unstoppable!

What a brilliant weekend of exhibition golf, it is a pleasure to work weekends here! (Yes I do mean it!)

Mixed Foursomes Supper Evening

On Sunday, 24 August, there was a clash of the titans in the mixed foursomes supper evening. Ladies Captain Liz Hale, partnering Doug Peters, were the eventual winners by two Stableford points from Azim And Shamim Dinani. John and Anne Newman also scored the same as Azim and Shamim but lost on count back.

The Epstein Cup Final

The final of the Epstein cup was also recently contested, with Anne Archer and our lovely head greenkeeper Matt, beating Azim and Shamim Dinani in the final. This has been played over several months, as it is a mixed knockout match play competition, and we congratulate Anne and Matt on their success.

The Arthur Young Trophy

The Arthur Young trophy also saw its annual conclusion. The victors were Karen Smith and Mike Clew who were drawn together in the knockout match play, beating Julie Knox and Alan Thoy. Great golf all!

This week we are running our TaylorMade demo week, so we look forward to showing you all the latest equipment on the market. Most of the weekday slots are full but we have a couple of weekend slots left, so do let us know if you are interested in booking one.

Click here to get in touch.

This week also saw our fashion show take place! More on this next week!

Next week I would also like to give you a run down on junior results for this year, and also some other great news on junior members' progress in other clubs. Most of you will know we are passionate about helping kids take up the sport.

We had a great weekend with our junior groups, four attended tiny tots Tri golf on Saturday and a whopping 16 attended Junior Golf Passport on Sunday. I am lucky enough to have two awesome coaches on Sundays, and with 16 children, you certainly need two coaches delivering the session. Luke and Kris did a great job on Sunday, so I take my hat off to them for growing this group. We look forward to eventually welcoming all these little lovelies to membership.

In October, we will be having a restructure of our junior coaching, to make it interesting and inviting to all our attendees. More on this next week!

Now onto the latest instructional from my wonderful assistant Andy McG!

Need a hand?

Hi everyone,

This week I'd like to share with you a drill to help improve your chipping, pitching and ball striking in general. When teaching or watching people chip and pitch, one thing that I see crop up even amongst good players is the inconsistent action of the hands. For example, many players who are right handed will tend to let this hand dominate their action. As the club comes through impact they will tend to 'flip' the club over (picture 1). Notice how in the picture my chest has stopped turning and the club has swung past my hands and arms. This causes inconsistent contact and poor control over direction.

If you think you may be someone who tends to do this or just want to improve your consistency around the greens then try this drill. Holding the club in just your right hand with your hand slightly ahead of the club head (picture 2), I want you try and chip the ball. As you chip you should try to keep your wrist firm and maintain the angle created at address right through past impact (picture 3) and not let the club 'flip'.

Now do the same with the left hand. Setting the correct wrist angle at address and maintaining it throughout the stroke (picture 4). Feel as if you are pulling with the left hand as you come down into the ball and past impact. It's also important that you combine this with turning the chest to swing the club back and through. By turning the chest to swing the club you will eliminate the need to 'flip' the club at impact. This action creates a very simple pivot motion which keeps the club stable and eliminates the need to use the hands. To see a video of how this should look click here.

Start by practicing this around the chipping green and as you progress you could try making full swings one handed! As always if you have any questions or want to know any more just pop in the pro shop and ask.

Andy

As always Andy, a very interesting and informative piece. Thank you for your valuable contributions to this newsletter. Keep it coming!

So what's next for the academy?

Andi Moore and little Kane will be presenting the cheque raised for £800 from Andi's successful charity bike ride to us on 5th October. This money will pay for more inclusive sessions. Yay! I will be soon putting pen to paper to organise more sessions for next year, so please ask for dates if you know someone who would benefit.

The winter is coming along soon and the nights are drawing in, so why not come and buy a professional's Christmas draw ticket for just £1 each and win the new equipment you need for 2015?! Sorry I know I keep mentioning Christmas but I LOVE it! Ha ha ha

Have a festive week! Mistletoe will soon be hanging above the door for Christmas kisses! (I think I may be lynched if I pursue this any further!)

Caren, Paul, Andy, Luke and Kris