I am disappointed - Black Friday came and we didn't have a punch up in the shop (at least not the customers, the staff had a little scuffle, you know how it is) and not a single arrest! Never mind, it's Christmas mulled wine and mince pies for FREE this Saturday so don't have any breakfast, unless you're only having the mulled wine and you might get a bit tipsy if you don't have your Bran Flakes. We hope you all enjoy. Thank you for being great customers and supporting us throughout the year, we wouldn't dress up as the four Santa's for anyone else.

Andy ran his 9 hole competition last Sunday and three awesome junior members, Harry Kennedy, Finn Ellis and Joe Allen took on the challenge of the back 9. These boys are so so good and they are a pleasure to teach. Boys our Academy loves ya!

The winner, seen here at our impromptu presentation ceremony, was the fabulous Harry Kennedy. Harry we are so thrilled, great job champion. In second place and equally fabulous was Finn Ellis, we are chuffed for you too Finn. In third place came Joe Allen. Joe you are so awesome, well done. Congratulations to all three of you, each winning a pro shop prize voucher and Christmas treat bag, and thanks to Andy, doing a great job.

Isn't it great to see these kids actually playing on the course and doing our academy and golf club proud? The thing is, these juniors could give quite a few of their elders a run for their money! And they're gorgeous.

We ran our penultimate Kingsweston special school disabled session for 2014 here at B&C last week and the pupils who came enjoyed it so much. I am so thrilled, the only objective of the sessions is to have fun and the pupils really do!

I did promise that this week we would have a tip from Kristian. So here I present to you all Kristian's TIP OF THE WEEK! Over to you buddy.

Learning to play golf as a junior member at Saunton Golf Club has taught me how to play the most important shot required for windy links golf, the punch shot. Here's how to play it:-

1. Move the position of the ball into the middle or towards the back of the stance to promote hitting down on the ball.
2. Position the hands forward of the ball at address to reduce the loft on the face of the club.
3. Move your weight towards your left side.
4. Make a three quarter backswing and shorten the follow through. This will allow you to gain more control and help to shift the weight into the left side through impact.

Give it a try! If you would like any further advice then please feel free to book a lesson with me

Click here to get in touch if you are interested in booking a lesson

Kristian

Thanks Kris, another great piece of advice from the academy lads here. Next week we will feature some instructionals and some breaking stock news from Paul, so I am looking forward to reading next week's newsletter.

Academy thank you's

This week I would like to thank Dave Atkinson, for his very kind donation to our disabled golf sessions. Dave you're a legend and we appreciate it so much, thank you. We couldn't do the work we do without amazing generosity and we're lucky to be supported by fantastic people.

I would also like to thank John Savva for his nuts…….ahem, raisins and nuts I mean! Delicious. John is always spoiling us, John you're awesome.

I am also ever so grateful to Mary Webley who has given me a great and failsafe Christmas pudding recipe. Mary I salute you, you are wonderful (p.s. can you also come and cook it for me please Mary? Please?!) Hee hee. Unfortunately my brood may have to put up with my own burnt offerings, but I want to do Mary's recipe justice so I'm going to try hard and not just down the rum myself.

I was also given a recipe by our wonderful Vice Captain Geoff Clements, and this recipe came from Australia so I am also excited to make this one too. At least one of them will work!

Lastly thank you to Liz Hale for my delicious bottle of Prosecco - my favourite tipple! Liz it has been a pleasure working with you, thank you for my wonderful gift.

Fear or discomfort whilst flying?

I was approached by my lovely pilot buddy Mark Karim (you remember, the member who was brave or mad enough to take little old me up in a small plane!) with a view to running a Fear of Flying seminar, potentially here at B&C. Mark had been asked by Tetbury Life magazine to run a course to help people like me (unfortunately I think I may possibly be unique though ha ha ha) to overcome what is rapidly becoming quite a serious issue with many travellers or non-travellers.

I have agreed (oh.my.god) to do the plane thing again, to attend a course and to eventually get on the big plane - booooo hoooo hooooo I am so scared of the big plane. However I am not a wimp. I want to be but I'm too stubborn. What I want to ask all you awesome people is if you have a fear of flying, disabling fear or even a little discomfort at the idea of flying, whether you would be interested in coming to a Fear of Flying seminar here at B&C. This doesn't mean that at the end of it you would be expected to take a 747 to Alicante I promise. It would be a great opportunity to ask a qualified highly trained commercial pilot any questions in a place where nobody will think you're an idiot because I will have already asked all the idiot questions, find out how things work and be in a group of likeminded irrationally terrified people!

The idea is to eventually establish a full fear of flying course involving a proper flight or two in a little plane and Mark will be there all the time to help. Mark is also a pilot instructor and teaches other pilots, which is pretty darn impressive, so he knows about aviation. I am an absolute nutjob because the little plane is not as scary as the big plane for me despite a worse safety record (figure that one out!) so I may have to get a licence and buy a little plane myself. Ha ha ha ha ha woman driver in the air, beep beep watch out! I may need help with my parallel parking of a Piper PA (do planes have assisted parking and the little warning beeps? I have the pink furry dice already) and I may need a slightly bigger reserved space in the club car park but only slightly.

So if you would like to come to a seminar, not the flight, absolutely no pressure whatsoever to go on a flight, then please do let me know or click here.

Reminders

Don't forget to buy your Professional's Christmas Draw tickets, just £1 per ticket or 6 for £5

Need a Christmas jumper? We don't have any with Reindeers, snowmen, Olaf (those who have little kids or grandkids will know all about Olaf and Frozen!) or Xmas Trees, but we do have lots of boxed Glenmuir woollies!

Dr Karl Morris seminar tickets make a great gift - £20 each

Snood and hat sets just £12.99! That's all folks

So next week I will tell you all about the fun we have on our Pro Shop staff Christmas do…go karting and dinner no less! I am sure the testosterone levels will be at peak levels and I have already heard murmurings of a betting ring…boys will be boys. I don't know what my excuse is though! I am only going for the meal and early night (my Cams needs me) but it should be really funny. Thanks guys for coming out with us early so I can get home for my boy's bedtime, I hope you all go out and get hammered after dinner!

See you all next week providing the staff haven't run me over with a Kart. They'll say it wasn't deliberate but I'll have my suspicions.........!

Caren, Paul, Andy, Luke & Kris