Hi everyone,
What a weird week of weather....it has left the golf club really quiet this week. I hope it warms up soon, so we get to see lots more of you all!
This week I decided to approach school recruitment and coaching pupils in a different way. My very good friend and golf club member Alex Champion works for Capita Education Resourcing, and he has lots of contacts in schools, including special schools. As you all know, I am on a mission to coach every special school in this area, so I was highly delighted when Alex approached some head teachers he knows on my behalf. The result is that we have recruited another two special schools to coach in, Lansdown Park and Briarwood. One of the schools teaches pupils with profound disabilities and one is for children who have been excluded from mainstream education. This will certainly test the wits of my staff, but I know they can engage with all types of disability and behavioural challenges (they deal with Cam and his naughtiness on a daily basis!) and I am confident that the pupils will thoroughly enjoy what they are taught.
I would like to thank everyone who has sponsored me so far for the Beans Challenge! What great people you are. I am still pondering what to do with the beans after as I don't think eating them after my bottom has squashed them for six hours is a desirable thing to do for anyone. It's really funny but I am a bit repulsed by tomato sauce (Ew I hate it when it crusts around the lid, shudder!) so I may be a little green around the gills whilst in the beans, but I will grin and bear it for the cause! Someone pointed out that beans make you...ahem...pass wind shall we say, but I will not be eating them so no chance of an orange jacuzzi I promise. I have to then think of a madder thing to do later in the year for charity...wing walking? (Scared). Marathon? (Knackered). Sponsored silence? (Welcomed by all but realistically I would never achieve it!). Sitting in a bath of peas? (One of my five a day!). Give me some ideas!
Click here to get in touch if you have any great suggestions.
Anyway thanks for all your support. My money giving page will be live until the event in June, so please keep the donations rolling in to help Daisy Garland and the Childrens' Chronic Arthritis Association. To donate please
click here and follow the instructions, or donate in the pro shop. Every penny donated goes straight to the cause, nothing is wasted on admin as Daisy's mum runs the charity with her family.
The boys have started their unlimited winter coaching deals, which are such good value. It costs £59 per month, £99 for two months and £139 for three months unlimited coaching with either Andy or Luke. This is quite an incredible deal because you can have as many lessons as the boys can accommodate, and if you want to be Rory by the summer this is well worth doing. You can book with either of the lads by calling us on 01275 393031, pop into to see us in the pro shop, or click here to get in touch.
Luke has also planned to run Thursday and Sunday group coaching from this weekend. These sessions are open to all ages, men and ladies, all abilities and cost
£5 per person per session. The sessions start at 10am and last for one hour. You will need to book on 01275 393031 or pop into the pro shop, the lessons will be on the driving range. Everyone welcome!
I am also currently in talks to run a new junior group after the Junior Golf Passport which starts again in March. Not giving anything away yet but it should be fun! More on this next week.
Now over to Paul for his news!
After a snowy Saturday, I was extremely fortunate to have such a lovely day last Sunday for my kick off session with the 2015 Gloucestershire County Coaching Junior Squad. Bristol and Clifton's very own, James Robinson, has been selected to participate this year and he certainly showed his prowess by scoring the most points on the day.
We started with a presentation to the juniors and their parents with the able help of my sidekick, Owen Layton, who is my Squad Performance Manager. Owen is a member of Long Ashton and plays off a low handicap of 3 at the young age of 40 and helps me with the scheduled fourteen squad days and all of the administration and organisation.
Chris Wood kindly spent a couple of hours with the boys in the morning, walking a couple of holes explaining how to play a practice round, devise strategies and keys to green mapping. By the way if you are thinking 'how a professional maps a green or what is green mapping' then it's basically a method to work out the undulations and breaks on the greens during a practice round. I heard an interesting story from a Porthcawl Golf Club member last summer explaining that a caddy had been spotted rolling balls along the greens for hours, days in advance of the Professional's Senior Open. Rolling balls and making notes of which direction the ball was rolling and noting how fast or slow certain putts were. This caddy happened to be Bernhard Langer's caddy who went on to win by some ridiculous margin of 15 shots or something like that. Woody was explaining to the boys how to do it and gain a huge advantage over the rest of the field.
We returned to the clubhouse for Chris to answer questions posed by the juniors and their parents. A great session and Thank you to Woody!
Chris is back to hitting balls this week for the first time since his wrist injury on 16th October. He has been told to go very easy as it will probably swell, and to make half swings for the first couple of weeks, so plenty of time to practice the short game. He will also stay away from the range mats as these can put undue stress on the wrists and to start by hitting short irons off a tee peg. We have booked to go to Dubai for a few days to practice and Chris will go from there to his first event of the season, the South African Open at the end of next month.
If you love a bargain, don't forget our sale is still on. Ladies we have a rail in the changing rooms so you can try on in comfort without four blokes eyeballing you from behind the counter.
Chaps we have Vancouver waterproof jackets on sale, not to mention quite a few pairs of FootJoy shoes. Come and get 'em!
Click here to find out more about the Vancouver jacket.
This Spring I am not going to do a Ladies Fashion Show, as I do not want all our lovely Ladies to get bored with us. This March, instead of a fashion show I am going to have a grand clothing unveiling, with glasses of wine, cake and FREE gifts to all who come to the shop to check out the collection. I will be informing everyone of the date when the stock starts to arrive. I may well cave in and do a winter show though, so keep your eyes open for details.
On that note, have a fab week and I will see you all in the week
Tatty bye for now
Caren, Paul, Luke, Andy and Kris