INTRODUCTION

In this month’s & subsequent newsletter’s, I hope to give you various ideas on how to get more from your golf game. It might be ways to lower your score, improve your product knowledge or simply have more fun. We’re all different & have various reasons for playing the game, so there’s no “one fits all” answer. Hopefully, as I open your eyes to the myths/lies that abound in our sport, you’ll reach a higher level of understanding.  

Before I launch into this month’s newsletter I would like to say a big Thank you to Andy Cunningham & all the members who participated in the Captain/Pro challenges this season. We’ve had some great matches and as always we’ve taken some sound beatings. This year we’ve had two pairs that beat us by the same margin, which is the first time this has happened, so this season’s winners on a count back of total holes won are Mike Cass & Martin Ross, but an honourable mention to Paul Stewart & Steve West who also beat us 5UP. We managed to raise £175.00 from the entry fees, which will go directly to Lytham St Annes RNLI.

My Pro’s Day played on 14th October yielded some great scores, with the top ten players all shooting under their handicap. I’d like to thank all the competitors for their support and congratulate the prize winners, especially Paul Drury and Jason Moore who tied for first place on a score of 36 points, with Paul prevailing on a card play-off. Paul’s end to the season has been quite remarkable, but more of that later.

THE PRO SHOP - YOUR AUTUMN OFFERS


This month, we have some fantastic offers for Members to enjoy:

  •  Powakaddy winter wheels have now arrived, so if you’re unable to carry & still want to do your bit to protect the golf course, these are a great investment. They have a retail price of £79.95.

  • Powakaddy are currently running a promotion on electric carts, which is only in place whilst stocks last. If you buy one of their carts now they will give you a cart bag free.

  • Bridgestone Tour series balls - these balls should have a retail value of £45.00 per dozen, so if you are looking for a ball with exceptional performance our price of £34.99 will beat anything on the market.

  • Our Ping & Glenmuir winter trousers for Ladies and Gents are now in stock. Both styles are water resistant/repellent & are incredibly warm, so they’ll make a great addition to our winter wardrobe.

  • The popular Oscar Jacobsen Autumn/Winter collection is now in stock. The popular  OJ range is now club crested & with members discounts available.

  • Finally, we have a deal on Big Max trollies, but we only have 4 left in stock, so they may go quickly. These carts are an Austrian company & come with a 5-year warranty. They are simple to use & should retail at £199. We are selling them at £149.

Whilst black Friday may have been and gone elsewhere, we are pleased to extend our Autumn Offers through this year's 'Sale Rail' promotion which includes some market-leading brands.


T HE COACHING CENTRE...


When you have limited access to the course or practice facilities don’t let that put you off looking for ways to improve. It’s so easy to find information via the internet these days, so why not start by researching swing techniques, equipment technology, golf course design, psychology or even rules. The greater your understanding of your golfing requirements the better prepared you’ll be. DATA IS KNOWLEDGE & KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

Start the ball rolling by collecting data. You need to find out where you stand now as a golfer. This is fairly straight forward, but it requires proof of past results. If you’re interested in attaining higher levels of performance, understanding your experiences more or maybe even delve into a bit of self-discovery then try the following project I’ve set up.

Work out your stroke average this season & forget handicap. Golf began as a test of an individual’s ability to move a ball with a stick & has evolved scientifically to where we are now. Handicaps are in theory a great way for everybody to compete on a level playing field, yet we’ve had so many handicap systems over the years, all with varying degrees of success, so there’s no one size fits all answer. We’ve even had Dr Frank Stableford tell us that golf shouldn’t be Strokeplay, but instead a beautifully dumbed down version called Stableford, because this makes golf more inclusive & clearly has less pressure attached.

The project I’m working on only functions with facts. I’m not interested in your best days or even your worst days, I want all your days, so if you know your stroke average for all your singles competition’s that’s a great start. You can do the same for friendly games & when you compare the two results, you will begin to see a trend. I kept data annually for 20 years of competitive golf & that led me to a clearer understanding of my abilities. You only need to go back a couple of years to have an idea of where you now stand, but ideally, the further back you can go the more evident any trends will become. Compare the stroke averages to see if there has been an increase or decrease in your score.

Getting back to a gentleman I mentioned earlier. I was intrigued to find out what had changed in Paul Drury’s game that may have set him on his recent run of fantastic golf. His answer was Danny Maude on youtube, with a little help from Ewan & me, to refine a few things. He also said he hit more fairways & his short game was better. I asked how he knew this & he told me he has a Garmin that keeps his statistics. So there you go, access to swing idea’s on the internet, a few real time tweaks from a professional & DATA.

I imagine most of you have a rough idea of where you stand as a golfer, but is it true? I’m going to finish with a story that went way beyond data. I’d been keeping my stats for 10 years before I began noticing a trend in my scoring. I discovered that whenever I played golf on the 27th August I shot a good score. I’d had a course record & won various events, but the real magic revealed itself in the late 1990’s. I’d checked the tournament schedule for the coming season & noticed a 36 hole PGA event which was held on the 26th & 27th August, so I entered the event knowing I was obviously going to shoot a decent score. I played the first round and shot a course record 63, so mindful that I always played well on the 27th I played the second round expecting to do something special. Unfortunately, I only shot 65 & won by 10 shots. Now I’m not stupid. I know there was no guarantee that I was really going to win, but I had created a self-fulfilling prophecy based on the data I had collected & I never doubted that data.

Next month I will be revealing some facts about golf equipment & asking what is the meaning of golf?

Happy golfing...

Andrew, Jo, and Ewan

December 2023