| 9th
August 2007
Greetings from Duncan,
Is This A Hele Park Record?
A welcome
this week to new junior members Matt Steele,
Luke & Nathan Mills. The ladies also
welcomed Jackie Carr to their ranks at 9am on
Wednesday and were pleased to welcome her into
the Ladies’ Morning competition at 9.32am
on the same day.
Now that is quick work! Jackie
didn’t
manage to win a prize but was not put off. Her
name is on the board for other Ladies’ Mornings
and Mixed Section competitions. Way to go……..
Basil Steer Trophy – Quarter
Finals
Good
luck to Juniors’ Section
Captain Andy Steele, Scott Jessop and Sam Wallace
who are playing East Devon at Teign Valley
in the quarter finals of the Basil Steer Trophy.
We are very proud of the boys for getting this
far and wish them well in the next round.
Winter Golfing Getaway
Following
on from last year’s
hugely successful golf coaching trip to Penina,
Duncan and Stuart are arranging to visit a
new resort in southern Spain called Islantilla.
This fantastic 27 hole complex boasts some
of the best practice facilities we have seen
(excluding Hele Park of course!). This great
opportunity to have some fun in the sun and
improve your golf is happening from the 25th
February to 3rd March 2008. Check it out on
www.islantillagolfresort.com If you would like
to go, contact Super Stu on 01626 336060.
Not too much else on the
news front. Everyone at Hele Park is propping
their eyes open with matchsticks after losing
another night’s
sleep to our late night shoppers on Friday. Our
cunning plan to stop them entering the car park
worked very well. They tried to smash the new
padlock but failed, only damaging it beyond repair.
You have to laugh, not only could the thieves
not get in but neither could the police or us!
Our commiserations to Ashley Moon at Okehampton
who was the latest victim on Monday. I suppose
working for a living would be too conventional!
In the mail this week I challenge you to put
me to the test to improve your golf game with
a personal club fitting. I also continue my discussion
on hybrids. These clubs can replace those long
irons that we all struggle to hit straight. I
also highlight two hybrids that I stock in my
shop, so pop in and have a look at them or try
them out on the course. Please take a minute
to click on the hybrid survey in the Whiteboard
and answer a few questions, this is valuable
information that I can use to keep bringing you
a service you are happy with.
Have a good week
Best wishes
Duncan
GOLF SCHEDULE
Saturday 11 August
Ladies’ Monthly Medal 1pm
Sunday 12 August
Men’s Monthly Medals 1pm
Monday 13 August
Juniors’ Open
Tuesday 14 August
Seniors’ Monthly Medal 9.30am
Wednesday 15 August
Ladies’ Medal 9.30am
Thursday 16 August
Seniors v Padbrook Park (A) 11am
Midweek Mixed Stableford
book your own times
Juniors’ Stableford & 9H Stableford
2pm
Friday 17 August
Lady Vets v Tavistock (H) Noon
Mixed 9 Hole Hidden Teams & Meal 5pm
Saturday 17 August
Juniors’ Monthly Medal 2pm
MONDAY GROUP
The Monday Group is a great
way for new golfers and recently joined members
to work towards their handicaps and meet other
golfers. Teeing off each Monday at 1pm (except
this Monday because of the Juniors’ Open
and Bank Holidays!) it is run by Club member
Len Besant. However, the group is getting ever
more popular and Len could do with some help
from Club members who are willing to support
new players by playing with them and helping
them get their handicaps. If you are a member
who has benefited from other Club members helping
you, please contact Wendy in the office wendy@heleparkgolf.co.uk
WHAT’S ON AT THE
TOURS?
US Tour
US PGA Championship
(Southern Hills CC, Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Defending Champ: Tiger Woods
RESULTS FROM THE TOURS
US Tour
WGC-Championship
(Firestone CC, Akron, Ohio)
2007 Champ: Tiger Woods
SMART FITTING WITH PERSONAL RESULTS
Think about your swing with its individual characteristics.
Compare your physical dimensions, your strength,
your setup and posture and of course the way
that you take the club back and bring it back
through the strike zone to any of your other
partners. In fact compare it to your own swing
of 20 years ago!
When I sit with you, I see
exactly you. I don’t
see that golfer of 20 years ago or any other
player in your fourball, or myself. I then build
a solution that will enable you to have a better
golf game immediately.
And that solution needs thought.
It’s
not a simple matter of a wrist to floor measurement
and your handicap to decide that you need a ½" longer
shaft in a set of stiff flex shafts with a muscle-back
club head.
"Here’s a simple illustration. Let’s
consider a slightly older golfer who has seen
his handicap slip from 9 to 17 over the last
5 years. This mirrors the naturally declining
swing speed and strength. This will impact on
both the length and height of iron shots. I’d
also like you to imagine that this golfer is
a little shorter in height than average.
In any fitting that we are doing with this golfer
we need to make sure that we make it easier to
increase the club head speed without reducing
the likelihood of making solid contact with the
golf ball.
In many cases an obvious
option for this golfer is to go with a lighter,
probably softer shaft. A less obvious option,
but one worth examining, would be to look at
a ½" or ¾" longer
shaft than normally fits this golfer. The slightly
longer shaft would generate, through natural
physics, a faster club head speed, and therefore
greater distance.
Of course the slightly longer shaft would increase
the chances of missing the sweet spot at contact,
so finding a club head with an oversized face
(and a larger hitting zone) and a higher MOI
(to ensure distance and accuracy when the ball
is struck off-centre) would be a good idea.
Encouraging a ‘draw’ on the golf
ball would also be an advantage. So, Club head
design will be something to look at, but I’d
also make sure the Lie Angle on the clubs wasn’t
making this more difficult to achieve.
Finally, I would take a good
look at the design of club head, looking for
one that had a slightly deeper and lower CoG
than this golfer was currently playing. This
would ensure a higher ball flight. And not
to be boring, I’d try hard to get
him to replace any long irons with hybrids."
So go on, put me to the test and let me see
if I can improve your golf. And the golfer in
the illustration. He now hits the ball 15 yards
further with a 6-iron.
MAKE THE CHANGE, PLAY WITH HYBRIDS
Over the past weeks, I’ve highlighted how
inefficient we all are with long irons. I hope
that you have done your own analysis. I would
expect that, if you have looked at the whole
performance, not only will you find that there
is little difference between your #5, #4 and
3-Iron yardages, you will also find a diminishing
level of accuracy as you get up to the 3-Iron.
Hopefully you’ve picked
up a Hybrid and found that it looks and feels
solid and gives you the confidence that you
can hit the ball much more consistently AND
accurately.
Below are two of my recommended Hybrid alternatives:
There are four reasons why I like and recommend
the Mizuno CLK Fli-Hi hybrid:
The first is that it has a moderate offset and
a heel weighted emphasis that encourages the
face to close at impact. That reduces the chances
of the ball going right (a fade or slice). Even
if a club is easy to hit, the greatest weakness
of most golfers is a shot that drifts right (right
handers) and this club solves that problem.
If you pick up one of these clubs, look at the
way that the heel and toe have been sculpted
to make it much easier to play from the sand
or the rough. Flexibility, from any lie, is a
benefit that you want from any hybrid you play
with.
Finally, courtesy of Mizuno’s
ability to work with many materials in club
head design, the crown of this clubs takes
up just 2.6% of the club heads total weight.
That means the MOI can be increased, making
this a very stable, solid, forgiving golf club.
Callaway have been a leader in the Fairway Wood
category and have now brought that expertise
and innovation to the Hybrid category with the
Callaway X Hybrids.
Callaway’s ‘Variable Face Thickness’ (VFT)
and S2H2 hosel technology both increase the amount
of weight that can be re-positioned to the perimeters
of the club head. That increases MOI and makes
these hybrids very forgiving.
The VFT face also brings Callaway high-COR rating
to the club ensuring that you will get a longer
distance to go with the higher ball trajectory.
The ‘X’ sole
design has been developed to make it easier
to get the club head to pass through light
and thick rough, while allowing the club head
to slide over tight fairways.
When choosing a Hybrid I’d
like to talk to you about your swing speed,
what woods do you carry, and how you might
make use of the Hybrid off the tee. If you
feel that you might want a little EXTRA distance,
beyond where you hit your #4 and 3-Iron today,
then there are designs that have that priority.
If you feel you achieve enough distance, but
want additional accuracy and a higher ball
flight, then there are solutions that will
work best. And, if you want to deal with a
nagging right to left shot shape, then there
are Hybrids designed just for you.
Let me help you improve your golf, enjoy your
golf more and make the most out of your investment
in Hybrids.
Have a great week and good luck to all of you
playing this weekend.
Regards
Duncan |
