14th
March 2008
Hello from the Team at Hele Park
Almost as soon as they got
back from Spain some of our ladies went straight
off on another golfing holiday. Ten Hele Park
ladies had a Golfing & Beauty
Break at Whitsands Bay in Cornwall and it seems
that the coaching in Spain paid off. Three of
the Spanish Brigade had their handicaps cut for
the weekend's play - first was Jackie Carr with
6 off her handicap in two days, 2 shots on the
first day and another 4 the next. Teresa Metters
and Annmarie Cleave played well on the second
day and also had their handicaps cut by 4 shots
each for the rest of the weekend. Congratulations
ladies. Judging by the stories beginning to surface,
golf was not the only thing they have improved
on - some were drinking on a professional level!
Quite what Whitsands Bay thought of the Fuzzy
Duck game remains to be seen, but your secret
is safe with us Margaret Batten and Val Treeby.
This time next week we will be hosting Cobra
for a Demo Day.
Cobra have many new clubs out this year - the
new LD driver and 3 new styles of irons including
the Transition models (rescue irons) which hit
the ball higher and further than any other tested.
Everyone is welcome to try them and those who
would like a fitting with me or the Cobra Tech
Rep, please email me and we can book a fitting
time.
Juniors' Easter Holiday 4 Day Tuition Course
Due to popular demand this Easter holiday we
will be holding a 4 day junior course.
It's open to members & non-members
and will consist of 2 hours' coaching in the
morning, lunch and 9 holes of tuition and fun
games in the afternoon.
The cost is £45 for members and £65
for non-members, limited to 12 places so book
up quickly so you don't miss out! The dates are
7-10th of April 2008. You can email me to book
a place.
Members’ Competition
Tee Times
Don't forget, tee times for members playing
in competitions are now available the day before
at www.heleparkgolf.co.uk
Mizuno
This week I talk about the
Mizuno range and the difference between the
MP and MX families. We are very fortunate at
Hele Park to be the Mizuno Regional Fitting
Centre due to our excellent facilities and
pro staff. With over 100 hundred different
Mizuno Demo Clubs - and more on the way - we
can get the perfect shaft and lie in your hands
to match your build and swing. We even have
Demo Clubs with different grip thicknesses
to make sure everything is just as it should
be. We have Demo Wedges in all the different
lofts and bounces to fit the gap in your equipment,
plus hybrids and rescues to take care of the
long game. We are very proud to have been chosen
as the Mizuno Regional Fitting Centre, as well
as being a Callaway Opti Fit retailer so you,
the customer, get the best equipment -and with
our price match promise you can't buy better!
For any further details regarding our fitting
facilities or if you would like to book a demo/fitting
session please don’t hesitate to email
me.
I also talk through an experiment with custom
fitting. Our own success stories continue to
grow with Annmarie Cleave who converted to a
Nike rescue club in Spain and reaped the 4 shot
weekend cut at Whitsand Bay. Teresa Metters has
recently changed to the Cobra Transition irons
and again Whitsand Bay had to make that cut!
If you want to improve your game please email
me and we can chat about where we can make positive
changes - whether it's with equipment, technique
or just playing or practicing more. Stuart, Malcolm,
Simon and I are here to help and, believe it
or not, it gives us great pleasure to see you
playing better.
Over the past few weeks I have been talking
about the Callaway franchise, this week we take
a peek at a different brand of clubs available
to you from your pro shop. I cannot stress how
important a club fitting is. We can even fit
your old faithful to your specific needs to help
you enjoy your game more. Why not come into the
shop and have a chat with me about the numerous
ways a fitting can help you! You can book a fitting
by simply clicking on my website book a fitting
link on the left.
Regards,
Duncan and the Team
Mizuno: High Quality Irons For
Everyone
I am a fan of Mizuno because they make a complete
range of high quality Irons with a solution for
each individual golfer; what ever their skill
level, iron striking qualities, swing speed or
budget.
At its simplest level you
could say that the MP range us the ‘player’s’ franchise
while the MX range could be seen as the average
golfer to game improver’s franchise.
Certainly the Mizuno MP67 and MP60 should be
placed in the hands of better golfers with good
to fast swing speeds.
The Mizuno MP 57 (shown left) is a little more
forgiving and can work with a slightly slower
swing speed golfer but you still need relatively
good ball striking skills to make the most of
the benefits that this Iron offers.
When I am fitting golfers for an Iron solution
I always encourage them to hit mid and longer
Irons. It is here where we can see exactly how
much assistance they need.
From here on though, the situation becomes less
straightforward. While both the MX-25 and MX-950
offer the forgiveness that the less skilled golfer
requires they also both offer great benefit to
the lower handicap golfer as well. It might be
that you could take a couple of shots off your
handicap if you could make your long irons more
consistent or it could be a slowing swing speed
requires a club that will create a higher trajectory
on the ball flight.
Then of course there is the question of budget.
If yours is restricted and you are looking for
a well designed and manufacturer golf club that
offers good forgiveness at a very effective price,
then the Mizuno MX 19 should be tested.
Which all goes to show that
amongst all the hype about ‘franchises’ the most
important part of the club purchasing equation
is YOU, the golfer. We need to understand you,
your game, your requirements and restrictions
and then ‘fit’ you to the perfect
solution – whatever the franchise. CLICK
HERE if you would like to book a fitting.
The Mizuno MP 57 is a grain flow forged golf
club with the softest feel. It offers workability
but the combination of a small cavity and muscle
back increases forgiveness.
Four Average Golfers, Four Different Fittings
Last week I chatted about our average sized
golfers and how wrong it is to assume that means
they would all play with the same setup of golf
club. Well here are the results from a simple
but real test we did with four golfers, one of
them a lady golfer, all with very similar dimensions.
The point of the test was
to highlight the subtle differences in the
actual fitting required for each of the golfers.
Remember, these small fitting differences can
translate into major yardage differences -
both in distance and accuracy - by the time
you’ve used your #6 Iron.
LADY GOLFERS
We chose a Lady Golfer as a participant in this
test, deliberately, for several reasons.
One of them is to help get the message across
that whatever your age, gender or handicap, you
are all serious golfers.
You should all get fitted when you buy your
golf equipment.
In this case our Lady Golfer had already been
fitted and attributed her handicap improvement
(17 to 14) to her fitting.
Golfer 1: The quickest way
to more enjoyment for Ken lies in correcting
his fade and changing the kick-point - this
is the point along a shaft's length where it
exhibits the greatest amount of bend when the
tip is pulled down. The PGA Pro recommended
a draw bias driver with a mid kick-point in
the shaft. This improved Ken’s
launch angle, adding 15 yards to the distance,
and considerably improved his accuracy.
Interestingly, the PGA Pro
found that Ken’s
putting stance was incorrect. By adding two inches
to his putter, Ken was able to stand more upright
at address and reduce tension over the top.
Above: Louis de Jager & Loukey
Worral
Golfer 2: Billy’s game just needed a couple
of easy to manage corrections. Despite the fact
that Billy’s swing speed is under 70 mph,
his clubs, because they were off the shelf, came
with a regular graphite shaft. The PGA Pro recommended
that light graphite shafts be fitted. This enabled
Billy to produce a much higher swing speed. With
a low swing speed, Billy was also better off
with Irons with more weight near the sole to
aid his launch.
Golfer 3: Have you heard
this story before? Louis was a much lower handicapper
in his prime but now struggles to get a clean
strike with his mid Irons. Part of the challenge
was Louis’ position
at setup. A combination of setup improvements
and Irons that were 1¢ª flatter transformed
his Iron striking, allowing Louis to hit more
greens immediately.
Golfer 4: Loukey, our lady
golfer from Ireland, was the only golfer who
had been PGA Pro fitted recently. As a result,
Loukey had been fitted with Men’s regular
graphite shafts (not lady shafts). These shafts
had a mid kick-point. The grip size was also
increased slightly. The result has been tremendous.
More consistent ball striking, with Loukey
feeling confident over mid-iron approach shots.
Since her fitting, Loukey has moved from a 17
to a 14 handicap, and is still improving.
Start this season out, if you are thinking
of buying new golf equipment, by getting custom
fitted for your individual golf game. It will
translate into extra enjoyment and less shots
on the golf course. And don’t think that
you need to wait to buy a whole new set. In some
cases we can actually tweak existing sets to
make them a better fit. It might just be a grip
size change.
Optifit - Another Great Innovation By Callaway
Fusion Technology and the OptiFit Weighting
System enable golfers to customize a club to
suit their specific swing by offering three Center
of Gravity (CG) locations to choose from in most
lofts:
Draw to promote a draw or reduce a slice/fade;
Neutral for maximum workability; or Fade to promote
a fade or reduce a hook/draw.
This discretionary weight in the clubhead is
attained through the use of a Carbon Composite
Body.
X-Dimension - Superb Value
The straight-forward, no
fuss golfer is looking for stability and comfort
at a reasonable price. The X-Dimension is a
product that I recommend and could be your
answer. Try them on when you’re
next in the shop – I don’t think
that there is a better value golf shoe!
Shop Specials
WILSON SQUARE HEAD
Please try Me!
WE CURRENTLY HAVE DEMO
CLUBS IN MIZUNO,
TITLEIST & CALLAWAY
Call in & give them a
try!
Events
PLEASE DIARISE
Friday 14 March
Quiz night
Don't Miss the Fun
Come along and
make up a team
7.30pm start
Wednesday 19 March
Cobra Demo Night
Come along and try
the latest drivers
and new irons
4pm -8pm
Monday 14 April
Mizuno Demo Night
Mizuno challenge!
Beat your current
DRIVER
with the new
Trackman Launch Monitor
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