Rob McNicholas Saffron Walden Golf Club PGA Golf Professional |
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Last Friday saw the annual East Region Order of merit Pro Am at the golf club with 44 teams playing. The sun came out for the day after a windy week, and even though the wind blew a bit in the morning the conditions were ideal.
The greens were up to the usual Pro Am pace of over 11 on the stimpmeter first thing which certainly caught me out early on with a number of three putts on my first few holes, as well as a couple of missed short birdie putts.
My back 9 which was the front side, was a different story as I managed to get round under par, but for the individual score it was too little too late as the damage had been done early on. At least I felt like I contributed to the team score on the second 9 and we managed to get in at -8.
When we finished this looked respectable and was top of the leaderboard, even though we knew we wouldn't stay there we didn't quite expect to finish as far behind, but more about that later.
Sarah didn't fare any better, despite some early birdies, her and her team fell away and she said when she had a bad hole it was really bad! At least she kept her job, whereas Aaron having pipped me in the winter Pro Am showed no signs of remorse knocking in 6 birdies on his way to a 71 earning a tie for 5th place in the individual. This was eclipsed though by his team's performance. -15 had sat there most of the day at the top of the leaderboard with only one team to come in.
This was last years winning team of Damian Alltree, James Vallins and their guest. With a combined handicap of 20 they managed a superb score of -21. Congratulations to them. It certainly shows that you don't need players who attack everything and either blow hot or cold. All the team played very steady, took their chances when they came along, and complimented each other well.
Having played with Aaron in the East Region 4BBB for the past three seasons I know what a good steady and straight ball striker he is, I'm always amazed when he has a bad score as his strengths are his accuracy and consistency. All it takes for him to have a good score is to hole a few putts which by all accounts he did that day, my only comment to him is, imagine where we would have finished at Carden Park if you could have done that last year!
The individual Pro winner was Mark Baker of Colchester who shot 67. According to his playing partners it was fantastic to watch as he holed a number of 40 foot putts, and after a bad tee shot on the 6th hole recovered rather well by holding a 190 yard third shot.
Thanks to all those who took part last week, a great day seemed to be had by all, and without the support of the members this Pro Am wouldn't be as unique or as successful. Debbie and the team did a great job getting all the competitors served and the course was presented in superb condition by Ian and the team. Lastly a big well done and thank you to Andy Fisher, the Saffron Walden charity committee and all the helpers for organising the day. I know that a lot of time and effort goes into the day and I'm sure that they must have been thrilled with how the day turned out and the amount of money raised on the day.
Junior Camps
Tuesday, 23 & Wednesday, 24 August
10-3pm
£55 For 2 Days, Includes Lunch
Suitable for any age & ability!
Typical Camp Day: - Range work, practising your long game! - Short Game, making sure your chipping in the hole! - Putting, lots of skills games & competitions!
To Book, please contact Aaron Howard, aahgolf@googlemail.com
Junior Programme
Don't forget the Junior Programme will still be running throughout the 6 week holidays..
Saturday's 9, 10, 11, 12noon 23rd, 30th July | 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th August
Sunday's 11:15am 31st July | 7th, 21st, 28th August | 4th, 11th September (Please note no golf on the 14th)
6 Weeks For £40 OR Pay on the day for £8 !
Book Now with Sarah, pga_sarahsmith@hotmail.com. |
Click here to view all the pictures taken at this year's Club Championships, courtsey of Reeve PhotographyRead more...
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Lots of people have asked which swing model they are and how do they know which one will suit them. Here is a straight forward test to see which model will suit your overall flexibility, strength and physical condition.Read more...
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Two common faults I often see with a driver set up when teaching are; weight too left sided , and open shoulder alignment. These are both caused by the alteration with the ball position for the driver. As it's moved left in the stance for a right handed player, the weight tends to go with it, and the shoulders open at the same time.Read more...
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Keep fresh for longer and enjoy better golf |
Visualisation can help your chipping skills |
Video of the week | There's always going to be an element of luck with any hole-in-one, but this is something else! Sadly for Thomas Bjørn, it won't go down as a competitive ace.. Still… worth a watch. |
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