Hello golfers, 

  

New Captains Bonner and Jones Star on the First Tee

Last weekend Saffron Walden Golf Club said farewell to their outgoing captains Jaine Fieldhouse and Chris Porter, and welcomed in Gary Bonner and Melissa Jones, who, as well as having great golfing records, share a strong interest in musical theatre.

Once the outgoing captains had putted out, the first tee was decked out for a musical spectacle as, to the strains of "Consider yourself one of the family" sung by a chorus of past captains, Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle aka Bonner and Jones took their first drives, along with Peter Still, the new Seniors Captain and Jacob Gamble, the incoming captain of the Junior Academy.

Collectively, their drives were among the best for many years with Bonner's drive of over 202 yards being among the best in club history! Thank you to Simon Hawkins for taking these images on the day.

Many stayed to join in the ensuing 9-hole mixed greensomes competition. Winners of the front 9 were the new vice captains, Graham Jones and Justine Voss with 23 points from second place David and Tuppa Wiseman with 21. The back nine was won by David and Lynda Minton with 21 points from Colin Murrant and Eileen Farrow in second place on countback. 


   

What has PGA Pro Sarah Smith been up to?

Over the last 3 weeks I have been to both Radwinter and RAB primary introducing a programme of Tri Golf to their PE lessons. Tri Golf uses plastic clubs and foam balls to introduce the sport of golf which some pupils may never have had the chance to have a go. The aim of the sessions is to invite as many children as we can who enjoy the programme to join the Junior Golf Club coaching and become future members.

This week was Radwinter's 4th week where they came to the Golf Club and Aaron & I delivered a fun filled session on real golf introducing them to the basics and getting them hitting the ball forwards.

Mrs Powell, a teacher who we have organised this programme with said: 
'Thank you so much for the golf session today. The children were so excited when they returned to school and said it was excellent. We are extremely grateful to you for the time and effort you have put into teaching them over the past few weeks and look forward to hearing more details about the forthcoming mini tournament..."

Next week RAB join Rob & I at the Golf Club to finish their 4th week of the programme.


 

Here is part two of the Higgs and Crick swing analysis. This is the other half of the double act, Ben, you may have seen Will and him playing in the 9 hole Captains day drive in competition with Will's mother in law Sylvia Nicholson.

Ben is tall so it's crucial that his posture remains stable and the balance of the swing is consistent. What you see in the first swing is the right leg straighten up and the height rise to cause a "bobbing effect" which obviously causes variables in the swing. 

Click here to watch his initial swing.

The main one is the club gets trapped behind him therefore has to re-route itself on the way back down into the ball. This causes a steep angle of attack and a coming over the top effect in the swing.

When we break the swing down, the set up looks good, but if you look at the initial takeaway, the arms roll off the chest and the club gets trapped in behind the body very early on in the swing. From here what happens is a sequence of compensations to get back to the ball. The club gets lifted up as it's difficult to rotate, it goes across the line at the top, the hands and arms lead the down swing and the club moves from out to in across the ball.

To change the fault Ben has worked on getting the club grip to work more into the body in the takeaway, as you can see from the photo this keeps the club head more out in front f him allowing him to set it on plane on the way back. This allows for a direct path back to the ball without having to re-route it over the top back on line.

Click here to watch his new swing in action.

As ever with swings it can look messy to try and sort it out as the knock on effects are many, but if you can identify the root cause of the problem then the rest of the swing can start to get back on track.

Higgs and Crick are offering a special Christmas promotion exclusively for members of Saffron Walden Golf Club. When buying products from their website enter the code h+cgolf16 and you will receive 20% OFF all product, which will make some nice Christmas gifts.

Click here to visit their website