Walden players shine in Cambridgeshire season finale

After a historic season for the Saffron Walden golf club scratch team, including the double in County golf, team players Tom Duggan and Mark Reeve came to the fore in the season ending Cambridgeshire Order of Merit final at the Windmill Hill club last Sunday.

Tom Duggan shot a 1 under par 71, to finish joint 1st with Danny Loveday of St.Neots. Mark Reeve finished 3rd with a fighting par 72. Duggan's round included birdies on the 1st, 3rd and an eagle on the 9th hole. The round was consolidated with a brilliant 3 wood on the 17th from the rough to set up a par and a magnificent chip on the 18th to 3 ft to finish the round off.

Mark Reeve, who again this year has been in magnificent form, was consistent as ever but the putts did not drop. Reeve recently won the Scratch Salver at SWGC with an astonishing tally of 168pts. His handicap has dropped to plus 1 and on Sunday he was made Cambridgeshire B captain for the next few years which is a tremendous honour for the golf club.

In the overall standings for the CAGU order of merit Oliver Fullerton from Elton Furze won with a total of 1487pts. Reeve finished 4th with 1215pts and Tom Duggan 6th with 1185pts.

Putting drill

As we enter into autumn golf you will notice that the pace of the greens starts to slow and you may find yourself coming up short with your putts. Here is a simple exercise to make you more positive especially from short distances. Place a tee at the back of the hole lightly in the cup as not to up set Ray. Then start holding putts from 3 feet trying to "hammer" the tee into the hole. The idea of this is to get the ball hitting the back of the hole rather than trickling in the front. This will eliminate the break and slower pace of the greens this time of year.

Click here to view my video.

Chipping exercise

As bag sales are down at the minute Cam and Arron have been thinking of ways to get people to change and this drill is perfect for it. Place a bag a metre or so in front of the ball then using a wedge start to chip over it. Its a quick drill to get you chipping correctly or buy a new bag! The idea is that you don't try to lift it up but try to strike down on the ball to get in the air.

Anyone who tuned in to watch the conclusion of the Portugal Masters on Sunday would have been hugely disappointed with the tournament being reduced to just 36 holes because of heavy rain. There's nothing worse than an unplayable course, but sometimes it's the best thing to do.

However, that doesn't mean it's time to stick the clubs away! This is a reminder that we've now got some terrific autumn/winter collections in store so there's no excuse for not being prepared to play through the next few months and over the winter. If anything, we'll have you looking forward to the rain so you can pull on that lovely new waterproof suit.

Come and see what we have in store and enjoy your golf all year round. Click here to tell us what you need to get you through the next few months.