Welcome to this week's newsletter from Saffron Walden GC, bringing you the latest news and offers. We hope you're having a great week on and off the golf course. Enjoy the read. |
St Ives National Fitting Centre On Thursday Rob and I travelled up to St Ives to Titleist's national fitting centre so that I could be fit for a new driver. With my current driver, I felt the flight was a little low, forcing me to try to add loft to increase the launch and keep the ball in the air. During my fitting, it was interesting to see how they optimise launch numbers and how they went about fitting me for a shaft and head. Although my spin rate was low I had a fast swing speed so we had to find a setup that would allow me to spin the ball up from below 2000rpm to somewhere between 2500 and 2800 RPM whilst ensuring the shaft was stable enough for my swing speed. After trying various options we found that a TS2 head opposed to the lower spinning TS3 head with more loft but a strong shaft was the best option. Traditionally I have gone for a lower lofted lower spinning driver but the difference in ball flight and control with a 10.5 driver was noticeable. As for the fairway wood again we went for the TS2 head but 16.5 degree head as opposed to 15 as the extra loft keeps the ball in the air longer for me. Thanks to Titleist for the session yesterday, really appreciate your help and I look forward to using the clubs this season. It also means Rob can have his driver back! To book a fitting of your own, click here and get in touch. |
New Stock Arriving Exciting times in the pro shop as all of the new stock for the 2020 season is arriving. The TaylorMade SIM and Callaway Mavrik are already available for fitting so come in and check them out. To book your fitting, click here and get in touch. |
Half Way House Update! For hot drink lovers you’ll be pleased to know that the coffee machine has been replaced. Apologies for the problems over the last few weeks but the boiler on the old machine had been damaged so we have replaced it with an upgrade machine. Majestic Coffee will only offer Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance sources and has an arrangement of hot drinks such as coffees to hot chocolate - this is now available, working and ready for you to try! |
Swing Analysis From Seniors Tuesday Coaching After the frosty start Tuesday, the seniors were lucky enough to have some sunshine come through for their weekly clinic. This weeks clinic was on irons ran by me, Sarah! We started off by having a group discussion on what makes a good iron shot, what happens for individuals if they hit a bad shot and any particular club they find more difficult to hit. The majority of the answers came down to how they strike the ball (the connection with the club) and this time of years different lies. As we know, although preferred lies can help us out during the winter, sometimes we still have that clean or sightly muddy lie and to produce a good iron shot from here, isn’t easy! We need to strike the ball well to have more control over our ball flight. In the videos, you see David's swing, both before and after. After a short discussion on what makes a 'bad ball flight' for David, he explained how he always loses a lot of shots straight right, sometimes it can be low along the ground, sometimes a better strike but still finishes right of greens and fairways. We worked together on a simple swing solution to straighten his shots up and also improve the strike he gets to gain more trajectory on the ball. |
During the 1st video you will David’s set up and posture is great, a straight back, hinging from his hips, a slight bend of the knees and his hands are relaxed from his arms over the ball. We spoke through the ball position being in the centre of his feet for his 7 iron and the grip check also caused us no issues. As you will see, as David takes his club back from the setup position, it's parallel to his feet at hip height (red line), this is a positive move and we aim to get the club in this position on the way back down to the ball too. This follows by a good shoulder turn to the top of his swing, however on the route back down to the ball David becomes quite inside the red line with his club -picture A. |
From this position, as he is now stuck on the inside the club will work out but too far out, and because David’s clubface is square his ball will start right and travel further right, as shown in the 1st video. Also with this angle back down to the ball, David’s angle of attack can become too shallow, therefore hitting the top of the ball and causing a bad strike, usually a top or thin! |
After Moving onto our swing change and after videos... All I asked David to do was think of a clock face, 12 o’clock is straight at the target line. His old swing he would swing out towards 2 o'clock, too much in-to-out! We put a tee peg out at 12 o’clock towards our target and David visualised the club going over the tee each time he swung through. After doing this a few times, we started to see an improvement to his strike and ball flight. Shots were going higher than normal for David and much straight, this is shown in the 2nd video. |
From picture B, you will see on the downswing how David now has his club parallel to our red start line. This shows how he is now attacking the ball more straight down the line and with no changes to his clubface, his shots became a lot straighter with more height. |
Without physically touching David’s swing and getting more of a visualisation technique of coaching, David improved his ball flight! I look forward to hearing about his next golf round...! If you would like to book a lesson, click here and get in touch. |
Winter Bunker Clinic
A 45-minute session with Sarah - The clinic is designed for those who are looking to improve their bunker technique throughout the Winter. - After the session, you will come away feeling more confident that you can get the ball closer to the hole, get out of bunkers more easily, as well as learning how to play out of difficult lies. Tuesday 4th February, 11:00 - 11:45. Friday 28th February, 10:15-11:00.
- Open to all handicaps - Both Men and Women welcome. - Groups of 4 - Book onto as many sessions as you like! Just £10.00 for one session! Book now to secure your place! Reserve your space now, sarah@smithperformancegolf.co.uk |
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Short Game Clinic 1 Hour session with Sarah - It's aimed to improve your chipping and also increas your chances of holing that birdie putt by getting the ball closer to the hole - You will learn what all your wedges are useful for around the edge of the green and also play some more complicated shots from the dips
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Sunday 9th February 2020 12:30 - 1:30 - Open to all handicaps - Both Men and Women - Groups of 8 Max Only £10 Book now to secure your place! Reserve your space now, sarah@smithperformancegolf.co.uk |
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January is always an exciting time in the golf industry with new products being launched left, right and centre. For us, there's one product that has us more excited than any other this year and it's Callaway's aptly-named Mavrik driver. |
We're sure you'll agree it looks phenomenal and with three models available - Mavrik, Mavrik Sub-Zero and Mavrik Max - it's vital that you come down to see us in order to find the best option for your game. If you're after more information then click on the image above but if you're already eager to give it a go, use the button below to book yourself in for a fitting with a member of the team. |
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