Welcome to this week's newsletter. 

How refreshing it was this past weekend to verge away from the superstars of our game and instead watch the best that our amateur game has to offer. The 45th Walker Cup between GB&I and USA saw records broken as the GB&I boys ran out comfortable winners, 16.5-9.5, the biggest winning margin for GB&I since the Walker Cup began in 1922. 

Leading 10-6 going into the final day's singles matches, GB&I knew they only needed 3.5 points to secure victory and they did this in fine fashion. A few recognisable names from this year's Open Championship, Ashley Chesters and Paul Dunne, were influential in GB&I's winning team, whereas as Jordan Niebrugge, who finished sixth at The Open, had a miserable time at Royal Lytham & St Annes as the American lost all three of his matches. 

The one golfer who stood out the most however, was Royal North Devon's Jimmy Mullen, who became the first GB&I player to have a perfect 4-0 record since the likes of Paul Casey and Luke Donald back in 1999 - not bad company to be in!



It would seem many of you have been inspired enough to want to improve your own golf, which of course is great- it especially helps with your enjoyment of the game. 

To prove it, I was so impressed with the progress of one of my pupils this week in my Swing Studio I decided to take a couple of photo's of their progress. 

The individual is a relative beginner to golf, but is very keen to improve. You will see from their figures below that by making a couple of small changes, this individual increased their clubhead speed from an average of 42.4 mph to 61.3 mph which in real terms meant that they changed their average 7 iron distance from 71 yards to 127 yards. 

That's a 56 yard average increase... not bad! This was one happy customer as their game has just changed dramatically in 1 x 40 minute session!  



What's the secret? Many of you who have lessons from me will know that I use the analogy that 'Your golf game is like a jigsaw'- You have all the correct pieces but sadly many of you just don't know what the picture on the front of the box looks like- hence your frustration trying to put them/your swing together yourself. My job as the coach is to show you what the 'lid of the box' looks like by giving you a clear picture of what it is you are trying to do. Keep the game simple. If you work on the basics, grip, posture and balance, the 'complicated stuff' (the swing) tends to take care of itself. 

If any of you are struggling with your games, or are looking to improve your golf over the winter, please just pop into the pro shop and Jack and I will be happy to help you with your game. Whether that be through lessons or improving your existing equipment to suit your game. Alternatively, click here to send us an email.