Welcome to the latest edition of my newsletter.
It has been another petty decent week here at East Devon Golf Club. It is hard to believe that we are now well into December and Christmas is very much upon us. We have been nice and busy in the Pro Shop as the Christmas rush gets into full swing.
The first action to report on this week is from the December Medal which took place at the Club last Saturday. Another brutal day greeted the 80 plus field as near on gale force winds swept across the course. Understandably scoring on the day was somewhat challenging!
The one player who found the conditions most to his liking was Brian Sansom who returned a fantastic nett 70 to stride to a landslide victory over all and top spot in Division 1. Kevin Jennings took the honours in Division 2 with a nett 75, a score matched later in the day by Bill Ficken on his was to winning Division 3.
There was a bumper field for the Mixed Turkey Trot on Sunday. The event was played over 11 holes and the star performers on the day was the pairing of Chris Allison and Marilyn Gerrard who returned a tremendous 28 points.
There was an excellent turn out for the Ladies Xmas competition on Tuesday. This year's event was played as a 9 Hole 4 Ball Better Ball Stableford and had two separate competitions for the Front Nine and Back Nine pairings. The winners of the Front Nine with a superb 23 Points was the pairing of Lauren Chapman and Jennie Stogdon. Taking top spot for the Back Nine was Eilidh Cameron and Rowan Edbrooke also with 23 Points.
The final Midweek Stableford of 2015 was played on Wednesday and it proved to a very successful one for Richard Bowes who recorded an impressive 38 Points to claim the best overall score of the day.
Congratulations to all this weeks winners.
Developing a safe fade
There's a big difference between a fade and a slice; the former is such a useful shot to have at your disposal. The slice? Not so much.
Now's a great time to work on your game with many of the season's biggest competitions consigned to the history books. Here are some tips for you to work on over the winter so you can find more fairways and greens. Come the spring, you'll be in great shape to take the honours.
The safe fade
Start by setting the ball slightly forward in your stance. This will force you to stay over the shot while also encouraging the ideal out-to-in swing path through impact.
Open your stance a fraction by aiming your feet, hips and shoulders a little left of your target. Again, this encourages the swing path that you're looking for.
During the swing itself, concentrate on making a strong hip and torso rotation through impact. If you have a good connection between your body movement and your arm swing this will work perfectly to get the club swinging on the correct path for a soft fade. Get it right and you'll take a healthy divot through impact.
Try this in practice and use it on course once you're comfortable. For more simple advice or lessons, come in and speak to the team. Click here to book your lesson.