Captains Fantastic
With the AGM having taken place last Saturday, the mantle of Captain has been passed from Neil Crawford to Nick Ross. I'd like to take this opportunity to really thank Neil for all he's done this past year, he was (and will continue to be, I'm sure) a great help to me and a pleasure to work/play alongside.
I'd also like to welcome Nick to the new role! His first game as Captain was in a match vs Ganton on Sunday and resulted on a winning start.
The Gilbert Hartley Trophy
Chris Gilman is a man that is sneaking a little under the radar this year. He was 16th in the April Midweek stableford, grabbed a top 10 in the April Medal and made the final of the Easter foursomes, playing some solid golf. He's then followed up those results with a brilliant 45 points in the Gilbert Hartley trophy to take down a major.
Chris was out in 20 which had him near the top of the pack, but it was a quite sublime back nine of 25 points that got him the win. A two on the 12th certainly helped!
The AIZ has played a small part in this success as Chris recently purchased a custom fit and custom gapped hybrid & wedge.
Second home was Paul Cotton, who is also in solid form shooting around his handicap plenty of times already this year and scoring some good points in the Winter Series Order of Merit. 44 points would usually have been good enough for the win, so he can count himself a little unlucky but a brilliant round nonetheless.
Third place went to Powel Rose with a 42 point round that has chopped his handicap from 18 to 17, which I know deep down he will be chuffed with. Even though you may say otherwise Powel!
A special mention also goes to Graeme Lee who really got things going on the back nine. He somehow managed to play holes 11 and 12 in four shots! He had a regulation birdie on 11 and then chipped in for an eagle two on 12. Awesome stuff.
Ladies Green PING Four Ball
Jane Guckian and Heather Swarbrick won the PING Fourball Betterball competition last Tuesday, with a VERY impressive score of 40 points.
They just edged Julie Gray and Sally Johnson into second spot, who scored 37 points.
Morag Ross Doing AGC Proud
Morag played in the Yorkshire Vets over at Ganton last week. It's a very hard fought for event, with the best players in Yorkshire attending. Morag qualified into the top 16 match play stage but unfortunately got drawn to play Pat Wrightson, from Huddersfield GC a seven time winner of the YVLGA crown, but you can now make that eight!
Morag said she played pretty well and found herself only three down at the turn, but a birdie birdie run by Pat on 10 and 11 rather broke her resistance! An unlucky draw for Morag, but it's always nice to know you were beaten by the champion, I guess.
It's great to see our ladies out and about and playing some great stuff! Morag, keep up the good work and I can see 2016 being a great year for the ladies section.
Green Keeping Staff Safety
Unfortunately we've recently had a couple of incidents with balls hitting greenkeepers, or the equipment they're using.
So just a gentle reminder that players are asked to not play if anybody is at all in range. Often the greenkeepers won't hear your shout of fore as they wear ear defenders. They will aim to step aside as you approach, but if they're completing a task there may be a little delay.
Patio Taking Shape
The patio now fully completed and is looking great.
I thought we'd take the opportunity to show you some images of the work that's been done over the winter/spring to get us to where we are now.
Turf down, tables & sunshine out - it looks fantastic. When the hedge beds in it should look even better!
Tips of the week
John - I've always advocated drawing a line on your ball to aid you lining your putts up.
It makes things a lot easier and can often give you an indication of where (if you have any) your putting problems lie.!
Joe - If you want to improve your chipping, don't hit the same chip shot 10 times. Use different clubs from different lies. Practice playing high shots with your PW or 9 iron. Hit low shots with your LW, etc. Chipping is a skill, so learn how to utilise and the loft on different clubs so you can become proficient.
Jack - Struggle with fats or thins on your pitching?
Pitching is almost entirely a distance control game, so narrow your stance so you have approx 3-5 inches between your heels and put the ball in the middle. There are numerous benefits to this as opposed to a wide stance with ball at the back.
AMAZING DEAL - £50 OFF of a SkyCaddie
Right now if you bring ANY old GPS/Laser/range finder, you can have £50 OFF a new Skycaddie device. This is a quite stunning deal, meaning that old thing that's tucked away in your ex golf bag is now worth £50 !
Say you're after one of the ever popular Skycaddie watches… They usually retail at £139 . Well now it'd be £89 ! It's an awesome deal, come pop in and we can talk you through the options.
Wedge Offer
Many of you will know we have the buy a Cleveland wedge, get another at 50% off deal currently running.
This was fantastically supported last year, and with good reason. If your wedges aren't properly gapped you are throwing away shots. Ideally you'd have 4 degree gaps in between each wedge. On top of this, if you have too much or too little bounce on the bottom of the club, you're going to find you fat or thin it too often.
So come and have a FOC AIZ Fitting where we will examine your gaps, lengths you hit each wedge, and with the help of the GC2 Launch Monitor tell you if you need some new tech or newly gapped wedges. We're here to help you!
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Introduce a Lady to Golf
Please see the below poster - I would absolutely love to get as many non-golfing ladies along to this as possible, so if you know somebody who'd be interested, please get them along and help make this a fantastic AGC day!
The AIZ strikes again!
New Season Coaching Offer
When you book 4x 30 minute lessons, you receive a Six hole playing lesson (worth up to £65 ) FREE of charge. This means you could utilize your Six hole playing lesson prior to your 4 x 30 min lessons, meaning we could get a full view of your entire game. We could grab images of all aspects and then discuss a plan of action to execute over your 4 lessons.
As ever, all lessons come with iPad Aire and V2 Video golf app usage, and emailed notes with before/after images. There is no time limit on when you must take your lessons by, but as a result this is a 'limited space' offer and will be done on a first come first serve basis - To take me up on this offer, please Click here and let the AIZ to help you to have a better golfing 2016.