The Open Championship
Well what a four… five days it was up in Scotland! I honestly thought Spieth was going to do it when he holed that 50 footer on the 16th! In the end I think you've got to give it to Zach, an amazing performance perhaps only matched by the amateurs in the field. Anyway, next year I will be in for Open Qualifying so that's the 2016 Claret Jug already decided.
The Open Championship Sweep
I bet Clive Marjoram, Chris Gray and John Gribbon were all biting their nails!! See below the list of winners from this years British Open Sweep. Thanks to all that entered, and well done to the lucky winners - the prizes are well worth winning I'm sure you'll agree.
1st Clive Majoram £200 on A/C (Zach Johnson)
2nd Chris Gray £135 on A/C (Louis Oosthuizen)
2nd John Gribbon £135 (Marc Leishman)
4th Paul Cooke £85 on A/C (Jordan Spieth)
4th Gordon Rycroft £85 on A/C (Jason Day)
6th Jo Deny, T O'Shea, David Richardson and Jan Ledger £12.50( S Garcia, J Rose, D Willet and J Niebrugge)
36 hole leader Neil Crawford £20 (Dustin Johnson)
36 hole wooden spoon Mike Sleath £20 (Gary Boyd)
Overall Wooden Spoon P McWilliams £50 (Thomas Aiken)
Ladies Invitation Day
What a great day we had for Ladies Invitation Day! With so many ladies playing, there was a brilliant, friendly buzz around the place. They were playing a team of 4 event, two to count on each hole with three to count on the 17th and all four to count on the 18th.
The winning team, with a staggering 86 points were Karen Hogarth + Didi Powers & Debbie Howarth + Kathy Lambert. They dovetailed to perfection in what was quite a dominating performance.
Second home were Sara Gilmore + Emma Brown & Glad Cook + Trish Dawson with 81 points. Nearest the pin winner was our very own Sarah Watson who put it to 4 feet and 6 inches on the 7th.
And a final thank you to the ladies - Jack, Joe and I have never eaten so much cake. It was an absolute treat.
Back to Back Medal wins for Miles
Following on from last week's win, Miles has won again! He knocked it round in a nett 71 to again reduce his handicap. It was a blissful round for Miles apart from the 10th hole! If it wasn't for that pesky 8, this could've been a wide-margin win in what was an otherwise very solid round of golf. Assistant Pro Joe is continuing to work with Miles on his swing, and I'm sure both are looking forward to the rest of the season!
Second home was Super David Storer with a nett 72. David wasn't really in the running after nine, but with the help of a new fairway wood + hybrid, an impressive nett 33 back nine got him more than just in contention, he was in fact leading for the vast majority of the day - great performance!
In third, merely by a worse countback score than David, was Raj Singh. Who's that I hear you cry! Raj is a new member, who has instantly got his handicap chopped from 10 to 9 - quite a feat in his first AGC comp! Well played Raj - keep up the good work.
Top 10 Standings
Ron Wins The Mid-Week Stableford
Ron Harris put his silky smooth swing to perfect use last week, taking the Mid-Week Stableford by one point from the chasing pack. Ron was going along OK for the first few holes, but really got his game kick started with a stunning run of golf from holes 6 to 14. In that run, Ron managed to card three gross birdies (all of which were nett eagles), a nett birdie and a couple of nett pars. That rocketed him to the front, where Ron would remain! A sparkling display and a well-earned victory - well played that man.
Second home was the ever consistent David Gray. David - now playing from six - had no blobs, just a heck load of two pointers, with the odd smattering of one and three pointers. A nice gross four nett three on the last was enough to get him into second spot ahead of Jonny Gribbon on countback, both scoring 36 points. As mentioned, Jonny Gribbon also managed 36 points. Assistant Joe had the pleasure of playing with Jonny a week ago and we're both in agreement - his great swing and temperament is only going to lead to his handicap tumbling further this year.
A special note also goes to Jim Dickson. He managed an eagle nett albatross on the 8th to accrue 6 points in one hole!
AGC Spotted
If any of you were up early on Thursday, you may have seen our very own Chris Booth with son Harry (above) being interviewed live from the St Andrews!
It was made even better as Chris is seen sporting his AGC softshell and AGC cap - I imagine he got the best dressed award.
Cleveland Wedge Offer
We're currently running an amazing Cleveland wedge offer. When you buy two wedges, one of them is 50% OFF . For years now Cleveland have been at the forefront of wedge design and rightfully had the most sold wedge in the UK for 2014.
With 2015's new 588 RTX 2.0 wedge (below) providing astonishing spin rates and consistency - I wouldn't back against the same accolade this year.
So, as well as offering one wedge at 50% OFF , we're also throwing into the mix an FREE Custom Fit and gapping check and you will probably get a few FREE tips! That means you'll have the exact yardages you hit your wedges, and the pin-point-perfect lofts, grips, shafts etc.
If you're looking to take advantage of this LIMITED TIME offer, please click here and book a fitting - it's approximately 30 minutes.
Trollies in stock
We've got all your trolley needs covered at the AIZ. With many different models, from electric to non-electric - covering a wide range of price points - you're sure to find something to suit.
See below the new Trolley display outside the shop. This is showing some of the Motocaddy S1 electric and an S1 push trolleys. Inside the shop we have a new M1 lite push trolley that folds down into almost a foot by foot box - extraordinary! We also supply that trolley in an electric version (M1 Pro), which is fast becoming the most popular trolley we sell. As ever, we can talk you through all the options and price points - just pop in and see us.
Immediate visual feedback in all lessons.
The iPad Air together with the excellent V1 golf app is also something I will be using in the vast majority of my lessons. It allows me to give you, immediate visual feedback and comparisons with professional's swings whilst actually on the range with you.
This has already proved a success and has made it even easier to show golfers the desired swing positions we're trying to get to, and how we can do it.
Add this to brief post lesson e-mailed notes and you have an unbeatable combination.
I look forward to helping you improve your golf, to book a lesson or custom fit please click here.
GC2 Proving to be a Massive Success
After investing in a state of the art launch monitor earlier this year, I can safely say this has been one of the best golfing purchases I've ever made. Instant feedback to the Ipad Aire lets me communicate very simply to the player why we're seeing the shot distance/curvature that we're seeing. From here it's a case of trying other clubs as comparisons and chatting through the figures we see so that the player is on the same page and not in the dark.
This has really revolutionised the fitting process and leaves no stone unturned. If you'd like to improve your golf with a set of custom fit clubs/woods then click here to get in touch.
Young Guns Academy with the Golf Foundation Junior Golf Passport.
Our junior coaching on a Saturday morning is undergoing a big change! To help get our juniors to the 'next level' quicker, we're changing the format from an hour long group lesson, to 30 minute individual lessons. This means that with the help of the Golf Foundation Junior Passport Scheme we can make the coaching specific for the needs of the junior at hand.
The Junior Golf Passport covers the following key areas of golf:
The price for a half hour lesson is £10.00 (Under age 12) can be booked at your convenience and can be taken any day/time (as long as we have a member of staff free). This should hopefully be more convenient as we know some of you struggle to stick to the 10am Saturday time as you have other commitments.