Christmas fun this weekend in the Pro Shop

In the Pro Shop we will be serving hot mince pies and refreshments over the weekend, also for the coffee drinkers a tot of whisky with your hot drink, so make sure you call in and join us for a tipple before you play. Also to get you into the Christmas spirit play in your Christmas jumper to gain FREE entry into our draw for a dozen Titleist Pro V1 golf balls. 

Once again if you find a red Xmas bauble decoration out on the course we will give you a new ball when you return it to the Pro Shop, in an Easter egg style hunt.

Roe Cup Juniors Xmas competition 

It was great to see so many of the Juniors out playing in the Roe Cup last Sunday. This 3 club competition is played each year and is followed with Christmas dinner in the clubhouse afterwards, supplied by the club. Congratulations to Declan Noone on winning the Roe Cup which was presented to the club by Jean and Archie Roe who are long time members and supporters at The Links. 

   

Junior Captain Jordy Allen thanked Junior organiser Jonny Sharkey for his help this year and also Jack Nunn his Vice Captain. Jack introduced Max Weaver as his Vice Captain for 2016.

 

Club fitting seminar at Panshanger GC. 

This week I have been to a seminar at Panshanger GC exclusively for launch monitor Club fitting and the use of all the latest and most up to date technology available. The event was put together by Mizuno Golf and attracted golf professionals from all over the south England. As always I came away with a number of new ideas to develop and improve the way we custom fit golf clubs at the Links.

   

Some interesting data that was presented during the seminar at Welwyn were the launch monitor averages of players on the PGA US Tour. When you consider these are just averages and that there are players with significantly higher numbers, they play a game that the average club member is not familiar with.

         
I think more interestingly though the same average figures were released for the Ladies PGA Tour and these figures are more in line to the average male Links member.

I have highlighted in red the driver numbers for both men and ladies and what they show us is that for slower swing speeds, to achieve optimum distance, the flight of the ball needs to be higher (launch angle) i.e the need for more lofted drivers with slower swing speeds. What may surprise you, when looking at both sets of figures is that the spin rates are very similar for both for men and women. The optimum rates need to be between the 2500-3000rpm's range. Although the swing speeds for men and ladies are different, the spin rates are controlled by heavier and stiffer shafts.

 

Last Newsletter of the Year! 

This is the last newsletter of the year. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support once again this year. We are so lucky to part of this fantastic club and certainly don't take any of it for granted. We are already looking ahead and planning events to help the membership get more from their golf in 2016 and we hope you will support us with our initiatives. We wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and great golf in the New Year!

Your Pro Shop Team 
John, Richard, Jonny and Linda.