Kenny Monaghan Linlithgow Golf Club PGA Golf Professional |
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Hello golfers,
As the boss takes a well deserved break to Crail with the family, he has left the newsletter in the very capable hands of myself (Mark) and Scott.
With my academics finished for the year its now full steam ahead with PGA events which are coming thick and fast. This week was my first experience of the Scottish Young Professionals 72 hole tournament hosted by our neighbours at West Lothian Golf Club. Battling through the tough conditions I managed to get myself into a tie for the lead on -3 after round one. I struggled slightly over the next couple of days but managed a respectful 11th place which helped with Order of Merit points and a bit of pocket money. I must also thank Kenny for his support in round one where he watched on in the heavy rain. He never watched any other rounds, so I am blaming him for not getting the win.
This coming weekend I will compete in the Scottish Open Qualifying at Kilmarnock Barassie over 36 holes where 144 pros will battle it out for four spots. It will have a great field with the top professionals in Scotland from various Tours and will be another great learning experience for me in my first year playing on the Tartan Tour.
Summer Camp
Attention all parents and grandparents. If you are interested in your child or relative getting started in the game of golf or simply having some fun and meeting new friends then we have the perfect opportunity coming up at Linlithgow Golf Club.
Scott and I are running a summer camp which will provide 15 hours of fun coaching with various dates to try and accommodate each child. The classes will run on a Monday to Friday (morning classes are fully booked) and will be from 1:00pm to 4:00pm each day. Equipment is not essential as it will be provided on the day. We would advise sensible footwear and appropriate rain jackets in case of any bad weather. The cost is £40 per child and we have a minimum age of six. The dates of the classes are: - Monday, 24 July - Friday, 28 July - 1:00pm - 4:00pm
- Monday, 31 July - Friday, 4 August - 1:00pm - 4:00pm
- Monday, 14 August - Friday, 18 August - 1:00pm - 4:00pm
If you would like any further information, please don't hesitate to call one of the pro shop team on 01506 844356.
Huge Putting Improvements with SAM PuttLab
I had a really interesting putter fitting this week that I had to share with you all! With the use of our new Science and Motion PuttLab, I was able to identify some weaknesses and make some of the biggest improvements we have seen yet on SAM!
I was contacted by one of our new on-course sponsors Andy Ponton - www.clearbrew.co.uk - who is a 12 handicapper. He had mentioned to me that he struggles with long distance putting and "the yips" over some small putts that he expects to hole. Like most cases though, when he says his putting is "not bad in general" without any stats or bench marking to compare against, it's hard to ever see any factual improvements.
Andy brought his own putter into the Lab and we entered all relevant, loft, lie, length and head design statistics. Using the Easyfit software we ran through a structured putting drill and printed a report off. You will see from this report here Andy had some poor tendencies/techniques such as his aim, strike point and dynamic loft (loft at the point of impact). The report also highlighted a better suited putter to go along with his current technique.
As a qualified Golf Professional and Club Fitter I wanted to use both skills to make sure that Andy was going to see the biggest improvement. It's not always about buying a new putter as we all know that doesn't fix anything! In this instance we did however look at two face-balanced putters, the Odyssey R Line and Odyssey V Line due to the different face balance and easy alignment aids with contrasting colours on the larger heads. From the second report here you will see the difference. With the R Line we didn't actually change anything and I just let Andy putt as normal with a putter better suited to his stroke. Please note that his total putting score improved from the original 58.2% score to a total 65.9% score, not bad! It's what we did next though that has transformed his putting technique, score and confidence! I changed Andy's address position, pushing the shaft more vertical which changed the way his left wrist sat at address. This played a huge difference on Andy's strike pattern on the face at impact. It changed massively from 6.1mm towards the toe down to 0.4mm - almost perfect centre!
I then removed his forward press - pushing hands forward towards the target - to start his backswing. The forward press was causing the loft to almost completely disappear at impact (0.1 degrees loft at impact from a normal 3 degree putter) causing the bouncing ball effect, lack of true roll and inconsistencies to speed and direction.
To compliment the small technique changes, the new larger Odyssey V Line head and contrasting colours on the head improved his face aim at address from a poor 5.8 degrees right to a much better 0.6 degrees left. In total, Andy saw his overall putting score improve from a poor 58.2% to a whopping 78.6%; the PGA Tour average is 82%.
The biggest improvements came from the technique where his tendencies (aim, impact spot, putter path, loft etc) saw a huge 28.7% difference. I wish it was easy and if only we could all buy our way to success, but it's not!
To improve your putting score, click here to book your SAM PuttLab lesson and fitting.
Shirt Amnesty 2017
Our shirt amnesty promotion has got off to a flying start this week. It seems there are quite a few of you out there still holding on to those old smelly shirts and jumpers! Remember, we are offering you a £10 saving when you exchange one of your old smelly shirts for a nice new and improved version. We have a huge selection of Under Armour and FootJoy clothing (the two biggest selling brands in the golf industry) from as little as £29.99 per shirt.
To make things even better for you, I am going to personally extend this offer to trousers and jumpers too, including all LGC logo'd items. Can you get better that? Remember, one item exchanged for every new one you purchase and we will give you £10 OFF the retail price (i.e one pair of old trousers gets you £10 OFF a new pair) until stocks last.
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Thank you for reading and have a great weekend. |
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