Rob gets to christen the first…

Rob Stevens had the honour of "christening "the first tee in Sundays Radin Cup qualifier. It was the first time the white tees had been out and the new first tee in use since its rebuild in November. He made a pretty good pass at it (no damage to the tee inflicted) and continued in the same vein as he qualified comfortably at plus 2.

  

Leading qualifiers were Lee O`Donell and Callum Newton on plus 3. Callum had recently had a start of the season refresher lesson and Lee decided to have his grips renewed. Could either be the answer to you improving your game? 




Ace for Steve in the Radin.

Steve Evans hit one of the best shots he had ever hit last Sunday in the Radin Cup qualifying. A perfectly struck 4 iron on the 182 yard par 3, 8th (his words not mine and confirmed by his playing partners) took off on the right edge of the green, drew immaculately and rolled gently toward the hole. All Steve's playing partners immediately thought it had gone very near, Steve of course played it down but was ecstatic to see the ball nestled up to the flag stick and in for an ace.

"I had parred the 7th, then made the ace on the 8th, unbelievable. It was a great shot but to go in, how good was that? He followed it with more pars. Standing on the 13th I was 3 up in the bogey completion only to mess up on the final 6 holes but somehow I managed to just qualify (2 down)."

Steve had been out extremely late on the Saturday celebrating his wife's birthday in London and was looking as bad as he was feeling in the shop when signing in for his Tee time.

His exact words were when he walked in "I think I should still be in bed, I feel so ill"

Well Steve, forget those early nights to bed, reading golf books, as we all know…. preparation is everything.




Daily mail woe for Orsett…

Captain Carl Vanderhook was so disappointed with their loss in the second round of the Mail on Sunday last weekend. A strong side went down 3-2 to Basildon.

"I can`t believe we have just lost, lamented Carl. Three matches went down the last and all lost, it`s hard to stomach. Credit to Basildon coming here and winning they obviously played very well. My opponent was 2 up after 5 and I was level par! So it showed the quality of golf played. Well done to Davis King and Mark "unbeaten" Oughton who did win their matches, it's such a shame to get beaten. We'll have to just do better next year"

Says it all really. 



More new lines have arrived, we now have the new FootJoy Versaluxe shoe in to try. A really comfortable shoe.

Using Pittards waterproof leather and a non-slip suede inner heel pocket. With a cork covered liner in the sole the comfort factor increases. Why not take a look and try a pair on.

Mentioning trying shoes on, SAVE THE DATE, Wednesday 6th April in the afternoon for a shoe fitting experience. Further details to follow. 




You`ve Scott to believe he's back…

Adam Scott laid claim to that elusive Top 10 in the World with another fantastic display of golf in the WGC event at Doral last week. The Aussie with arguably the best swing in the game has overcome his short putter issues and now made well in excess of $3. 5 million in 3 weeks. A runner up and 2 wins makes him the hottest player in the World and cruising nicely toward Augusta in just over a months' time. 

Rory McIlroy responded to his doubters last week at Doral in the WGC event. The Irishman had switched to cross handed putting for the first time. It was so effective, he had the event "in his pocket" until some wayward driving on the last 15 holes and a cashmere insert putter refused to perform.

Rorys changes and why.

Here's the conventional looking putter hold. Standard reverse overlap. Easier to release the putter head. Rory had a problem of raising up and out of the putts a little early with the standard grip causing pushes and miss hits on the ball.

   

The solution - the lead hand below the trailing hand "crossover grip" For someone with Rorys method, almost blocking the putter face to the hole with minimal release, check the position of the butt of the putter grip.

A released putter allows the grip to point back at the body whereas the blocked or held down the line putt has the butt pointing in front of the leading hip, this allows the bottom hand on the putter on line and lower though impact a little longer. This cuts down on pushed putts Rorys recent problem from inside of 6 foot. Neither are wrong it`s just what suits the player themselves.

If you have putting troubles, try this grip. Or why not book a lesson and let me help you with your putting. It is over 40% of your shots and often gets neglected when trying to become a better golfer.