Greetings,

I don't think it is possible for me not to mention the Commonwealth Games and the Opening Ceremony. I think I am speaking on behalf of everyone when I say:

"WHY OH WHY OH WHY WAS KAREN DUNBAR IN IT?"

We have many Scottish Stars worthy of a place in the opening ceremony and Karen Dunbar would not get into the top 1000. The first ten minutes were pretty much cringe worthy but to be honest I absolutely loved the rest of it. You may laugh but my favourite part was the Scottish Ballet dancing to a reworking of the Proclaimers hit 'Walk 500 miles". Billy Connolly was inspiring and it really made me proud to be Scottish and yes, a Glaswegian! As I write this, we have already bettered our medal total from the last games and hopefully this will help us to loosen Scotland's kid's grips on the X-Box controllers.

THE SILLOTH COMPETITION

This weekend sees the Linlithgow's Silloth competition where you, the members, bring a guest and compete to win a bevy of prizes. The fact that we will be operating a near full field is a testament to our club and our members because many of the surrounding clubs have had to cancel their Silloth's due to lack of interest. The course is in absolute magnificent shape and your guests will love their round no matter their golf. As usual I will be adopting my role of Mr William Hill and be letting you all double your money when you hit the 8th green with your tee shot."

"YOU CAN'T LOSE, I REPEAT, YOU CAN'T LOSE!"

All you need to do is place a bet of between £5 and £25 and if you hit the green, you get double your money back in a shop voucher. If you don't hit the green you still get a shop voucher to the value of your bet!

I will do a full report on the competition in next week's newsletter.

CLUB SALE

I am continuing my club sale this weekend, with both Titleist and Adams golf clubs being slashed in price. I'm taking no prisoners and giving you all the best deals in town and online. 

CLUB MANUFACTURERS

Again this week, the custom build of a leading manufacturer let us down again. But do not fear as I check and rebuild all sets of clubs we get in. This leading manufacturer had 6 out of the 7 clubs fitted with a squint grip, yes a simple error like this. If you were not aware of this, it could have disastrous effects on your game. It would also cost you in the region of £50 to get it rectified. If you buy clubs online, they are not fully checked to your specification.

WE CHECK ALL CLUBS WE ORDER FOR A CUSTOMER

WE CORRECT GRIP,SHAFT FLEX,WEIGHT, SWING-WEIGHT,FREQUENCY,LOFT AND LIE.

TOUR PLAYERS GET CUSTOM FITTED BUT TRAINED CLUB MAKERS BUILD THE CLUBS AND CHECK THEM BEFORE THEY GET TO THE TOUR PROFESSIONALS.

WHEN CLUBS COME DIRECT FROM MANUFACTURERS, THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN.

THIS IS THE EXTRA LEVEL OF SERVICE THAT I CAN OFFER YOU THAT THE ONLINE COMPANIES CAN'T.

CUSTOM FITTED CLUBS ARE NOT AN INVESTMENT IF THEY DO NOT MATCH THE SPECIFICATIONS YOU HAVE BEEN MEASURED TO. WITH OUR STATE OF THE ART EQUIPMENT WE CAN OFFER YOU THE COMPLETE TOUR VAN EXPERIENCE!

THE REAL FUNDAMENTALS OF GOLF

The beginner golfer spends their limited time, money, and hours learning "fundamentals" that are not remotely standard among the game's best players.

The progression for learning golf is out of order because the fundamentals of the game are poorly defined. So students default to bits of jargon, handed down dogma, or cliches that have little to no bearing on the problems that afflict them. All of this results in a barrier to entry to golf that is too high for most beginning players. Golfers routinely leave the game out of frustration, lack of direction, or improvement that is too slow to justify. I believe that a fundamental is something that links all players that can play at a high level together.

These are the fundamentals that I teach:

o The ability to hit the ground in the same spot every time. What controls where you hit the ball on the ground is the first thing that needs to be mastered. 
o The ability to hit the ball far enough to score well. A player needs to have enough power to play the course with a reasonable amount of strokes. 
o Being able to match the clubface to the swing path to control shot direction.

Working on these true fundamentals, in this order, is without doubt the fastest way to develop your shot making skills. 

Click here to book a lesson.

KEEPING YOUR HEAD DOWN AND SWINGING TOO FAST - THE REAL TRUTH

Two things that your friends will say to you after you've hit a bad shot:

"Your swing was too fast"

"You lifted your head"

These are two broadly used statements and to be honest they couldn't be further from the truth.

Swing faster is something that separates good players from great players. The top players in the world swing it fast, but not being able to swing it faster stops many players from reaching the top. Yes, you could swing out of balance and not strike the ball or not have the correct motor skills to perform a workable golf swing, but club head speed is most certainly required. I would love 10mph more, believe me. 

So now we move on to keeping your head down. This is not a great piece of advice and I can honestly say that I don't think I have seen anyone who truly doesn't keep their head down long enough. Here is a little video to show you what I mean.

Linlithgow Golf Club Results

A Stableford Competition was played last Wednesday and in the 1st Division Ian Hellen scored 41 points, Robert Swan 40 points and Phil Welham 39 points. In the 2nd Division Hiram Ford came in with 42 points, Martin Henderson 41 points and John Biggar 39 points.

The President's Trophy was won by Graeme Scott (5) with a score of 61. Also in the 1st Division, Duncan Campbell (10) and Stewart Dagger (13) both scored 63. In the 2nd Division, Andrew Ramsay (23) had a 62, while Jim Keenan (15) and Kevin Aitken (18) both came in with 66.

The ladies played in a Medal and Golf Foundation Brooch and the Brooch was won by Jacqui Golding (20) with a score of 68. Also in the Silver Section, Margo Gardner (6) scored 69 and Lesley Porter (17) 70. The best scorer in the Bronze Section was Kay Barton (23) 69 followed by Sheena Litster (26) 70 and Mavis Brown (27) 73.

In the Summer Stableford Karen Bowerman achieved 40 points, Jane Moyes 37 points and Shan Press 36 points.