Greetings,

I was beginning to think that I would find out Lucy Beale's killer on Eastenders before the snow was going to shift. Thankfully the God of Sun and temperatures over 3 degrees looked favourably over us and made the white stuff disappear. I am still no further forward on the Lucy Beale killer however I do think it's Abby Branning! For those who don't watch Eastenders, I apologise but it's something that I have had to live with for years. 

The machine is here and Danny Mckinnlay saves the day!

It's been a bigger build up than Tiger Woods comeback but I promise it wont be a pain in the glutes! It is the machine trusted by tour players to measure and alter their clubs and we have it in-store now. I would say that the vast majority of clubs out there are built to the wrong specifications and that includes the ones that were custom built for your specifications. Why? Well, because only a handful of manufacturers check their build specifications before you get them., also softer metal clubs move overtime and these need to be calibrated again. 

So Her Majesty's Custom & Excise finally relinquished her grip of my machine after 2 weeks of its self catering stay in a warehouse in London. The shear weight of the machine meant it had to be bolted to the floor and guess what, I didn't have a sufficient drill or drill bit. Luckily Danny Mckinnlay was on hand with his expertise. He kindly lent me his drill and drill bit, I then managed to break his drill bit and had to go and buy another. One slight problem as the only one I could find was one with bright blue flashes. This was like Kryptonite to the Superman of Joinery who's favourite colour is Emerald Green! But battle on he did and he pinned the machine to floor like a WWF wrestler.

In all seriousness, a big thank you to Danny for giving up his time to help me. So after the word got out about my super dooper machine, people started to bang on the door to get their clubs checked. 

Here is one example of why you should get yours checked. These were meant to be standard spec and you can clearly see that the specifications are all over the place. Click here on on the image to see a large data sheet. Sad but true and manufacturers need to get better, not all but most!

My trip to the Mizuno factory

Many of you may now be aware that I am a complete golf  geek and I am proud of that fact. I leave no stone unturned in the search for the perfect golf club, which prompted me to visit the Mizuno factory in Cumbernauld. Not the sort of town you would associated with quality golf club production but this place was a club makers Mecca. I can honestly say I have never in my life witnessed such a professional environment where clubs are made, well apart from my back shop! 

The staff there all were so focused on making things perfect and attention to detail was simply stunning. The production line was only roughly twice the size of the shop, but they managed to produce over 1000 clubs per day for the whole of Europe. They are using the same club machine as we have taken delivery of and this just reinforces my decision to make the investment in this great piece of kit! We will be taking delivery of our Mizuno fitting cart first week in March, so if you would like to get fitted by me, then please click here to get in touch.

Something for the ladies

Ladies I have promised you a range of golfing equipment and clothing and I am pleased to announce we are half way there and it's only February. We have just taken delivery of  PING's latest offering for ladies, the new Rhapsody range of clubs and bags. Even better news is that we have a full set of demo clubs for you to try out!!! 

If you would like to have a hit of them, click here and just drop me a line. 

   

My walk on the course

On Tuesday I was shown round the course by Eric Gunning our Greens Convenor and Brian our Course Manager. I have lived and played golf in the South side of Glasgow for a long time and I can honestly say I have never seen a course that drains as well as East Kilbride, the turf was so dry considering the snow that had just thawed.

The general condition of the course is really really good, you would have to venture to the coast to get a course as dry as ours, which is great news as we know how wet the west of Scotland can get. I have played the course quite a few times in my youth and just the walk round the course made me excited about dusting down the clubs and coming out of retirement. So much so that I went and practiced for two hours at Broadlees Driving Range on Thursday. I'M BACK!!!!

Practice area

The practice area isn't the best layout but it's still a pretty good area to practice from, however you will see from the pictures people are simply not taking care of it. It still is part of our club and the condition of it is really bad. It's not due to the weather but because people are taking lots of divots and not replacing them. We have been observing the use of the practice area and only a few players are checking into the shop to let us know you are there. 

   

This is not my rule but the clubs rule and this will let us know who is not taking care of the area. It is going to take months to repair and if you see anyone not repaving divots, have a friendly word to them or if need be, report them to myself or the council.