My Weekly Newsletter

The weather is still very unpredictable, but you will still always enjoy the beauty of West Hill if you are correctly dressed for the occasion.

If you're not sure how layering can increase your enjoyment then read Ashley's article here.

Did you know that Galvin Green have a new phone app to assist your layering. Once downloaded, simply click on 'Dress For The Weather' and add West Hill GC as a favourite. Then each time you view it, it will assess the weather at West Hill taking into consideration air temperature, % chance of rain, wind strength and chill and will recommend to you the best suggested layers for that day's weather.

You can also download any other courses if you're playing elsewhere, ingenious!

Here is a simple check of your swing plane you can do in the mirror. Look how flat the shaft is in the right hand picture. This is because Simon's wrists were 'bowing' in the backswing allowing the clubhead to travel too far around and behind him.

Member Simon Cavey in the studio.

In the left picture he simply worked on feeling that his wrists 'hinged' upwards as he turned his body. This made the shaft feel almost vertical to him, but as you cam see the shaft is now pointing towards the ball and is on a much better plane, resulting in straighter and better struck shots.

If you want to have more fun playing better golf in 2017, click here and tell us how we can help. Now remember it's only seven week's until the clocks change, and nine weeks until the Masters.

We have never had so many hot new products arriving in store, with the awesome NEW M family from TaylorMade, as now played by Tiger Woods and the fantastic new Titleist 917 range too.

We also still have the new Mizuno range to come any day.

Greg has had another great week with custom fitting. Here are two success stories.

Greg Gould with his NEW M1 driver and 3 wood

Greg Gould is the first West Hill member to purchase the new M1 driver & 3 wood. Greg came for a fitting session at the end of December a month before the worldwide launch of all of the new M product.

We started with a club similar to his old R1 driver and after a couple of shaft changes, we soon found the ideal driver for Greg. With a reduction in spin but maintaining the launch angle, we managed to add an average of 15 yards to the carry distance, but with extra roll due to the lower spin. We then matched the 3 wood to this, after a few shots Greg was hitting the M1 3 wood as far as his old driver.

Steve Lewis with his NEW SM6 Vokey Wedges

Steve had an iron fitting and purchased a NEW set in November last year, after a few months getting used to the new distances he was hitting, we looked at adding a set of wedges to match the irons.

We measured the average distance of the P/W using Flightscope, then set about finding the correct lofts in the wedges to give a 12-15 yard gap between each club. For Steve this was 50°, 56° and 60°. We then looked at Steve's swing to work out which was the best grind and bounce for his technique.

If you would like to book a session to compare your clubs against any of the new products available click here.

More members with smiling faces. Are you being left behind?

Monthly report from Brian Terry

"After almost perfect playing conditions on a beautiful sunny Tuesday, the competitors in January's Captain's Roll-up awoke today to see a gloomy, grey sky and visibility down to a few hundred yards. To rub salt in the wounds the Captain sent us a photograph of himself and Will Longmuir just about to start their Roll-up in South Africa under a blue sky and with them wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts.
Actually starting play at all was in doubt but 20 of the expected 28 players did roll-up and Ashley managed to get them away to a delayed start by 9.40 a.m. off three tees.

The Captain will be delighted to know that his favourite Leeds United supporter managed to win the competition for the second month running, with what was an incredible score of 36 points after taking into account the conditions. So, the winner was George Fergusson who managed to beat Ed Shanley, who also scored 36 points, after a count back over the last nine holes. Gwyn Davies continued his good form by coming third with 34 points.

George now leads the 'Race to Dubai' with Ten eclectic points followed by Richard Bolton on Eight points.

The next Captain's Roll up will be on Wednesday, 22 February, when we shall be joined for lunch by Gina (just before she retires) and our new Secretary Patrick Dawson."

More West Hill tourists enjoying golf in the sun. Here is Alistair Lines at The Red Mountain course in Phuket.

... Keep sending in your golfing photos from all around the World and show us where you are playing.

If you haven't played golf with me for a few years or never have I would love to join you for a friendly fourball. If you can make any of the dates below just click here.

- Friday 24 February 12.30
- Sunday 26 February 8.30

If anyone would like to join Ashley he needs an amateur partner for the Assistants Fourball Betterball PGA tournament at Farnham GC on Wednesday 12 April. Cost is £100. Click here if you would like to support him.

Well done to Sonja O'Sullivan, Helen Atkinson and Helen Simmons who won the Waltz last Wednesday with 81 points. Second were Rachel Atterbury, Liz Hooper and Shirley Couzens with 75 points.