Our Flightscope club comparison and ball fitting evening is next Friday 20 June. We have someone coming from Bridgestone especially to fit you for the correct type of construction golf ball for you - it only takes 15 minutes and you get two free balls worth up to £8.00 to try for free. Despite advertising this for over a month we only have two members booked for this FREE opportunity to see of you are playing the right type of ball for your game. Click here to reserve a time or we will have to cancel this.

On the same evening you can try any of the latest technology in drivers, fairways, hybrids, irons and wedges comparing their performance directly against your own equipment using the FlightScope radar ball tracking device. Click here if you would,like to have some fun experimenting between 4pm and 8pm.

I have an exciting trip this weekend as I am driving down to Paris on Saturday night to try and qualify for The French Open which is one of the biggest events on the European Tour. I am playing a 36 hole qualifier on Monday at Golf du Stade Français Courson with only 4 qualifying places available from the 78 professionals competing.

I think you will be able to look up results if you click here. I will be driving back Tuesday morning and straight back into work hopefully with a hot putter in tow!

New Trainee Assistant Professional

Dear West Hill Members, my name is Michael Herd, and I have just taken the position as trainee assistant professional. I have just finished my degree in golf management at Merrist Wood College that I studied for three years, and I am now keen to turn professional, playing off 4. I have represented my Club at scratch level and my school at national level and now look forward to playing in professional tournaments. My main passion is the coaching aspect, and I am really excited to start learning my trade. I look forward to working at such a well-renowned golf club and meeting you all, thank you for your time.

Michael Herd

Michael will be working his second shift this Saturday so please come,in to introduce yourself and welcome him to West Hill.

Patrick Power's betting tips for the U.S Open this week

I'm sure everyone is looking forward to Thursday and the start of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No.2

The things to consider this week when having a flutter is that the U.S.G.A have bucked their infamous tight fairways and jungle like rough in favour of wide fairways with waste areas bordering the fairways in keeping with No.2's original design and restoration, surely then the big hitters are quids in this week I hear you say, well don't jump the gun just yet because every green at Pinehurst is elevated and dome shaped with tightly mowed run-off areas on all sides so I feel the winner this week will have the razor sharp short game and iron nerve from 6 foot with the putter, my tips are as follows:

Phil Mickelson 14/1

It's hard to overlook the most prevalent bridesmaid in U.S. Open history, with 6th runner up finishes including one round this course to the late Payne Stewart perhaps it is "lefty's" turn this year as he possesses the long ball and the magician like touch around the greens, hasn't had a top ten this year however but a T-11 last week shows he's not a million miles away.

Luke Donald 33/1

After undergoing a swing overhaul early season "Luuuuuuuuuuuke" was back to his best at Wentworth with a top 3 finish exhibiting the short game prowess that saw him reach the lofty heights of World No.1 not too long ago, should be a model of consistency this week and has all the credentials to add that elusive major to his locker.

Victor Dubuisson 80/1

Fantastic each way punt for the man dubbed the "French Seve", his up and downs (plural) from the cacti at the World Matchplay were truly remarkable but not a surprise for the eccentric Frenchman and I expect no less from him this week, when you add into the equation his prodigious length off the tee Pinehurst and the musketeer look a match made in heaven, great value here with only experience counting against him.

Shane Lowry 125/1

It's that time of the year where we romanticise about previous winners and their stories so lets do the same right now, the last winner of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst was none other than Michael Campbell in 2002 who came through qualifying at Walton Heath to snatch the biggest win of his career, Shane has just won the qualifying at the same venue and following his second place at Wentworth looks a big price at 125/1, will history repeat itself?

 

Captain's Day was blessed with glorious weather on Sunday which

I am sure is the only reason why members were so dehydrated in the afternoon round!!!!

Brenden's buffet lunch was fantastic as ever and Ben and his team are now seeing all their hard work through the winter and Spring bearing fruit as the course was magnificent.

Our Captain, David Harrison, gave the members a wonderful day with great prizes and a very neat Poker Chip Captain's Day ball marker which shows the stroke index and yardage of every hole on its reverse.

The winners of the day were Ben Warren and Jimmy Sweetzer with 66pts, Rob Rowcroft and Kevin Barkham were second with 65 pts beating Tim Osborn and Nick Cobb on countback. Fergus Mooney and Martin Oliver won the morning with 38 points with Roger Wood and Alastair Lawson second with 36 pts. In the afternoon Paul Champion and David Defty won with 34 pts with Raj Dadlani and Lars Fabricios second with 33pts.

Myself and Patrick really enjoyed taking on the members with the "Beat The Pro Challenge" on the 4th and 13th holes with 9 members beating me and 6 beating Patrick - you all know who you are!!!!!!

Last Friday we played a Captain/Pro challenge against George Cassie and Nigel Douglas. We were ahead for most of the game and two up with four to play, but Nigel holed a great putt on 15 for a sandy par, then they made solid pars down 16 and 17 to win all three holes. And then with the pressure on George split the fairway with his drive down the last and Nigel hit a sublime 3wood from 240 yards to the middle of the green to seal the win. Well played gentlemen. The Captain and I are mentally tough and already preparing for the next challenge - current score played 5, won 3 lost 2.

Well done to new member, Alistair Hancock, who won Division 2 of the Weekday Stableford on Monday with 39 points - and yes you guessed it, he had a very constructive chipping lesson with me just two weeks ago. Second in div 2 was David Brown with 32 pts and third John Pittard with 31 pts. Jamie Willis won Div 1 with 38 pts, second was Anthony Wysome with 37 pts and third John Forrister with 35pts (also fresh from some swing coaching!!!)

Well done to Janet Lea who won the weekday medal and Cathie Barclay trophy with a net 71 last Wednesday. Second was Julie Wilding on countback with Hilary Ashton third with net 74.

Patricks Custom Fitting news

Hello and welcome to another paragraph (or 6) of golfing insight from your assistant golf professional, the summer of golf is now in full swing and there has never been a bettertime to come along for a driver fitting to maximise your distance and to gain that smug look when you bomb it 30 yards past all your playing partners! So how can we make this possible I hear you ask? Well it's time to put my "Tech" hat on and explain why:

While golf club manufacturers constantly harp on about launch angle and spin rates they constantly overlook another key element to long drives which is the "Landing Angle" which in layman's terms is the degree at which the ball approaches the fairway, below are two images from the FlightScope showing two very different landing angles:

   

The image on the left shows a low landing angle whilst the one on the right shows a steep landing angle, it’s clear that the image on the right shows a significant increase of roll on the ball upon landing which is incredibly beneficial during the summer months at West Hill. To achieve the correct landing angle it is vital that we achieve correct spin rates on the golf ball when fitting for drivers, if the spin rate is too high the ball will balloon later during its flight and increase the landing angle thus inhibiting roll on the golf ball.

If you would like to test your current driver on the FlightScope please get in touch with myself or Guy in the Pro shop by clicking here and we will be more than happy to book you in for a FREE club evaluation.

Staying with custom fitting, Alex Curry paid me a visit to find a new driver. Alex was using Tour Edge’s Bazooka driver in a regular shaft with 12 degrees of loft and a draw bias, it was evident early on that Alex needed the extra loft because of his low ball flight but was now hitting a strong draw as well which got me thinking it was time for a new head and shaft, below is an image of Alex’s numbers and flight with TaylorMade’s driver in his current specs:

As you can see here the carry is reduced by the lack of spin on the ball and there is a tell-tale sign that the shaft is too soft by the over draw of the golf ball. I tried Alex with TaylorMade’s JetSpeed High Launch driver in a 49 gram stiff shaft with the hope the lighter shaft would increase spin and flight whilst the flex would neutralise the shot shape, the result is below:

Instant success, Alex’s spin rate jumped up by 1000 RPM which increased his carry by 48.2 yards which is a huge gain in distance but more importantly the stiffer shaft meant the ball flight was straighter, finished on target and we had a winner! The moral of this story is don’t blame yourself, blame your clubs!

That’s all from me this week but I have plenty more ramblings to follow next week, look forward to catching up with the majority of you over the weekend as I clock in my last weekend double header for a while as our new Assistant Michael will be taking over the reins on Sundays from now on and I’m sure I speak for everyone when I wish him a warm West Hill welcome!