Last weekend saw our Men's Club Championship take place, with a massive 136 members on the start sheet for Saturday's first round. We were extremely lucky with the weather - from the back of the 6th green I watched a rather large thunderstorm over Heathrow slowly moving towards us, only for it turn left at the very last minute, phew! With such a large number of entries, we recently introduced a halfway cut with the top 80 players making it through to Sunday's final round. The cut this year fell at nett 81 with many members still in with a chance of winning the silverware. The final round on Sunday saw the field split into two with the leaders of the nett prize, the Clayton Cup, starting from the 10th tee whilst the leaders in the Scratch Salver start from the 1st.
The results...
Many congratulation to Paul Earl who won the Scratch Salver, for the 18th time, a truly remarkable achievement. The shop's very own Chris Olney finished in second place with smooth-swinging leftie Phil Anderson finishing in third. Please click here for the full results.
Congratulations also go to Matt Thompkins who won the Clayton Cup by the narrowest of margins, on countback from Pete Hannant. Gareth Mostyn finished in third place. Please click here for the full results.
A final thanks...
It's was a long weekend for all involved in this year's championship, but a special mention must go to our Course Manager, Paul Sheather, and his team. Especially when you consider the amount of rain we had last week. I don't think the golf course has looked better in my time at Tyrrells. Thank you to Paul and his team.
It's taken all my strength not to rant about our national football team's performances in the Euros. Monday's match was the worst performance I've even seen; embarrassing, inept and overpaid. I thought Chris Waddle's quote on 5-Live immediately after the match was spot on:
'We haven't got leaders, they're all pampered, they're all headphones and you can't get anything out of them'
How about this for a fact - England's (now ex) manager was paid 4.6 million a year whereas Iceland's manager is a part-time dentist. Give me strength, only England could go out of Europe twice in a week.
Dedicate some time to your bunker play
Picture the scene - you're in a greenside bunker, the ball is on a downslope, the flag is only a few feet away and there is trouble behind the green. There are 2 quite common outcomes from a shot like this:
We hit too far behind the ball and leave the ball in the bunker
We thin the ball out into the trouble behind the green
A lot of the time the cause of both of these shots comes from the same issue. It's a common, fairly logical approach to the shot where we try to scoop or help the ball out and over the lip. This leaves us on the back foot at impact and results in us either taking too much or too little sand. A great way to test your bunker technique is to go into the practice bunker and draw a line in the sand around 2-3 feet long. Set up to the line as if you're hitting a normal shot, in reality the ball would be just in front of the line. Make a few swings trying to hit the line as closely as possible.
If you find your 'splashes' are behind the line or you're missing the sand altogether, make a few more swings with your weight on your front foot (left foot for a right-handed golfer) being quite conscious about turning though the ball. After a few practices, keep the line for feedback but put the golf ball just in front of the line.
Bunkers are especially tricky to master, but if you can make a consistent contact with the sand it can make things much easier. This month why not dedicate a little time to your bunker play with my lesson package?
With summer now upon us (we hope), you'll soon be digging through your wardrobe trying to find a respectable polo shirt to wear. Inevitably you'll have a few that you bought 10 years ago which look tatty and old with the colour faded; then there's your favourite shirt from a few years back that you are trying so desperately hard to fit in to; and then you have the shirt with a few stains on but you wear under a jumper anyway as no-one will see.
Sound about right?
We have some lovely looking and great fitting shirts in-store at the moment - just take a look at the photo here. You may have been in to take a look earlier on in the year, but we've recently received a new drop of clothing from all of our apparel brands. Not only that, but we regularly change around what we have on display so it is worth coming in for a browse if you haven't had a look in the last few weeks. There's bound to be a shirt or two that's right up your street.
So come and see us in-store, take a browse at the numerous collections we have, try on some shirts and look the part on the course this summer. Remember what they say:
Look good, feel great, play well...
This year's Pro's Day will be played on Saturday, 23 July (it's my birthday!). This competition is open to ALL Tyrrells members and will be an individual stableford with the winner qualifying for the Peter Earle Masters. The online sign-up will open this Friday, 1 July at 7am. The competition will be a shotgun start from 8am. Jo, Chris and I will all be on the start sheet so if you'd like to play in our group please sign-up as soon as possible. We will have some fantastic prizes up for grabs, I'll even supply the birthday cake!
The next 10 days at Tyrrells
Sat 9 Jul - Please note that due to popular demand for our Captain's Charity Day, it has now been altered to a two-tee start from 2pm. This will mean that the golf course will need to be completely clear by 1:30pm. Please contact the shop for more information. If you'd like to support the Captain's Charity Day, please click here for more details. I think there are just a couple of spaces left.
Mon 27 Jun - Congratulations to Steve Brannigan and Graham Fyson who won the TW Senior Bert Munslow Cup with 60 points. Robert Price and Les Bent finished in second place with 57 points. Please click here for the full results.
Tue 28 Jun - Many congratulations to Patricia McCrea and Jane Lokimedes who won the Ladies Bring A Friend Day with 48 points, with Jane Lennard and Loraine Brookes finishing in second place with 47 points. Please click here for the full results.
