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July 2011 Pro Shop Enews

David Hughes, AAT PGA Professional, Scarcroft Golf Club

Dear Glen Hopkinson

Build Up to The Open

What an amazing month of golf we have been treated to and there’s more to come with the Open Championship fast approaching.

Fans across the world were treated to an exhibition of golf from young Rory McIlroy as he marched around The Congressional to capture to US Open title with a record-breaking score of 16-under.

Rory will be among the favourites this month when he tees up at Royal St George’s in Sandwich, Kent as the world’s best golfers compete for the famous Claret Jug.

We have a full preview of the Open Championship below and take a look at some of the latest wedges that will be used by those competing.

This month’s Teaching Zone gives you some hints and tips on how to put those wedges into play and the importance of having more than one wedge in your bag.

Don’t forget, if you have any questions about your game or equipment please do not hesitate to pop into the Pro Shop at any time and have a chat with us.

Enjoy the news!

Featured Articles

Focus On Wedges

Callaway Jaws

PING Tour-S

July Golf Shop Offers

10 % Off all golf bags in the shop.

Offer ends 31st July 2011

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3 Lessons for £40.00

Give your game a mid season mot.

Offer ends 31st July 2011

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Video Golf Lesson

Have a look at your swing on video and see what you are doing for yourself. We can then give you Professional advice on the correct changes required to improve your game.

£25.00

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Driving Range Annual Range Ticket

£60

This gives you umlimited balls on the driving range for 12 months.

Build Up To The Open

The Open Championship returns to the coast of Kent in 2011 and the sleepy town of Sandwich, which boasts one of England’s finest golf courses in Royal St George’s.

The Championship which takes place from July 14-17, returns to the Garden of England for the first time since Ben Curtis lifted the Claret Jug in 2003, and there have been a few subtle changes to the course since then.

This year Royal St George’s will play more than 100 yards longer and cut to a par 70. The course measured 7,106 in 2003, when Curtis produces his shock win, while this year it has been stretched to 7,211.

The third hole is now 30 yards longer, the long seventh hole is up from 532 to 564 yards and the ninth has been increased from 388 to 412 yards. On the back nine the par-4 15th has been stretched from 475 yards to 496.

The famous fourth hole with its huge bunker looming large from the tee has been shortened slightly but will play as a long and tough 495-yard par-4 rather than a 479-yard par-5.

Finally, with only 30 per cent of all drives finishing on the first fairway in 2003 the landing area has been widened slightly. Eight years ago Tiger Woods lost his ball in the thick rough en route to making a triple bogey seven.

Royal St George’s is a links course in the truest sense – very open, with barely a tree in sight and exposed to the elements. The terrain throws up every possible lie for the golfer to contend with and the fairways resemble the English Channel itself with large undulations across many of the holes.

The course will prove a stern test for the world’s best with many tee shots and approach shots being played blindly and often to large, unforgiving greens.

For more information on the course at Royal St George’s click here and to see a review of previous Opens at the Kent course click this link.

Focus On Wedges

New rules on the volume and sharpness of grooves in wedges were introduced by the R&A and USGA last year in an attempt to curb the amount of spin players were able to generate from any lie, particularly the rough.

Research showed that top-level players were generating more spin from the rough with an 8-iron than players were getting with wedges off the fairways 25-years ago.

Players were able to bomb their drives as far as they could, knowing that even if their ball was caught up in the rough they would be able to use their wedges with deep and sharp grooves and still be able to control the ball on the greens as well as they would have done from the fairways.

How will these rules impact players at this year’s Open Championship at Royal St George’s?

Well, the R&A have made no secret of the fact that it wants to grow the rough on the Kent coast rather long, therefore any player finding the long stuff will have a problems getting the ball to stop on the hard and fast links greens.

So to ensure the players get the most out of their wedge play they will need to be as accurate as possible to keep the ball on the fairways.

Below is a selection of wedges that you may want like to consider.

Callaway Jaws

Engineered by Callaway Chief Designer Roger Cleveland, the X Series Jaws CC Wedges feature the new Tour CC Grooves that comply with the new groove rules.

Callaway’s proprietary groove pattern produces enhanced spin, even under the new regulations and the C-Grind Sole and classic head design ensure versatility for the short game while providing Tour-level feel from soft forged 1020 carbon steel construction.

For more information on the Callaway Jaws wedges please click here.
 

PING Tour-S

Control and feel are greatly enhanced in the new Tour-S wedges to help you fly shots precise distances.

A machined face and conforming grooves allow you to manage spin from all conditions and a re-shaped sole geometry allows for versatility in your shot making. Its Custom Tuning Port angles toward the back surface to increase the perimeter weighting for added forgiveness.

For more information on the PING Tour-S wedges please click here.
 

Wedges - Bridge The Gap

Over the past few years, in a race to claim their club goes further than the competition, club manufacturers have tinkered with the loft angle on iron clubs.

For example back in the 1980s a 5-iron would have a 30-degree loft, today it is more likely to have 26-degrees. A 9-iron would have been 46-degrees and now it is 42-degrees.

This is great because it helps us to hit the ball further, however there is a catch – a modern pitching wedge now features a 48-degree loft while the sand wedge has 56-degrees, a difference of eight degrees, the usual gap in loft between irons is four degrees. In playing terms this leads to a big yardage gap between the two clubs in an area of the game where precision is vital.

The solution is to add an extra club, often referred to as a ‘gap wedge’, for obvious reasons – it may have a 52-degree loft, which neatly fills the hole between the PW and SW.

Pretty much every Tour professional will have a third wedge in his bag and many will have in addition a lob wedge. This club has a greater loft than the sand wedge, often 60-degrees, and is ideal for playing high soft landing shots around the green.

Of course the rules only allow a maximum of 14 clubs so you may need to drop something. For example during one of his US Masters victories Nick Faldo chose to drop his 6-iron.

Short Game Academy in Association with Ping Golf

This season when playing approach shots from 50 to 75 yards Phil Mickelson has hit the ball on average to an impressive 7ft 3in from the hole!

On this type of shot distance is more important than direction, and the key to playing it well is a solid strike.

The following set up points will help:

• Ball position centre stance;

• Extra weight on front foot

When it comes to the swing the most frequent mistake is to make a backswing that is too long for the yardage and then decelerate on the downswing. When this occurs the body stops moving and the weight of the club head flicks past the hands and causes a poor strike.

A great analogy is to imagine your body as a speedboat and the club head as the water skier…if the skier passes the boat bad things are going to happen.

Rampant Rory's Records

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy tore through the field to win his first Major – The US Open – by a mammoth eight shots.

In doing so he broke a number of records to put the agony of his Masters implosion in April well and truly behind him.

Rory’s US Open Records

• McIlroy’s total of 268 strokes breaks the 72-hole US Open scoring record of 272 previously held by four players - Jack Nicklaus, 1980; Lee Janzen, 1993; Tiger Woods, 2000; Jim Furyk, 2003.

• His total of 16 under par breaks the 72-hole US Open record for most strokes under par previously at 12-under held by Tiger Woods in 2000

• At 22 years, 1 month, 15 days, McIlroy is the youngest US Open champion since Bob Jones, 1923, at 21 years, 3 months, 28 days. He is also the second-youngest player to win a major championship in past 80 years behind Tiger Woods, who was 21 years, 3 months, 15 days when he won the 1997 Masters.

• With the victories by McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, both from Northern Ireland, this is the first time there have been back-to-back non-US winners from the same country since Alec Ross (1907) and Fred McLeod (1908), both from Scotland

• McIlroy is the third player from Northern Ireland to win a major championship, joining Graeme McDowell at the 2010 U.S. Open and Fred Daly at the 1947 British Open

• McIlroy and Robert Garrigus became the seventh and eighth players in US Open history to shoot four sub-par rounds in one championship joining Sam Snead, 1947; Billy Casper, 1966; Lee Trevino, 1968; Tony Jacklin, 1970; Lee Janzen, 1993 and Curtis Strange, 1994

• McIlroy became the fourth player in US Open history to shoot four rounds in the 60s joining Lee Janzen, 1993; Lee Trevino, 1968 and Billy Casper, 1966

• He is the seventh start-to-finish winner in US Open history joining Walter Hagen, 1914; Jim Barnes, 1921; Ben Hogan, 1953; Tony Jacklin, 1970; Tiger Woods, 2000 and 2002

• He hit 62 of 72 greens in regulation, the most in a US Open since the stat has been tracked

• The Northern Irishman was 11-under on par 4s, breaking the previous record of 4-under by five players since the statistic has been tracked. (Ernie Els, 1997; Tiger Woods, 2000; Jim Furyk, 2003; Phil Mickelson, 2004; Davis Love III, 2010)

• McIlroy was the first player in US Open history to reach 13-under-par, 14-under-par, 15-under-par, 16-under-par and 17-under-par.

Proshop details

Address: Scarcroft Golf Club, Syke Lane, Leeds, LS14 3BQ Tel: 0113 2892780 ext2  Email: dhughes@tgigolf.com