Welcome to this week's newsletter, bringing you all the latest news from Rochester & Cobham Park Golf Club. We hope you're having a great week on and off the golf course.
Enjoy the read.
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Putting Practice Drill
Golfers' typically spend hours beating balls on the driving range trying to eradicate their horrendous slice, which is very important to scoring well...but how many of you practice the clutch putts from 3, 4 and 5 feet?
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They're the ones that can strike fear into the best of us but if you can find a way to build an iron defence so these 3, 4 and 5 footers feel like inch tap ins then you're onto a winner. Give this practice drill a try and in no time at all, you'll be like Tiger in his hay day.
For the purpose of this article, we have used alignment sticks but when you do it set 15 tee pegs around the hole, 5x 3 footers, 5x 4 footers and 5x 5 footers; these should be evenly spaced around the hole so that you are faced with all varieties of putt you would expect from the golf course. |
 | | Practice Drill Setup |
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Choose any of the 3-foot putts to start from and work your way around the circle, holing each of the three footers. Once you have done this, hole all of the 4 footers then the 5 footers once the 4 footers are complete.
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 | | 'And, so it begins...' |
Sounds easy, right? Wrong.
In order for you to develop a thick skin and no longer feel the nerves over these little putts, you have to hole all 15 putts CONSECUTIVELY! So, whether you miss the third putt or the fifteenth putt you must go back to the start.
If you really got time on your hands and you have the discipline, make yourself stay on the putting green until you complete the game...trust me this game will drive you round the twist but you will really see the benefits on the course.
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 | | 'It happens to the best of us' |
Maybe you want to add even more difficulty to it? Why not add 6-foot putts to the drill? Give this a try and let us know what you think and what effects it has to you on the course. |
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Putting Statistics
A great way for you to really keep tabs on where your putting ability is at is to record certain statistics which over a course of a few rounds will really start to highlight which areas on the greens really needs improving.
Often golfers make a judgement on where their game is letting them down by what happened from their most recent outing. In actual fact, sometimes, it's a series of events that leads them to believe what the problem is.
For example, you may be missing a lot of putts from 4 feet but actually your distance control from medium to long-range putts could be inconsistent and end up leaving yourself the knee knockers too often.
If you take a look at the stats page on the PGA Tour website you'll see under the Putting section there are 98 different statistics they look at. Now, I'm not expecting you to record anywhere near that amount of stats but why not try these three:
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Putts per GIR - maybe one for the lower handicaps to see their conversion rate for birdies? Add up your putts for ONLY the greens you hit in regulation (putting for gross birdie) and then divide by the number of greens you hit. If the answer is less than two that means you're playing these holes under par and anything over two means you're over par. |  | | 'Anything under 2, you're on your way to the winner's circle' |
Proximity to hole - from 20-30, 31-40 and 41+ feet, note down how far away your first putt finishes away from the hole for your second putt. Keep this stat going for at least 6 rounds to find a fair average proximity to the hole for second putts.
. |  | | 'Proximity to the Hole' |
Putts per round - a very easy one to keep a track of and the very least you should be doing if you want to improve your putting. As it says on the tin, how many putts do you hit in a round? For a much clearer picture only count putts from the putting surface and disregard ones from the fringe.
. |  | | 'Not quite as good as Spieth' |
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Keeping these three stats will give you a much better idea of what level your putting is at and the more you record the better because you'll get more consistent averages.
In 2019, Jordan Spieth topped the putts per round stat with 27.71, you have to go all the way down to 53rd before you find somebody a whole shot behind him. This just goes to show the old cliche is right, golf is a game of margins. Try and keep your stats for the season and see how you fare against some of the best players in the World |
Callaway Experience Day
Don't forget that if you are thinking of giving your golf bag a little update that we have booked the Callaway National Fitting Centre on Wednesday, 26 February just for the R&CPGC members.
You'll get the opportunity to test drive the BRAND NEW Mavrik driver, fairway woods and irons, utilising an expert Callaway fitter and his TrackMan data. While you are treated like a VIP and hitting golf balls, your expert is working tirelessly to find a Callaway alternative.
In a matter of just a few swings, you will have swapped out your old trusted club and be putting a BRAND NEW Callaway into action. Once you see how much of an improvement it has made, the hardest decision you will have is what colour grip to go for.
Take a look below to see what times we have left and if you would like to reserve one either give us a call or come and speak to one of the team. |
 | Callaway Fitting Times
click to enlarge
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Bonus Ball
Last week's lucky winner with number 52 was an avid supporter of the Bonus Ball, Roger Robinson. He has bagged himself a Glenbrae charcoal slip over and some Titleist Pro V1 golf balls.
This week's sheet is underway, so be sure to grab your number. |
Already this year we've seen the release of new drivers and irons (nothing unusual in that), but now we have something else to show you and we're excited to say they'll be arriving with us soon! |
 | Srixon Q-Star Tour golf balls
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Many of you will be big fans of the AD333 ball from Srixon, which has been a mainstay in its range since 2003 - albeit, being improved upon every couple of years.
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Well, sitting alongside it for 2020 is the Q-Star Tour, which delivers tour-level spin and distance but in a remarkably soft cover - whilst being at a brilliant price point too! |
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