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Friday, October 21, 2016

Do you want to play better chip shots?


Greetings from Stellenbosch Golf Club Friday, 21 October 2016




Greetings fellow golfers and friends,

I sincerely hope you all had a fantastic week and that you found some time to play a round of golf. If you have not played yet, the weather for the weekend is going to be perfect for golf. So book your round now!

We had a busy week at the club so far, in fact it was so busy on Tuesday that we did not have enough furniture for everyone...The ladies enjoyed the deck for the first time, even doing their prizegiving on the deck.

That left a few of our regular members on the floor as the rest of the deck was occupied by all the visitors that enjoyed a lovely day out with us!

The success of the deck has been overwhelming and if you have not yet taken the opportunity to enjoy lunch or even better the sun setting over Table mountain, do it soon, because it’s beautiful!



 

It’s always nice to thank a sponsor that contributes so much to the club. On Wednesday we hosted the annual Odd Bins Golf Day. With its unique format and starting manner, I just love the Afrikaans for a “shot gun start” – “knalskoot met ‘n stormloop afslaan”. You’ve got to love Afrikaans. Back to Checkers, the sponsor for now - I would like to take the opportunity to thank them for the wonderful support. Please support them the way they support Stellenbosch GC.

Winning the day on an amazing “out of this world” score of 137 and receiving their prizes from Gerrie Jonas, was Rudi Kleynhans, Dewald Botha and Jaco Spies. Jaco can be congratulated for shooting 63 during his round with no less than 10 birdies. Now that’s golf...

The fourth man in the fourball Prof Johan de Villiers was not in the picture. At least we know they had a mathematician with them to do the scorecard and win with such a magical score!

Thursday we hosted the annual Distell Producers Day. It's great to have all the farmers from the area come and enjoy the course. For those who did not play we had the Boulle course ready. I was quite astonished by the numbers that joined us for Boulle - 64 playing with each team having a captain as well. Just shows you, you don’t have to play golf to enjoy the golf course.

As the Distell Producers left, we welcomed the night trail runners with a tranquil and safe environment for a fun run while enjoying the fresh air.




We are ending the week’s golf by hosting High School Stellenbosch here today. Lovely to see all the young people at the course.





Tomorrow we will be welcoming the members and guests in our Saturday competition and on Sunday we will be hosting the annualBlommaert Cup. The day supports a charity in our area, “Love to Give”.





We are looking forward to the first Mixed Competition of the summer!

I just have to end this week’s Dog’s Tale by promoting golf and the enjoyment thereof. Why don’t people play, because it’s too difficult...?

I have said from the day I started teaching golf anybody can play this game. Why don’t you go and visit my fellow PGA Professional, Erich and let him teach you how to enjoy the game of a lifetime!

It’s all about creating memories and great experiences!

I hope you all have a super weekend!
Louis





Greetings All,

Another great week out on the battlefield sorting out swings, chips, pitches and more! Speaking of chipping and pitching, last week I published my latest improvement programme called "Master the Short Game". In case you missed it, please click here to view it again.

On the theme of the short game and chipping - I will now also be bringing you weekly editions of friendly advice, based on what I see and have learnt from my years as a coach. Just remember though that, just like reading it in the magazines and trying it on your own can be confusing to yourself, it is still best practice to learn in the company of a qualified and experienced PGA Professional. I will try to keep it as simple as possible though!

Effective chipping
A definition of a chip shot would be a shot whereby the ball spends more time rolling than flying, as opposed to pitching where the ball flies more than it rolls. In general, chipping can be done with a 6, 7, 8 or 9-iron, and pitching with a pitching wedge, sand wedge or a lob wedge. In order to simplify the game, one should always first opt for chipping when one is presented with the opportunity, for example when there is lots of space between you and the pin for the ball to roll, and only pitch when one is forced to "go high", for example when one has to clear something first like a bunker, rough, water, or when there is only limited space between you and the pin. I will spend a few weeks on this theme as I often see that many people only use one of their pitching clubs for all of their shots around the green, hereby losing out on a much easier way of capitalizing on certain situations when they could rather chip.

In the meantime, below are three video snapshots showing three key elements of the chip shot - 1. (left snapshot) - At setup the ball is positioned opposite the right foot, the weight is 60% toward the left foot, and the left hand is ahead of the clubface; 2. (middle snapshot) - A split second after impact, everything still looks the same as at setup above, indicating no unneccessary movement has taken place, and 3. (right snapshot) - At follow through, the left hand is still at least in line with the clubface.





If you want to learn how to play effective chip shots, contact me today to book a lesson. Also follow my future newsletter articles for much more insight.

Driving range
As promised, the range has a new signboard with lots of information, including distances, opening times, last bucket, and last ball hit, as well as whether we're practicing off the grass or the mats. Unfortunately we cannot be off the grass every day but we intend making Wednesdays and Saturdays one of these days out of at least four per week. The times at the moment are 07h30 opening,18h00 last bucket and 18h30 last ball hit. Please respect the times and allow the attendants to gather the balls before dark. If you are planning a lengthy chipping session before hitting out your balls, please allow enough time to do so. We intend extending the hours even further into summer time. Enjoy your practice!

See you all at the club,

Erich





Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Join Dr Johann Krüger for a round of Golf and give the #GiftofSight



Golf Day: 27 October, Devonvale Golf & Wine Estate

What if you lost your sight?

The Gift of Sight Trust was formed by Dr Johann Krüger and Marinda Holtzhausen with the aim of prevention and treatment of avoidable blindness in people who are unable to afford Private Health Care or have been waiting for years for treatment at Public Health Care facilities.
The Gift of Sight activities revolves around trying to reduce the backlog in cataract and retinal surgeries in the country. Supporting the Global Vision 2020 initiative.
VISION 2020: The Right to Sight is the global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness, a joint programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).

More info here: http://eepurl.com/cireI9

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

New slogan marks new era for PGA of South Africa


JOHANNESBURG (12 September 2016) – The PGA of South Africa launched its new logo and slogan at its inaugural awards dinner at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Monday evening, entrenching its vision of being the heart of golf and using the game to make a greater impact in South Africa.


“Touching lives through the game of golf” is the new slogan for the country’s oldest association of professional golfers. It was introduced by legendary South African professional, commentator and PGA of South Africa Honorary Life President Denis Hutchinson.

The new slogan makes a clear distinction between the work done by South Africa’s registered PGA professionals within all aspects of the golf industry, and the touring professional. It recognises the role played by PGA of South Africa professionals in driving the game at golf facilities by enhancing the golf experience, creating added enjoyment and increasing participation.

“In coming up with the new slogan we wanted to convey more strongly just how integral the PGA professional is to assisting the amateur golfer to play more golf and have more fun while contributing to the success of a golf club, and the general industry as a whole,” said Ivano Ficalbi, the Chief Executive of the PGA of South Africa.

“Anybody within the South African golf industry has at some point interacted with a PGA of South Africa professional, from junior golfers and beginners receiving lessons, to our top touring professionals who would have started their careers with a lesson from their local PGA professional. Our professionals are active in all aspects of the golf industry locally and globally, and this includes various projects into Africa.”

The new slogan ties in with the PGA of South Africa’s drive to assist their members and the golf industry to create more golfers, more rounds of golf and stronger golf facilities.

“We know from global research that the best practices we are equipping our PGA professionals with helps to drive more participation in the game. Research has shown that golf club members who are in a coaching programme with their local PGA professional are 100% more likely to remain members of the golf club than those who aren’t. And rounds of golf by club members in a coaching programme increased by 20%,” said Ficalbi.

“Our aim is to help South African golf clubs realise where their true value lies, in their membership. A PGA professional touches so many lives, and this is in keeping with our focus as a respected global brand. Our aim is to ensure that our PGA members are trained in all aspects of the golf industry to assist the relevant golf clubs, bodies or development projects in delivering successful projects.”

For Ficalbi, the new slogan also reflects the incredible growth of the association in the past few years.

“The PGA of South Africa now has partnered with over 30 major corporate brands which gain access to the association’s over 600 members. We have put in a great deal of effort to get the PGA of South Africa to this point, where we can be recognised as a meaningful partner by major blue-chip companies.”

The awards ceremony recognised the standout PGA of South Africa professionals of the year.

The 2015 PGA Professional of the Year was San Lameer Golf Estate Golf Director Meyer du Toit, while Llewellyn van Leeuwen of the Tuks Academy was voted the 2015 PGA Teaching Professional of the Year.

The 2015 National Order of Merit winner was Michael du Toit, and Johan Smit was the 2016 PGA National Champion.

Kloof Country Club’s Kate Brett Castle was named the 2016 PGA Apprentice of the Year.



Photo: Ivano Ficalbi, Chief Executive of the PGA of South Africa, unveils the new PGA of South Africa logo and slogan at the association’s inaugural awards ceremony at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Monday. Credit: Roelof Nel.



Thursday, August 18, 2016

Hankey Golf Club like never seen before

Hankey is essentially a park-land course with high tree-lined fairways. Accuracy as opposed to distance is a key to playing the course well. At 5785 metres, the course plays to a par 72 and being 9 holes makes use of 14 different tee-boxes The greens are receptive and iron shots can certainly be fired at the pin.

The hospitality at Hankey GC is legendary ---- a must play




Klein River Road
Hankey, Cacadu, 6350
Phone(s): +27 (0) 42 284-0335
Fax: +27 (0) 42 284-0335