Matt Bannister

Hello Golfers,

Welcome back to the latest edition of our newsletter and the first of winter golf.

Where shall we start this week? Let's get straight into it! Enjoy.

Pro's news

Always learning!

This week I completed the BodiTrak Ground Mechanics Certification.

If you haven’t seen the BodiTrak it is a great piece of kit that I use in lessons (if appropriate) to help give feedback on how using pressure (weight transfer) to improve parts of your game; be it increase distance, strike, balance etc.

If you want a session or introduction to it please let me know or book in to one of the game improvement days where part of the day is an intro to the equipment.

Let me know more.

Product news

Putting them to the test!

A couple of editions ago I mentioned I was lucky enough to be given two Titleist Prototype balls - between you and I we know it is next year’s ProV1 and Pro V1X – and I was also given a sleeve of the new Titleist AVX ball.

I wanted to see if what they say about the 3 balls is true.

This is what Titleist say about each of the balls:

AVX Player Benefits:

Remarkable Distance and Penetrating Flight

Very Low Long Game and Iron Spin

Exceptionally Soft Feel

Premium Scoring Control

ProV1 Player Benefits:

Longer Distance

Lower long game spin

More consistent flight

Drop-and-Stop greenside control

Very soft feel

Long lasting durability

ProV1X Player Benefits:

Extraordinary Distance

More consistent flight

Low long game spin

Drop-and-Stop greenside control

Soft feel

Long lasting durability

In a nutshell off the tee AVX spins the lowest and has a lower flight off the tee and the ProV1X has a higher flight off the tee and more spin. The Prov1 sits in between.

Around the green the ProV1X spins the most but feels the firmest of the 3 balls and AVX spins the least but feels softest. The ProV1 sits in between.

The following are average numbers from 12 shots with each club.

I started with a 50 yards pitch shot. All shots averaged the same! 46 yards through the air total 49 yards.

The noticeable differences were the launch angles and backspin rates. AVX launched the highest but spun the least, the spin rate was expected from what Titleist was saying and the X launched lowest with most spin, again as expected - tick to Titleist!

Then a 7iron shot with each ball. Numbers were again very similar but AVX launching highest and spinning the least, compared with X that launches lower with more spin - tick to Titleist! Then this is where sometimes the sales pitch doesn’t always work. With driver the AVX launched the lowest as expected but spun the most! Going on the packaging this should be lowest spinning of the 3. Now we are only talking 100 revs of spin, but it wasn’t the case.

Click to enlarge ball data.

We are talking very small differences in these balls when I tested them but you can see through each test there were differences. Which ball should I play? Well if you base it on the numbers probably ProV1. There wasn’t much difference in the 50 yard pitch, but X spun more. The ProV1 went further through the air with 7 iron and went 3 yards further with driver. However based on my preferences of the harder feeling ball, the fact that I want more short game control (spin) and we are talking a ball that was within 3 yards of the longest ball with driver, I would choose the ProV1X.

Hopefully this shows you how a ball fit could make you, make a choice based on facts in the numbers, but also a choice based on what you like in a ball and what is the compromise in going with a preference over fact in my case we are talking 3 yards with driver.

Pro's news

My goals for the year!

So last week I asked about your goals for 2019 and that I would share mine for 2019. I’ve split them into 3 categories. Stats, Golf and coaching.

Stats:

So I use Arcoss caddy which comes as standard with Cobra Products. So here are my current stats.
For 2019 I want to Get all of my key stats to the equivalent of a ‘Plus’ handicap.

In terms of my stats I would like my eagles and birdies to be higher percentage than my bogeys and doubles. I would like to Improve my putting to average under 30 putts per round. I would like to Chip and down more than 50% of the time.

Golf:

The last couple of year I have played in 3 types of better ball pro am’s.

The Staysure Over 50’s Pro am
The Lombard National Pro Am
The Captain and Pro, Pro Am

I would love to qualify for the final of one of these with one of our members.These three events are highlights of my golfing year. Firstly they are a great day out and well run. Secondly only the winners qualify so would be a great achievement. Thirdly the finals are always somewhere amazing. This year the lombrd was at Villa Sol in Portugal, the Staysure was at the London Club and the Captain/Pro was in Majorca.

Its not only these pro-ams we can play. I would also like to take 6 different 3 player teams to pro-ams

Coaching news

Walk before we can run...

One thing I have wanted to do for a while is arrange a golf trip. What I would like to do in the long run is arrange a winter sun trip. But let’s walk before we run. So my first idea would be a Sunday Night UK trip with two rounds of golf potentially with a bit of coaching or a clinic attached. If you're interested please let me know.

Yes I'm interested.

Final boarding call...

This is the last chance to get signed up to the ‘winter unlimited coaching plan’ I have a couple of places left as this was limited to only 5 players and as I have been asked and accepted this plan can be paid over the first two months rather than in one payment. So if you want to do some serious work through the winter get in touch to fill the final places and work towards the 2019 goals.

Book your place.

Winter Packages /(Xmas Present idea)

If the unlimited package doesn’t work for you in terms of getting the usage from it or you only want a couple of sessions I have designed 5 different packages for every budget, incorporating technique, gapping, short game and playing.

Book your package.

Social media

Follow us!

Did you know that you you can book your golf online and even do it through our Facebook page.

Remember you can follow activity at the centre on Twitter and Facebook by following:

Facebook
@StevenageGolfConferenceCentre
@MBGolfPro

Twitter
@StevenageGolf
@MB_Golf_Pro

Bags of fun

Winter is coming, but we know that won't prevent you avid golfers getting out on the course to face biting winds, muddy shoes and, most of all, rain. Lots and lots of rain. With this in mind, it's more important than ever to have a golf bag which will keep your clubs and belongings dry during a downpour.

Introducing Titleist's StaDry Deluxe

This is where a cart bag like the StaDry Deluxe comes into play.

You'll certainly be keeping your valuables dry if you opted to upgrade your golf bag to this offering over the winter thanks to Titleist’s StaDry waterproof technology, which ensures maximum coverage from the rain during your round.

Weighing in at 2.9 kgs, it's also incredibly lightweight, making it easy to lift to and from the car boot to your trolley.

explore Titleist's range >

What do you take from this?

As golfers, there's nothing more satisfying than a shot which is perfectly executed - even if it is a rare occurrence for many of us. It could be a booming drive which splits the fairway down the middle, or maybe a wedge shot which stops dead, two feet away from the hole. In fact, when you consider how often we use our wedges during a round of golf - see the graph below - the latter is something that we should all be striving to achieve.

Average % of shots for a club golfer

So, what do you take from the graph above? In our eyes, it highlights just how important your short game is. We see a lot of you spending time hitting balls on the range, which is great, but don't neglect the less glamorous side of the game when practising - it's where your score is 'made'.

We can't stress the benefits of having wedges that are suited to every aspect of your game either. With a wedge like Callaway's Mack Daddy 4, we can take you through a custom fitting to find out which of its four sole grinds will help you strike the ball more consistently, as well as ensuring you have no gaps between clubs for the perfect wedge system.

Callaway Mack Daddy 4

contact the team >

Video of the Week

Changing your swing to hit different shots can result in lots of different issues, so make things easier for yourself by following this simple tip from Major winner Graeme McDowell.

I hope you enjoyed this week's newsletter. As always, if you have anything that you'd like to contribute please speak to one of the pro shop team. I'll see you at the club over the coming days.

Stevenage Golf & Conference Centre
Aston Lane
Stevenage
SG2 7EL

Phone: 01438 880424

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