12–19 November 2009

I hit the road from Islantilla and travelled 30 minutes to a new venue - Isla Canela Golf Course and the Vincci Hotel and was soon sitting in the sunshine with a cool drink, looking forward to welcoming my new group.

Our first day started with some short game, chipping and making good contact and then distance control. Then we did some long game review and I gave them things to check and think about – particularly correct grip and alignment – and I captured everyone’s swing on video so we could talk through what to work on.

After a bit of lunch we hit the course, in lovely weather we worked on course management and how best to think through position and targets on the course.  As none of the group knew the course this was a good lesson... learning how to look at where you want to go, and where you want to play your next shot from!

Day 2 we contnuined to work with the short game, this time longer pitching. There is a great pitching green here at Isla Canela, it’s just the same as the greens on the course, which I must say are great, nice and fast to chip onto and to putt on.

Pitching over bunkers can scare some people as only too often you have not much landing area to hit to, so this was great, we worked on some drills to help the group remember this important shot. We then did more long game, working on good alignment and balance.

By the time we got to the day of rest, some needed to get some rest, others just had to get onto the golf course again and others practiced their short game.

Day 3 we headed out to a new golf course to us called Costa Esuri, the west course. What a nice course, it’s sort of an inland links course, with nice wide fairways and big undulating greens. So it was good to do our putting clinic there.  Short putts….well some like them, some are scared of them, so we worked hard on drills to help hole more short putts and on getting the right distance. With the long game session we worked on alignment and making good contact.

Then we were out onto the course and what good fun was had!! We all enjoyed the course and it had some great views, but I must say, if it had been windy, what a challenge it would have been and would certainly have played a lot longer than its 5481 metres!!

Day 4 we hit the beach!! Well bunkers – almost the same! I always like this lesson as I feel not many people practice this most important part of the game and many don’t even have a practice bunker at their course. So we worked on how to make good contact and to make sure we have a longer follow-through than back-swing.

We then worked on how to make the best of fairway woods and drivers. Getting the ball teed up the right height is important with these big headed drivers and remembering to sweep the club close to the ground in the takeaway is very important too.

After a bite of lunch the group hit the course. This was a good day, as the on-course tuition is a big part of my schools and I get to play with the group and help with all sorts of things.  Some are  simple things like choosing which part of the teeing ground is the right place to tee off from, others help with course management by asking questions like “where is the trouble on this hole??” So it’s good for me to play golf with my group.

As we came to the last day, all too soon…as always I have to say, we had a round-up clinic, to remind them of what we had covered, and to talk through how I used to prepare for a tournament which helped them all consider how and what to practice.

We then hit the course on this final competition day with a secret pairs score as well as an overall winner.

A fab week with great people, in good warm weather, I thank you all for making my job easier and for working hard on your golf!!!