ISLANTILLA, Spain, May 2011

As I said goodbye to all the pro-am girls I looked forward to my next golf school coming in. The weather improved, the course was still great, so all was looking good for my school.

We started off with a short game clinic where I talked about the importance of making a good contact. We did a mix of chip and runs and short pitch shots, working on distance control and how to decide when to change clubs, as I find many people only chip or pitch with one club. I like people to have a range of options and to know when to use the different clubs, so it was a great session. I then did a long game clinic followed by a video session. This is great as not many people have seen themselves on video.

I talked about the importance of good alignment on the range so as to be able to take that to the course and the importance of good quality practice, so there is some purpose to their session. After a bite of lunch we played the Yellow and Green golf courses.  It was great fun working on using course management to get them around the course and to be aware of simple things like noticing where the tee’s point is!!!! As many don’t point up the middle.

Day 2 we started with pitching. First, as always I talked about contact and gave them all a good drill to improve it, and after a little time all the group got it — that made such a big improvement to the session. We then worked on distance control, I set up a ladder game for them, first the distance they had to pitch over was 8 yards, but not over 10 so I set up a simple line of golf clubs to give them a good visual target.  Then we moved onto 25 yards but not past 27... this was a great session and they were all surprised just how hard it was to get good distance control... but after some practice it all improved. We then hit the range where we worked on their individual technique and of course alialignment. We made sure that every shot had a real target. After lunch we played the Yellow and Green courses again, with more emphasis given to their distance control when pitching and focussing on the target.

A day of rest followed, and boy they needed it. A great day in Spain +27 so they all hit the pool and the Islantilla beach club. Me, well a nice rest for me too, time to catch up with emails etc, to plan my UK schools at Staverton and to plan my new job as teaching pro at Bedfordshire Golf Club, which I start when I get back... and a day off would not be the same without a run... it was so hard in the heat, but I felt good after it.

Day 3 we started with on course tuition, its nice to get out early on the Blue and Yellow course. Time to get them to think better on the course, and to try and forget any bad shots by only staying in the present and never looking back. After a bit of lunch we did some putting. We worked on technique and then how to hole more short putts, I gave them lots of different drills, and we had fun with some skill tests.

Day 4 we started with bunkers, I really like this session, as I get to show the group how to get out of bunkers with ease, we work on 3 different club face positions, square, closed and open…with great results! We then worked on driving and farway woods, I talked about the importance of ball position and balance. A bite of lunch and then we are off on to the Blue and Yellow courses, in great sunshine the group got on with getting the ball around the golf course, thinking, when in trouble, where they would want to play the next shot from, and having fun!

Our last day started with a round up of chipping and pitching, and then I talked about pre-round warm ups, and what I did when I was on tour... a bit of putting, and then we are off... we played secret pairs, what a great day with Lin and Bridget winners with 56 points!! What a great week, with everyone improving and of course having fun... a big thank you to them all, I wish them the best and look forward to hearing how they get on when they are back on their own courses!!