Woburn Ladies @ El Rompido — May 2019

It wasn’t long before I was repacking and off to Spain and El Rompido again.

This time it was for the return of the Woburn Ladies Group +6. We arrived in sunshine and that continued for the whole week.

On day 1 we covered the basics that make up a good golf swing; ball position; body weight centered; arms as straight as possible and consistent swing to make sure of a good contact with the ball. I used the period after lunch for a videoed session out on the course. This provides a good visual record of what each member of the group looks like on the course. This is a much truer and natural record of how everyone looks than on the golf range as well as providing the basis of measuring progress made over the week. The girls loved the bonus of being on the course in such great weather.

On days 2 and 3 I split the girls into 2 groups. So the red group headed over to play 9 holes on the course and the blue group concentrated on the long game and some pitching and putting. This enables me to give more time and help to each individual and I have found in practice that more improvement is made more quickly. The bunkers and pitching session was very good and an eye opener for some. It is quiet normal for ladies not to practice bunker play and I like getting them to have a better understanding of how to get out of bunkers. Proper practice gives confidence from which the fear factor is then more easily overcome. The same applies to pitching where confidence and technique is paramount. With pitching the key is to get the ball to a landing point on the green from where it can roll up to the hole. The long game element is geared to reprise what was covered the day before and provide opportunity to concentrate on swing drills. I then repeated the sessions but with the Red Group whilst the Blue Group headed out on the course to play 9 holes.

Day 3 saw more work on the long game including driving. The focus was on what we had covered the previous day; on where they wanted the ball to start; making sure that half the ball was teed up over half the head of the driver. The putting session was also fun and had set them up with some putting drills. I then got them to play a ‘match’ making sure they went through their set up routines and hole out as they would do on the course. They were asked to practice this session as they would play. I think this session was really enjoyed and I explained that the top pros, such as Justin Rose, all practice this

way as if every shot counts. Both groups got the same coaching and practice sessions and then played 18 holes on the lovely South Course.

On the day of rest 4 girls played 18 holes, 6 practiced for 2 hours and then enjoyed the sunshine and the rest caught the train to take the ferry to the beach and enjoyed a well earned rest. I went for a run in the sunshine to the lighthouse at El Rompido, a late breakfast, catch up on emails a little practice and a rest by the pool .. what a great life.

Day 4 the group worked on improving their ball contact. I used dry shampoo on the face of the club to show clearly the ball contact. We then worked a little on the short game particularly chipping around the greens. After lunch we played the North Course again in lovely sunshine.

ON the last day, day 5, I set up a clinic showing how to prepare for a tournament. We went through what the pros do and how this can be an essential part of their preparation. This was well timed ready for the competition which followed. The weather was a little cooler (24+˚) and more wind than on previous days. The competition was played on the South Course. I enjoyed watching how they tacked the more difficult conditions – it was not easy for scoring. Nicole was the winner with 29 points. It was very interesting to see how the low ball flight she started with at the beginning of the week was now much better – well done. It was great to see how the girls had worked on their game and I am proud of them all.

Big thank you girls it was good fun, do keep up the work.