Good day members and friends of CMGC it has been another brilliant week with ideal golfing conditions. Not to hot, no wind and dry making it perfect to play golf in. Myself and the golf centre team have been out on the course this week and it really is difficult to fault, it really is a pleasure to be out there! I must say how good the greens are at present, having played a match against the Warrickshire on Sunday I can't fault them. Set the ball on the line you want and it goes in!

We are set for a busy week with a pro am on Thursday and the Adam Millichip Foundation golf day on Friday. You are all set for a brilliant round, get out there and enjoy it.

Lodge Development Update.

Last week Graham headed up to Lincoln to check on the show lodge that is coming onto the Cleobury Country Lodges site. It is now just 2 weeks away and we cannot wait to have it on site, the phone has not stopped ringing with people wanting to see it… not long to go now! Check out the website www.cleoburycountrylodges.com for more information. You can also request a brochure from the site.

Remember they are £140000, any sale lead that comes from a member you get free membership!

The first trophy competition of the year was contested on Sunday with the Hendry 3 club. The winning score was posted by Les Stanford who shot 32 points. What makes his score so good is that he took a risk and selected a driver, 6 iron and putter! The highlight of the round was an up and down on the 8th of deer park after hitting the right hand sand trap, no idea how Les got it out with a 6 iron but fair play! Remember on all trophy competitions this year the winner receives there own individual whiskey tumbler.

Bank Holiday Roll Up

Our new head coach decided to host a Bank Holiday roll up Stableford to give everyone a chance of some handicap cutting early in the season. It was great to see so many people entering and enjoying the course conditions. Jack Severn and Alex Barnes were once again at the top of the leader board but they could not get past one man… Steve Scrace!

Steve shot an unbelievable 44 points, what makes this even better is that the competition he competed in the week before he finished bottom. Just goes to show what a crazy game golf is. Steve bought some Stuburt Urban 2 golf shoes just before he teed off, were these the secret to his success? I would like to think so. Super comfy summer shoes for just £40.

Remember roll ups are done through the golf centre, prizes can be picked up from their today!

The draw for the 2014 knock outs has now also been done, please check the changing rooms!

Scratch Team Sponsor Required

Do you have your own business or part of a business that is looking to increase their exposure? The CMGC scratch team are looking for a new sponsor for the 2014 season. The team are looking for £500 including VAT. The company logo will be printed on their shirts which are worn to both home and away matches. Anyone taking on the sponsorship will do so on a season to season rolling contract.

A full VAT invoice will be generated and the business will be featured during match reports and photos.

Anyone wishing to take this fantastic opportunity please contact the team captain Tom on 07929118012 or tomppain@googlemail.com First come first served! The shirts go to print on May 22nd so be quick!

Titleist Ball Challenge Update

The Titleist ball challenge started on the weekend and it was great to see so many of you entering. It really is a no brainer to be honest, you select 6 holes and if you better your handicap on them 6 holes you get another sleeve totally FREE! Jack Severn scored 17 on those 6 holes and Phil Lau scored 13 to both take home an extra sleeve. We will be running this until the end of May and hope to see more of you entering after seeing some winners.

How it works…

Buy a pack of Pro V1 or Pro V1x golf balls for £10 (which is cheaper than most pro shops)

Select 6 holes - 3 par 4's, 2 par 3's and 1 par 5.

If you score 13 or more Stableford points on those 6 holes you get another pack FREE

If someone can show me where you can get 6 2014 Pro V1 or Pro V1x balls for £10 that are not off the back off a lorry I'll be in massive shock!

One thing to consider… Titleist specifically asked us to trial this challenge, it is not to make money it is to get more people using Titleist golf balls and having a bit of fun. If these challenges don't get support we won't be asked again…. So PLEASE support them and enter! Worst case scenario you have a pack of balls for £10… not the end of the world!

FootJoy Socks

With summer well and truly here it is time to get the shorts back out. We have some of the brilliant FootJoy ones now in stock, the FJ apparel has been selling really well so far this year. If you buy a pair of shorts we will give you 15% off any shirt to complete the outfit.

We are also doing two pairs for £12 on the Pro Dry ankle socks… If you wear normal socks with shorts you will get sock tans lines… this is a fashion disaster that can be easily avoided.

Golf Pride Wrap Grips

Looking for a high quality grip and a silly price? We are offering the Golf Pride tour wrap for just £3 per grip…… yes £3. A grip of this quality should not be this cheap, but we have managed to strike a deal with Golf Pride. Simply drop your clubs in and we will get them done within 24 hours!

Headwear

With the sun out it is essential to keep the sun off your head, we have loads of summer hats in stock starting from £5

Very often from 100 yards and in I witness amateur golfers trying to hit their wedges either far too hard or they have the same length of swing for every distance of shot. They then try and judge the shot by how fast or slow they swing. The following article will help your entire wedge game ranging from a pitching wedge to your 60 degree lob wedge. Our lesson themes are control and consistency - music to any golfer's ears!

A full shot with a wedge is played with a smoother rhythm than a full shot with a driver or fairway wood. The wedge swing will also appear a little shorter than compared to one with the long clubs. The reduced swing speed allows you to control the ball flight a lot better and also enables you to make your distance control more consistent. If you hit high 'floating' wedge shots that spend for ages in the air, you will never get real consistency on your distance as the ball will be at the mercy of the wind for longer. So it will pay dividends to improve your swing pace, tempo and power application. Swing smoother and have a better tempo on your wedge shots and you will see your trajectories come down; distance control and accuracy improve significantly. Not to mention that spin will actually help you, rather than take you away from the hole.

Having thoroughly studied the best wedge players in the world, we at the CMGC recommend that you govern your wedge distances by the length of your backswing. This approach allows you the comfort of always applying the same swing speed to all your distance wedge shots. By adopting a '2 swing length' strategy with your distance wedges, you have armed yourself with a very functional way to control your flight and spin.

In the picture below we see a "9 o'clock swing", where the left arm is parallel to the ground, as if at 9 o'clock (for a right handed player). Out of the two swing lengths this is obviously the one that will travel the shortest distance meaning that you should have more control over the shot.

Next is the 11 o'clock swing that should obviously travel a little further. How much further? Well that's for your practice to find out. You can see from the picture that the shaft is still short of parallel at the top of the backswing, this will encourage that all important degree of control you are searching for with these scoring shots.

As mentioned, practicing these new 'control' swings will provide you the facts about how far you hit each length of swing and which shot in particular you are best with. So, develop your most reliable 'go to' wedge distance and spend time initially checking in the mirror that you are actually swinging to where you think you are, will really speed up the learning process. Next time you're out on the course or the range have a few shots using each of these swing lengths and see how more consistent your distance wedge game can become! It's amazing the offensive scoring game you can create just by adding variety in swing length with your already existing wedge set.