British Weather

With the weather being typically British, it is important to know all the little tricks to keep yourself, your bag, and your clubs dry when you're out on the course. There are many items available in the shop that can help you to stay dry.

Click here to view what waterproof products we have in-store.

The first is just a simple umbrella holder for your trolley, this device attaches to the trolley and sits over the top of your bag to stop any rain from coming through the top of the bag. A handy trick to use when the umbrella is in the holder is to have a towel threaded through the supports underneath the canopy, this allows you to dry your grips when wet giving you a better chance when playing your shot. Keeping a spare glove under your umbrella is also a good backup if the weather starts to deteriorate.

Another aid for bad weather is to use rain gloves, these are a great addition to have in the bag for those wet rounds. They have been designed so that the wetter they get the more grip the player has, this is a great backup to swap to if your main glove is too wet to use.

There are also a brilliant range of waterproof bags in the shop. These bags are brilliant and keep anything dry that's inside. We have a large variety of cart bags from the likes of Callaway and Titleist, with prices starting around £180. We also have the new masters cart bag with a starting price of £170. Masters also have a great range of carry waterproof bags if you want to keep dry but carry.


 

Club Competitions

We just have the one competition to report on this week, and we're lucky to have that. Many courses in the local area have been closed over the weekend due to all the heavy rain we have received, but we managed to be open for Saturday and get a competition in. The gents played in a Fourball Better Ball competition on Saturday.

Mike Forbes and Douge McNair managed a good score of 43 points to come in 3rd place. They were narrowly beaten by Ian Rennison, who seems to be in the top 3 every week these days, and John Ogden, who managed 44 points. But way out in front with a great score of 47 points were Ken Jee and Edward Pysdon. Well done to the top 3 in Saturdays comp.


 

DJ On Fire

For Dustin Johnson, there were back-to-back wins, a fourth World Golf Championship and endorsement of his status as the No1 golfer in the world. For European golf, there was further evidence of a new star in the form of Jon Rahm.

During a Sunday afternoon spell on the outskirts of Mexico City the Spaniard threatened to make history by upstaging illustrious opposition. You would be a brave man to bet against him being in contention for his first Masters title.

Johnson arrived at the WGC-Mexico Championship both as the US Open champion and, for the first time in competition, world No1.

He departed on Sunday evening as outright second for career WGC victories, a closing round of 68 securing a 14-under-par aggregate and single-stroke success. Johnson even had the luxury of missing 16 putts from inside 10ft over four days. It is testimony to Rahm that Johnson had to win this tournament twice.


Masters Build Up - The Main Contenders

The Masters is very much on the horizon and it's time to look at who the inform players are and who we think might win it. It is very hard to look past world number 1 Dustin Johnson, with back to back wins on the tour and invisible aurora that always surrounds the world number golfer, you must put him up there as the favourite for the competition. His long drives could be the key at Augusta this year.

Jordan Speith has dropped down the rankings a little since he was world number 1 this time last year but you can't deny his form at Augusta in recent years. He seems to love the event and steps up to the mark every time, definitely a favourite again this year.

Rory McIlroy is resigned to his Masters build-up being four events shorter than planned. However, the world No?2 believes he can still be a force at the season's first major, if his recovery from a stress fracture of a rib goes as expected and he returns to competition at the start of March. This might take some of the pressure off Rory. If he was winning everything in the build-up, all the focus would be on him and his elusive Masters title but with only a couple of warm up tournaments maybe the attention might be eased a little and he can relax a little more.

You can also never rule out the Masters favourites, the likes of Watson and Mickleson. Danny Willett will defend his title, and he actually been in good form of late, but we think it may too much to ask to defend the title when he has all his champions commitments as well as the tournament itself.

Next week we will pick our winners and you can compete against us in the shop to see who wins.


 

Masters Sweepstake

As usual we will be doing our masters sweepstake. 

Top 50 players in the world in the draw 

£10 per square 

Money will be added to your shop account if you win. So good luck!


 

Modernising Golf's Rules

Last week the R&A proposed some key changes to the Rules of Golf from 2019. Their Rules Modernisation initiative has been underway for a few years now and this is the next stage in that process. The aim is to not only make the Rules easier to understand, but also to address some of the game's current problems, such as speed of play, and ensure they fit the needs of today's game.

Please spare a couple of minutes to complete our survey, which gives you the chance to have your say on the proposed changes.

We've picked out some of the most significant Rules changes for you to digest in this survey, before giving you the chance to say whether you agree or disagree with each of them. It'll be great to know your thoughts.

Have your say here.