Muirfield to Allow Women Members
Muirfield Golf Club has voted to admit women as members for the first time in its history. Members at the privately-owned club voted 80.2% in favour of updating their membership policy. It followed a decision by the R&A to remove Muirfield as a host venue for the Open Championship after it failed to change in 2016.
Although this is great news, I (mid-week Nick) still think it is pretty sad that this far into the 21st century this is still an issue, and the fact that the vote wasn't unanimous shows there are still backward thinking people in our sport that need to catch up with the real world.
The club were forced into the vote after being denied the opportunity to host the Open Championship last year. If this hadn't had happened then would they have changed their policies on women members? I think not. And while the change to admit women members takes effect immediately, the club admits it is likely to be at least two years before the first woman successfully negotiates its lengthy joining process.
Ball Choice
In this week's newsletter, we are going to look at the importance of choosing the right ball when you're out on the course. The main fault which we can all be guilty of is to play with any old ball that's lying around in your bag, the problem with this is that all golf balls act in different ways and have different feels, for example, some can be quite soft such as the Titleist Pro V1 whereas others are a little harder such as the Titleist NXT Tour.
It's a good idea to try and use just one make of golf ball throughout the season as it helps with consistency. One area that it can affect is the feel around the greens due to the spin rates of each ball, causing the ball to release or grab.
In the shop, we have golf balls that fall into three categories, in the standard range we have options such as the Titleist DT Tru Soft. This has been designed to produce lower spin rates to increase distance off the tee but still allows short game playability. In the mid-range, we have options like the Callaway Super Soft and the Titleist NXT Tour. The NXT Tour provides long distance through dimple placement and design depth that maximizes distance for golfers on every shot. The dimple pattern provides consistent ball flight for golfers in all conditions. Finally, we have the premium option, the Chrome Soft and the Pro V1 and Pro V1x, both makes are highly regarded on the tour. Titleist have cemented their name in the golf world with the Pro V1 with a high number of professionals choosing the ball and Callaway are not far behind with most if not all staff players choosing to play the Chrome Soft and Chrome Soft X.
With all this in mind it is a good idea to consider using just one type of ball and sticking to it. The team and I have come up with an idea of how to fit you for the right golf ball, which is to hold a little fitting in the net, anybody that would like to come down and see which golf ball suits them best. It will be free of charge and we will have every golf ball on offer from the shop. If we get enough support for this then we will go ahead with it as soon as possible, so please let me know if you're interested or click here.
Am Am Stableford
On Saturday the gents played in an Am Am Stableford competition. This was the last comp to qualify for the winter league or merit. In 3rd place we had Richard Johnson, Geoff Davison and Tony Wright with a score of 84 points. Three ahead of them with 87 points were Alan Hare, Ian Rennison and Jonathan Salam. But out in a front with magnificent score of 90 points were Nick Hargreaves, Simon Moorehouse and Alan McGuigan. Well done on a great score guys. Ian Rennison was the winner of the league of merit after coming in the top two almost every week. Well done Ian but I'm afraid your handicap will be coming down this summer!
Ladies Team Dubai Stableford
On Tuesday the ladies played in the Ladies Team Dubai Stableford over 14 holes. It was very tight between the top 3 teams. Chris Angrave, Caroline Harrison Croft and Janet Higson managed 56 points to come in 3rd place. Helen Bolam, Jill Morris and Angie Riordan scored one better with 57 points for 2nd place. But just in front with a great score of 58 were Gill Mellor, Jane Campaigne with silent partner Jill Morris.
Well done to all our winners in last week's competitions!
Ladies Clothing
There is a competition in this week's video so watch to the end to have a chance of winning 3 Pro V1's or Pro V1x's!
Click here to watch video.
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!
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.
1. Rory
2. Justin Thomas
3. Matt Fitzpatrick
Nick Chadwick's Picks
1. Dustin Johnson
2. Sergio Garcia
3. Thomas Pieters
Joe has yet to pick his 3 but he will also have a go, we will have a points system in place to decide the winner, come and have a go and see if you can beat us!
