Weather is enticing many people to commence playing regular golf. It is a busy time of the year with Club Competitions, Intermediate and Minor Scratch Cups, East of Ireland Seniors and Open Week fast approaching.
Fri 3rd June - Hospice Classic
Sat 4th June - Mens Singles
Sun 5th June - Intermediate and Minor Scratch Cups.
Sponsor: Dublin Grass Machinery
Mon 6th June - Open Mens Fourball
Wed 8th June - Mens Invitation Fourball
Sponsor: Energy Centre, Duleek
Fri 10th June - East of Ireland Seniors
Sponsor: Hibernia Steel Products Ltd
Fri 10th June - Nine and Dine Social Golf
East Of Ireland Seniors
East of Ireland Seniors is an Open Mens Singles Strokes Competition for those 55 years and over. If you were born in 1961 or before then this is for you. Hibernia Steel Products Ltd (Mr Ray Moore) is sponsoring this very popular event again in 2016.
2015 Winners:
1st Gross - Shaun Black - 73, 2nd Gross - John Campbell - 76, 3rd Gross - Alan Mullen - 77
1st Nett - Terry Gilmartin - 66, 2nd Nett - Michael Callaghan - 69, 3rd Nett - John Joe Leech - 69
Cat A - Winner Paul Kane - 71, Cat B - Winner Ray Gallagher - 71, Cat C - Winner Tommy Reilly - 72
McDonnell Cup ( A little bit of History)
Barney McDonnell donated the cup to Laytown & Bettystown GC in 1926. He was proprietor of the Strand Hotel Bettystown in the 1920's. He married the aunt of Mrs Breda Daly ( Lady President of L&B in 2003).
The Mc Donnell Cup is a matchplay competition for players with 18+ handicaps.
Previous Winners:
1991 - Kevin Rooney
1993 - Michael Smith
2001 - Hugh Holt Snr
2009 - Dave Kelly
2011 - Emmett McKenna
2015 - Mark Cummins
Ladies In Golf
We are coming to the end of our first session of Ladies in Golf on a Monday night with the last session to be held on Monday 13th June. Noleen and the ladies committee have down an excellent job in arranging this and hopefully the club will benefit from new members going forward. 26 ladies have been in attendance and I believe there is another group starting on the 20th June that has been arranged. For more information if you would like to join in or know someone who might be interested contact Helen in the office who has all the information.
Sun 29 May - Mens Singles Stableford
1st - Kieran Mongan - 42pts
2nd - John Blood - 41pts
3rd - Pat Rooney - 40pts
4th - Ciaran O'Brien - 40pts
Gross - John D McGinn - 72
Sat 28th May - Mens Fourball
1st - Paul Kelleher Robert Maxwell - 45pts
2nd - Bertie Hetherington Thomas McDowell - 44pts
3rd - Michael McAlarney Kevin Somers - 44pts
Congratulations
Congratulations go to both the Ladies senior foursomes and the Fred Daly teams as they both progressed in the competition with great performances. This weekend sees the men in action at the East of Ireland. The club has a large number of members playing and best of luck goes to Cian Geraghty, John McGinn, David Foy, Thomas Mulligan, Robbie Cannon and Eugene Smith who are all in action. I'd better mention Evan in the shop even though he isn't a member, but his feelings are easily hurt! Get over to Co. Louth over the weekend and give your support as it will be greatly appreciated.
Junior Golf Lessons
As many of you know I am away at present until the middle of next week so the junior golf lessons will recommence next Thursday evening. at 5.30 to 6.30, and then 6.30 to 7.30.
The Truth About Custom Fitting
Recently we have had a great deal of interest in custom fitting as people gear up for the season ahead. Custom fit clubs can have a dramatic influence, both positively and negatively, on many golfers. What we perceive as the right equipment can also be counterproductive in many areas and we must remember that these clubs are not a straight answer to all problems in our game.
I would always try and encourage our customers to get really properly fit by a highly trained instructor, not just a sales person, but someone with a genuine interest in the golfer with a high understanding of ball flights and swing mechanics. We all probably learnt to play with standard clubs straight of the shelf, or in many cases hand me downs from parents, relatives and friends, who had an old set floating around. Our natural game has probably been built around the many hours spent thrashing around in the rough and practice fairways with our new found love for the game. It will not come as a surprise therefore that many of our custom fits come in close to standard in all areas. There are obvious exceptions with very tall or short players whose game has always suffered from playing with those hand me downs. Also players with extreme strength or weakness that the standard club has just not worked for.
The best option we have found has been to arrange a custom fit with the Titleist fitting centre at Carton House. This can be a great day out and the most informative and eye opening experience for someone looking to get fit properly. You are not tied into buying Titleist and will come away with a great understanding of both your own swing mechanics and abilities and exactly the right equipment going forward that will suit your game. The session can be booked in on our shop account and paid for in shop and is very easy to arrange, so if you are thinking about this way forward, please call into the shop and ask about it. If you wish to be custom fit for TaylorMade there is exactly the same facility available for booking in their performance centre in Antrim. During the next few months we will also be having a demo/custom fit day with Titleist, Callaway and Ping on the practice area and will let you all know when these are happening.
The real misunderstanding is that the technology is all in the shaft. The shaft merely delivers the club back to the ball. Having said that, it is important to make sure that you are playing with a shaft that suits your overall game and also to continue to stick with that shaft or one as close to its properties as possible. The golf companies will confirm the above basically on the back of the fact that they spend millions on developing the golf heads and are in many cases still fitting shafts that are 10 years into their production.
