Everybody at Reddish Vale knows Andy Hart is something of a phenomenon, needing to shoot gross scores lower than his age to play to his handicap etc etc. I can tell you I have further proof of it as Andy received a club fitting in the swing studio - a couple of weeks ago now - but with me being away last week I didn't tell you all about it. I think new clubs may be something of a birthday treat, Andy won't mind me mentioning he was 85-years-old two days before the fitting.

Anyway, once warmed up and swinging freely, Andy's swing speed with a 7-iron was a remarkable 68mph! This swing speed translates into about 135-140 yards of carry with the 7-iron. With the new technology and science at our fingertips this year, I have recorded numerous swing speeds so here are just a few (that are all good players) so you can see how Andy compares:

Graham Davies - 65mph 
Andy Hart - 68mph 
Robin Titterington - 71mph 
Jason Leech - 74mph 
Steve Smith - 77mph 
Vinny Kilcullen - 78mph 
Adam Stott - 85mph

I wonder if we could get Andy's swing speed with a driver higher than his age? And I wonder what the record for this is? Anyway, I think we can agree hats off to Mr Hart who is keen to get back down to single figures this year!

I must stress that these figures are averages taken over several shots, not players just 'beasting' the ball trying to swing it faster and break the screen! The GC2 automatically records every shot and keeps an average. Clubhead speed is proportional to the distance you are capable of, and is a 'must have' piece of information for successful shaft fitting.

More proficient players who have better technique such as better body turn and more consistent timing tend to have swing speeds much closer together. With higher handicappers who may rely on the hands and arms to do much of the work in the swing, we see the speeds fluctuate far more, as do the shots!

During lessons, I can show you the evidence of this. Players can see the proof, understand it better and leave with greater confidence in what they are doing. Worthy of mention is Phil Houghton (not The Porkster) who recorded the highest 7-iron swing speed I have seen to date at 87 mph, although there was the odd fluctuation!

Pete Tong?

Or perhaps forget lessons and practice, and simply change your name to Pete! Don't know if there's something in the water, but Sunday's Stableford was won by Pete Singleton, who pipped both Pete Lamb and Pete Woodfinden on a card play-off, all with 38 points! I'm sure you saw Derek's email regarding handicaps, prizes went down to fifth.

  

AP1 vs AP2 

The new Titleist 716 irons look superb and feel great when struck from the middle, but how many do you hit in the middle? Lots of players are swayed by the beautiful appearance of irons such as the Titleist AP2, but many such people compare the clubs and find that the bigger, what they thought of as less desirable clubs simply out-perform them and they can see the proof - such as the Titleist AP1.

I refuse to sell golf clubs to people if I think they will make your scores higher. Not all retailers are the same! Golden rules:

Never buy blind off the internet 
Always try before you buy 
Compare a good selection 
Be correctly custom fitted 
Buy the ones that will make your scores lower!

If you are ready to take the plunge or even mildly curious, I recommend you book a custom fitting session and try out the latest equipment. Get in touch here.


 

Saturday's Team Stableford was won by Paul Bruckshaw, Graham Briscoe and Steve McCann with 71 points beating John Ford, Crispian Logue and Mike Short on countback. 

The OOM is getting closer with only 75 points splitting first and third. 

We had lovely weather over the weekend which resulted in bigger fields; on Saturday we had 104 players and on Sunday there were 42 players in the comp. Click here to see the full results.

Wasif Yousaf won Wednesday's Stableford with 38 points. Wasif had a superb finish to his round, he went 3, 3, 3, scoring 11 points on the last 3 holes. Don Roberts was second with 36 points. We did play the 17th from the 16th tee because of work being done on the 17th fairway, but still excellent scores on the day. I think Steve Austin was the only player to manage a '2' on the 17th! Click here to see the results sheet.