One to add to your bucket list this year……………………………….

The World’s Most Dangerous Golf Course!

I have discovered a great website called www.guy-sports.com

Which has some great funny golf stories and jokes and the following article describing in their opinion the world’s most dangerous golf course, this is defina

Play with Care!

Will and Guy feel that we have found the world’s most dangerous and frightening golf course. It can be found in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea at Panmunjom.

The course is in Camp Bonifas and sadly only offers one hole: a 192-yard par 3. We can add that it provides the US soldiers, some 50 strong, with fun activity.  We ought to include the fact that it has live landmines scattered throughout the rough!

“Danger! Do not retrieve balls from the rough; live mine fields” greets visitors before they step onto the course, which contains an AstroTurf putting green and, for some reason, a gun tower. The minefields surround the hole, and at least one mine is said to have exploded due to an errant slice.

The course was named after the late U.S. Army Captain Arthur Bonifas.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

In the Bleak Midwinter a joke to raise a cheer……

Just thought you might appreciate a funny golf story to make you chuckle on a cold, bleak February day.

Does this story remind you of anyone you have played with…………..

While sitting at a table in the clubhouse after a game, Padraig remarked to a fellow club member’, I’m not going to play golf with Jim Lawler anymore. He cheats.’

‘Why do you say that?’ asked his friend.

‘Well, he found his lost ball two feet from the green’, replied Padraig indignantly.

‘That’s entirely possible’, commented his friend.

‘Not when I had his golf ball in my pocket’, retorted Padraig with finality.

Some Great Caddy Comments

1. Golfer: Think I’m going to drown myself in the lake.
   Caddy: Thinkyou can keep your head down that long?
2. Golfer: I’d move heaven and earth to break 100 on this course.
   Caddy: Try heaven, you’ve already moved most of the earth.
3. Golfer: Do you think my game is improving?
   Caddy: “Yes sir, you miss the ball much closer now.
4. Golfer: Do you think I can get there with a 5 iron?
   Caddy: Eventually.
5. Golfer: You’ve got to be the worst caddy in the world.
   Caddy: I don’t think so sir. That would be too much of a coincidence.
6. Golfer: Please stop checking your watch all the time. It’s too much of a distraction.
   Caddy: It’s not a watch – it’s a compass.
7. Golfer: How do you like my game?
   Caddy: Very good sir, but personally, I prefer golf.
8. Golfer: Do you think it’s a sin to play on Sunday?
   Caddy: The way you play, sir, it’s a sin on any day.
9. Golfer: This is the worst course I’ve ever played on.
   Caddy: This isn’t the golf course. We left that an hour ago.
10. Golfer: That can’t be my ball, it’s too old.
    Caddy: It’s been a long time since we teed off, sir.

(Jokes and storys from www.guysports.com)

Why not come and cheer yourself up a bit more by booking a lesson with me and make sure you are not the butt of a funny story this year!!

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
Worlds Leading Expert on Curing a Shank

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent.

Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 815 Fairway Woods and Hybrids

New for 2015 Callaway have followed on from the Big Bertha Alpha 815 and Double Black Diamond drivers that they brought out in October and introduced, The Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 815 hybrid and fairway wood.

I have high hopes for the new 815’s which promise to make a difference to the more seasoned player, I looking forward to giving them a try. Just thought I would give you a little info on them so that you can put some hints out to your wife for a valentine present!

‘The new fairway woods are packed with adjustability features. Two sole weights—3 grams and 30 grams—can be swapped to change launch angle, spin rate and ball flight. (The Gravity Core plays a similar role in Big Bertha Alpha 815 drivers.) Positioning the 30-gram weight closer to the face results in lower-spinning shots while the 30-gram weight in a more rearward position means higher launch and more head stability. In addition, Callaway’s OptiFit hosel provides eight combinations of loft and lie angle. The company’s Forged Hyper Speed Face Cup—the face gets welded to the crown and sole rather than to the top and bottom of the face—flexes more, especially on shots hit low on the face and boosts ball speeds over a larger area of the face. The heads have a traditional shape and attach to Fujikura Speeder 665 shafts. Lofts: 14°, 16°, 18°.

Designed for better players, the Big Bertha Alpha 815 hybrids have a low, forward center of gravity to promote low-spinning shots and a boring ball flight. These hybrids come standard with Fujikura Speeder 865 shafts and feature the same Forged Hyper Speed Face Cup and adjustable OptiFit hosel as in the fairway woods. Lofts: 18°, 20°, 23°. Available January 16’

Why not book a lesson in with me and see if these clubs are the way to go forward into 2015!

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
Worlds Leading Expert on Curing a Shank

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent.

How to Stop Shanking

Below is a really good tip on how to stop shanking. A lot of golfers who hit the dreaded shank will cure it by just following these simple steps.

Too much in the heels at Set up

Many golfers can set up to the ball perfectly fine but just settle to much weight into their heels in the address position. As you make a golf swing your weight will naturally gravitate towards your toes during the golf swing resulting in you moving the swing arc/path further away from you at impact resulting in a shank.

You need to establish a good posture and weight distribution at the address first. So the below photo(s) are going to help you step by step obtain a good address position with the weight nicely balanced and room for your arms to swing freely past your legs.

Stand straight up with the club shaft pointing at your navel(above).

Then lean over from the pelvis until the clubhead just touches the ground, your legs will feel quite tight at this point (above).

Flex the knees ever so slightly to take that tightness feeling away (above).

A good way to feel that you are settling the weight into the correct parts of the feet  is to make your normal set up position to the ball and then lift your heels up from off the ground (above). Softly settle the heels back down into the grass ensuring that you keep your weight on the balls of your feet (below).

Perfectly balanced set up with good posture and the weight set in the balls of the feet.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
Worlds Leading Expert on Curing a Shank

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent.

Tips on how to stop shanking

Golf Lesson Sussex – Find More Yards

Hitting the ball longer and straighter is high on the list of every golfer and here I am going to give you some very simple things that you can do to help you achieve those extra yards.

Firstly we need a nice solid base to swing from so I would like you to widen your stance just a little bit.You are going to do this by dropping right foot back another six inches away from the target. This will set you more behind the ball and promote an aggressive move into impact.

Secondly I would like you to make a real nice deliberate backswing. Make that first six inches of the take away from the ball nice and smooth, this will ensure that you fully turn your shoulders in the backswing, a feeling of turning your left shoulder behind the ball is our main focus here.

Lastly I would like you to have the feeling of swinging through the ball and not at the ball. Get to a full finish with tour weight finished nicely on your left side.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Very nice feedback from one of my clients…..

Thanks for helping me with my game in 2014, I’ve improved a lot and really appreciate your coaching.

I managed to win 3 trophies this year at The Nevill, the most by anyone in Centenary year of the club and handicap official reduced from 20 to 14. Below is a picture of me at the trophy presentation.

I’m taking a few weeks break but will have a think about my goals for 2015 but keen to start another course of lessons to get my handicap even lower!

Steven

Well done to all my clients on there recent successes.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Watch the Ball

Keeping your head down can cost you distance

THE POWER MOVE: Let your eyes follow the ball. You’ll turn through better and generate more swing speed.

It astonishes me on how many times I hear golfers say “I know what happened there I lifted my head on that shot” after they have hit a bad shot……….

I ask them to have a look at the video of that particular swing and their eyes are glued down at the ground, where the ball was, long after it has gone. I then say to them “so you lifted your head on that shot”…. Their response is “well that is what my playing partners say when we are out playing”

I am always encouraging my students who fall into to this category to keep watching the ball, let your eyes follow the ball, do not keep looking down at the ground as this will restrict you from turning your body through impact and to the full finish, costing you POWER and YARDS!!!

A free flowing motion will create speed and therefore POWER, so keeping your head down for too long will lose you power and distance. Bad shots are caused by things that have gone wrong in either the backswing or downswing, not because you lifted your head…..

Next time your practising or playing remember to let your eyes follow the ball and enjoy the extra YARDS!!!

From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy

PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

How to BOMB your Driver

WIDEN YOUR STANCE TO SET YOUR SPINE ANGLE
For a normal set up to the ball we have our feet shoulder width apart, this gives you mobility and balance for the full swing. But when you really want to notch it up a gear to hit the long BOMB from the tee, I want you to widen your stance a few inches. Keep the ball opposite the left heel and widen out the stance with the right foot. This will tilt your spine more behind the ball and will naturally drop your head more behind the ball as well. More weight will be felt down your right leg and into your foot; this is absolutely fine – just go with the feel of it.

TURN YOUR SHOULDERS FULLY
A typical fault that most golfers do when they are trying to generate more distance is to generally make the swing quicker- quicker in the backswing!!
If this happens you rush to the top of the backswing, arms and body out of sync and a real poor short body rotation. This is a big power lose in a golf swing.
Just concentrate on making a smooth backswing turning your shoulders fully, a good thought to have is to get your left shoulder behind the ball at the completion of the backswing.

LET’S RIP IT
Now you are fully coiled in the backswing now is the time to let rip……
You need to shift your weight into your left side with a slight lateral movement before you start your rotation, this will drop your club on the perfect plane on the downswing, just slightly on the inside. Keep the body turn speed up and focus on keeping the clubhead accelerating into the back of the ball and all the way through to the finish of the swing.

Enjoy the extra distance and enjoy bombing it past you’re playing partners.

From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy

PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

“Keep yours eyes still to hole more putts”

My Best Putting Tip

I have been coaching golf for over 20 years and I have read, watched, listened and attended many golf coaching seminars with the world’s leading coaches and this is by far the best tip to get you holing more putts.

If you find yourself missing these putts, their is a good chance that you are moving your head and body around far to much as you make your putting stroke. If you do this you will also affect where you strike the putt on the putter face, this can lead to poor lag putting.

A good idea would be to focus on a specific area of the ball, the logo, a dimple or even a pen marking that you have put on your ball. Focus on this area when you are making your putting stroke and listen for the ball to drop into the hole.

Keeping your eyes still will also dramatically increase your chance of hitting the putts out of the center of the putter, this will alone improve your distance control.

From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy

PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Will a Shorter Driver Give You More Distance

The standard length of a driver is 45-46 inches in length, it is believed that a longer shaft will give you more distance as the swing arc will be wider and therefore you will create more clubhead speed. As you know i use a flightscope and have proven so many times that hitting the center of the clubface will give you more distance rather than improving your swing speed by a few miles per hour. It is much easier to hit the center of the clubface with a shorter club than a longer club, therefore if you feel like you are struggling with your current driver here’s a few things you can try before you cut that driver down or order a new one.

1. Get yourself some Dr Scholl powder spray to spray on the face of your driver as this will show you where you are hitting the ball out of the face. Experiment going down the grip a little and see if that improves the center strikes out of the clubface. If you find that you are finding the middle of the clubface with a shorter length shaft then you need to get this looked at.

2. Most three wood shafts are 43.5 inches which is the old standard driver length. If you have an adjustable driver and three wood, put the three wood shaft in you driver and hit a few shots and see if you find any difference.

3. Book a lesson and get fitted on a launch monitor as we can check that you have the correct length shaft and correct loft to create the perfect launch and spin rates for you. The correct length driver will make it so much easier for you to control and maintain your body angles throughout the swing and as a result you may pick up distance as a result of better swing mechanics.

Mark Wood Golf Academy is based at Dale Hill and provides the best lessons in Sussex.

PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent