Posts Tagged ‘Golf Lessons Sussex’

Ultimate Golf Trivia Question?

Here’s an awesome trivia question, Which player won more PGA tournaments in the Mid 80’s? Now that’s a tough one as you had Nickalus, Watson, Faldo, Seve and Norman…

Think hard before you hear a truly amazing tale of golfing success one that ought to give us all hope and get an answer that will astonish you!

A diamond in the rough

As we have seen, champions aren’t invariably the product of elite country clubs, as was Nicklaus. They don’t always appear from behind the caddie shack, as Zembriski did. They aren’t all schooled in the pressure of gambling at a fast paced municipal course, like Trevino, and they don’t all start at the age of three, like Sandy Lyle, or even two, like the latest phenomenon, Tiger Woods! Sometimes champions have their origins in places you would least expect, but the traits and qualities that enable them to convert their talents from raw coal to fine diamonds remain the same.

Calvin Peete was born in Pahokee, Florida, one of the poorest, least attractive, beat up little towns on the planet! Surrounded by swampland, Pahokee is the reason that the State bird of Florida is the mosquito. There were no less than, count them, 19 children in the Peete household. With very little option, Calvin dropped out of school in the 8th grade to pick fruit and bring in a little more money to help the family survive. At 18 he bought an old station wagon and went into business for himself. He drove up and down the rural areas of the East Coast, selling clothes and a variety of other goods to migrant farm workers. In an effort to express his individuality, Peete had diamonds inserted into his front teeth. The people with whom he traded knew him simply as “the diamond man.”

At the age of 23, never having played or caddied in his life, and with no desire to learn, a couple of friends coerced him into playing a round of golf with them. He was instantly hooked on the game and although he seemed initially to have no real aptitude, he decided he was going to become a golf pro. For the next five years he practiced every spare minute he could find, continuing to hit practice shots each night, after dark, on floodlit baseball fields.

It took Peete less than two years to become a scratch golfer, and he turned pro three years later. Not content with teaching others or looking for a club job, he decided he wanted to play on the PGA Tour. It took him three attempts to make it, but eventually, at 32 years of age, he graduated from Q-school and received his player’s card. For three more difficult and discouraging years, Peete didn’t win enough money to meet his travel expenses. His wife, a teacher, supported both of them and their family of four children. Finally, in 1979, he entered the ranks of tournament champions by winning the Milwaukee Open. He followed with three straight years of earnings in excess of $100,000. Although he was never renowned for his power, he led the PGA Tour in driving accuracy, and, in 1984, won the Vardon Trophy, awarded to the player with the lowest stroke average for the season. Before long he had joined the elite group of players with over two million dollars in career earnings and at least 10 Tour victories — 12 to be exact. 11 between 82-86!

This notable level of success was achieved by a man born into abject poverty, who broke his left elbow in a fall as a boy and was partially crippled as a result of poor corrective surgery, which caused his left elbow to be permanently locked in one position.

Follow your dreams; they may come true!

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

High Soft landing Greenside Bunker Shot

Mark Wood PGA Advanced Professional, has a very easy and effective way in playing a very high soft landing greenside bunker shot. All you have to do is weaken your right hand grip so that the ‘V’ of the right hand is pointing up towards your left collar bone. Keep your left hand as normal but just make this slight alteration in the right hand and watch the results.

Make sure you set the face open a little to add some loft but to also engage the bounce.

Keep your bunker shot swing as normal, coming into the ball nice and shallow, utilising the bounce of the wedge.

Keep the swing nice and aggressive and watch the ball spin.

You can watch the video of the tip here

Go ahead and make someone’s day share this tip with a friend!

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

Could be the start of Rory’s comeback

Rory McIlroy earns a staggering £31,000 a day from his Nike deal and is set to earn another £1M in appearance fees this week when he tees it up in Seoul. He will play in China for two weeks and also play an exhibition round with Tiger Woods.

A lot is happening for Rory this week as he has split with Caroline Wozniacki, 23, a former world number one in her own sport, and McIlroy, are no longer an item. An unflattering picture posted on Twitter showing McIlroy fast asleep is alleged to have played a part in the break-up.

He is also suing the management company that helped bring him the most lucrative endorsement deal in British sporting history. Court papers that are lodged in Dublin state, Ireland, that the County Down golfer also wants to end the contract he began in 2011 with Horizon Sports Management and two other companies.

It comes as no surprise after he has slumped to 6^th in the world and he has not won a thing all year. He has had only one top 10 finish in his last tens tournaments, so I guess he is now going to re-focus on what he wants.

Read the full story here

Would love to hear your thoughts and comments.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

40 Yard Bunker Shots

The 40 yard bunker shot is one of the hardest in golf to play. You need to be able to treat the shot more like a greenside bunker shot, not a fairway bunker shot.

I have a great way for you to do this and it does not involve your wedges at all !!

Take a 9 iron and open the face of the club a little to engage the bounce of the club and to also add some loft onto the club. Take your normal regular splash shot stance, ball forward, weight forward, wide stance with the centre of gravity set low. From there just make a fairly full splash shot swing and you will be amazed at the results !!

This is how the pro’s play them.

Go ahead and make someone’s day share this tip with a friend!

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

Important Golf Health Advisory

Very Import You Read to the End As It Could Seriously Effect Your Health

In 1923…

* Charles Schwab, was president of the world’s largest steel company,

He died a pauper.

* Edward Hopson, was president of the largest gas company

He went insane.

* Arthur Cooger, was the greatest wheat speculator,

He died abroad, penniless.

* Cosabee Livermore, was president of one of the largest banks

He shot himself

* Richard Whitney, was president of NY Stock Excahange

He was released from prison to die at home

In that same year, 1923, Gene Sarazen won most of the important golf championships, including both the US Open and PGA Championship. He played golf until he was 92 and died in 1999 at the age of 95… and was financially solvent at his death. He also scored the first ever hole in one on TV during the Open at Royal Troon in 1973 aged 71!

Conclusion: Stop worrying about business and start playing more golf!

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Best Golf Quotes Ever

Golf’s a very quotable game with lots of colorful characters, here’s a few of our favorites!

1. “The More you practice the luckier you get” – Gary Player

2. “99% of all putt you leave short don’t go in” – Hubert Green

3. “Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose.” Winston Churchill

4. “Golf is a good walk spoiled” Mark Twain

5. “Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears.”-Booby Jones.

6. “Relax? How can anybody relax and play golf? You have to grip the club don’t you?” – Ben Hogan

7. “If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they’d starve to death.” – Sam Snead

8. “You don’t know what pressure is until you’ve played for $5 a hole with only $2 in your pocket.” – Lee Trevino

9. Golf is a game in which you yell “fore,” shoot six, and write down five.  –Paul Harvey

10. Eighteen holes of match or medal play will teach you more about your foe than will 18 years of dealing with him across a desk.  – Grantland Rice

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

A huge well done to client Rosie Hockey on winning the Dale Hill Club Championship once again. It was played in not the best of weather conditions so it tested every department of her game.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Well done to Client Maria Tulley on winning the Sussex Pro’s Championship, Maria made history by being is the 1st lady champion in 101 years.

Read the full report here

Maria also shot a new ladies course record at Willingdon with a -8 (63) its been a great month.

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Well done to client Willie Clapperton on winning the Mens Club Championship at Eastbourne Golfing Park.

Read the full report here 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

The Best Ever Arnie Story!

September 10^th is The King’s birthday so I thought we’d celebrate in style by sharing with you, the best ever Arnie story!

Before the 1993 Senior British Open, which was scheduled to be contested over the links of Royal Lytham & St. Annes, Arnold Palmer received a letter from a Mr. Hans Bolton of Lancashire, England. The letter containing, as it did, the language of someone who knew nothing about the game, might have offended a superstar too full of his own importance. In Palmer’s case, the handwritten letter caught his attention.

The letter, which came into the possession of a friend several years later, contains this remark in the opening paragraph, “I must admit I am not a golf fan. I realize that you must be extremely busy, being one of the “big names” in the golfing fraternity.” Bolton then talks about the importance of the upcoming Senior Open but adds, “An even more important event is taking place (at least to me anyway). You see, I am getting married to my fiancée Sally Anne Murphy, a truly gorgeous and wonderful girl.” The problem, as Bolton unfolds, is simple, neither of the honeymoon suites at the Clifton Arms Hotel is available because, as it was explained to him, “Mr. Arnold Palmer is staying in one and Mr. Gary Player is staying in the other, and they have been booked for ages!”

He then proceeds to paint an emotional portrait. “My fiancée was, of course, distraught at this news, convinced that our big day is doomed to failure. Something I suppose, like a triple bogey on the 1^st hole.” Then Bolton makes a daring suggestion. “I was just wondering if perhaps, there would be any chance at all of you swapping rooms with us, just for one night. This is a shot in the dark, I really don’t expect that you will, but one can only try. You see I work for the Sunblest Bread Company and Sally works as a children’s nanny so this is probably the only chance we will ever have of staying anywhere as grand as the Clifton Arms.”

He signs the letter “Yours hopefully,” and then adds two postscripts. P.S. You are more than welcome to join us for a drink at the reception. P.P.S. I didn’t write to Gary Player because we were told you were a much nicer chap!

Palmer, of course, not only surrendered the suite but took them up on the offer of the beer where he drank a toast to the happy couple and even posed for a photograph.

Go ahead and make someone’s day share this story with a friend!

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