TT JULY Issue 170(A)_Layout 1 20/06/2015 12:42 Page 20
20 TEE TIMES
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JULY 2015
NEW2GOLF LADIES SWING WHATS HOT OR NOT INTO ACTION TO RAISE FUNDS in the World of Ladies Golf FOR VELINDRE HOSPITAL Your Monthly Blog by Claire Kane
ARE YOU A GOLF PERFECTIONIST?
Entrants to the Golf4Life Fun Competition on Monday 4th May, Left to Right: Lindsay Guthrie – Winner of 5 hole comp, Jane Williams, Emily Pullham – Winner of 9 hole comp, Louise Dixon, Shirley Hamill, Helen Archer, Gaynor Openshaw-Smith, Esther Storey, Hayley Hughes, Kat Ambroziak, Lizzie Evans, Andrea Kitzinger, Cheryl Hopkins, Olivia Sherrin
We’re taught at an early age to aim for perfection. It starts when we’re children, where the simple task of colouring-in is considered a failure if we draw outside of the lines. Thankfully great artists such as the Impressionist Monet appeared to have ignored this particular rule of perfection. When it comes to golf, we’re also looking for perfection, regardless of our ability – the perfect strike, angle and length. For a start there’s no such thing as a perfect swing as we come in all shapes, sizes and flexibility. John Daly may be able to wrap his club right around his torso but by the time you reach your 50s and 60s there are times when just bending down to pick up a ball can be a struggle. The odds are further stacked against a perfect round when you consider we have to hit a 1.62” ball over 4 miles, on a course specifically designed with hazards to make it more difficult, and then putt out over thousands of blades of grass into a 4.24” cup! We’re tempted to perfect our game with the latest equipment but sometimes it’s our old, albeit battered clubs that work just as well. Play with a perfect new ball and the odds are that it’ll gravitate towards an
inaccessible part of the course, whereas the old scratched ball you dug out of the bottom of your bag will probably stay in play the whole round. Then there’s our imperfect weather to battle against. As an island, it’s not unusual for a wind to appear at some stage, requiring telepathic skills to know when to hit between gusts. Not forgetting, the ‘bounce & roll factor’ when the ground resembles concrete in the summer and a bog in the winter. Gary Player may have said “The harder I practice, the luckier I get” but there’s also the other law of golf where ‘the harder you try, the worse you play’. You only have to look at Rory McIlroy, who admits he would love to win at home but sadly never seems to play well in Ireland. If you listen to the number of “sorries” muttered during a game of Greensomes or Foursomes you’ll appreciate how many perfectionists play golf, yet even the great Ben Hogan recognised his biggest challenge was to control his perfectionist trait. Maybe we should relax and just enjoy being imperfect golfers and then, maybe our golf would improve.
© Claire Kane Follow my tales on twitter @golfsnippets
Golf Academy
Golf Professional Gareth Bennett and Cottrell Park Golf Resort have been raising funds for Velindre Hospital in Whitchurch since August 2014. TThe fundraising was initiated through the Golf Development Wales ‘New2Golf’ scheme encouraging beginners and lapsed golfers to take up the game of golf. Gareth Bennett qualified as a PGA Professional in 2007 and became one of Cottrell Park’s professionals in October 2013. He offered his coaching services free of charge for the Golf4Life named sessions and all participants paid £5.00 per week or £25.00 for six weeks. The hour long sessions covered all aspects of the game and finished with an on-course fun competition. All proceeds were collected and £720.00 was raised. In addition the club arranged for pink golf shirts to be logo’d and sold with a contribution of £10 per shirt to be donated to the charity. In total 27 shirts were sold raising a further £270. More recently Gareth has been coaching a group from ‘Spindogs’; a local leading web design and developments agency. They donated £300 for lessons for their employees and clients which again were donated to the charity. Three members of their team are continuing with lessons to improve their game. Finally a Golf4Life competition was held on Monday 4th May. The entry fee was £10 per person with £5.00 going to Velindre. A field of 18 entrants entered with some playing a 5 hole competition and the rest a 9 hole competition.
Entrants included four Cottrell Park employees, two Spindog employees and ladies currently having lessons with Gareth. The winner of the 5 hole comp was Lindsay Guthrie with 36 shots and Emily Pullham won the 9 hole comp with 71 shots. Both winners received a 30 minute golf lesson with Gareth Bennett. In total £1500 was raised for Velindre Hospital including a donation of £120 from Cottrell Park Golf Resort. A cheque presentation is due to take place on Friday 22nd May. Velindre Cancer Centre provides specialist cancer services to over 1.5 million people in South East Wales and beyond and they are one of the largest cancer centres in the UK. Gareth Bennett, PGA Professional at Cottrell Park Golf Resort, added: “The New2Golf scheme at Cottrell Park has been hugely successful. On a personal note it feels great to be able to give back to the game of golf. By providing free lessons and giving opportunities to people to take up this great game and structured pathways to membership. At the same time raise money for a fantastic charity.” About Cottrell Park Golf Resort Opened in 1996 and based in St Nicholas, Cottrell Park Golf Resort boasts two exceptionally-maintained golf courses, event and conferencing facilities, restaurant with award winning caterer Spiros, plus indoor and outdoor activities including two state-ofthe-art golf simulators. The club was also recently awarded runner up in the 2014 GUW Welsh Golf Club of the Year Awards.
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