Dan Whitby-Smith

1st Hole

Hole 1 is looking very inviting... Where is your first tee shot back going to go?

12th Hole

Hole 12, this will be playing much shorter on your return with the recent drier weather.

Golf's greatest rivalries

USA vs Europe

Ryder Cup. Solheim Cup. PGA Tour vs European Tour. This cross-Atlantic rivalry dates back decades and has provided some of the most dramatic events in golfing history.

You only need to go back as far as last year’s Solheim Cup, where the Europeans won each of the last three games to regain the cup – including a clutch 7-footer on the 18th green in the final match left on the course. We salute you, Suzann Pettersen!

The Americans lead the Solheim Cup 10 to 6, whilst Europe leads 11-8 in the Ryder Cup (since 1979 when it was Europe rather than GB&I). The next contest is due to be played later this year at Whistling Straits in America, and is seemingly one of the few global sporting events not to have been affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. Would it be the same spectacle without spectators?

With golf being an individual sport 95% of the time for the world’s elite, we thought we’d round things off with a look at how many Majors have been won by golfers from either side of the pond. Some clever folk on Wikipedia has it at 126 European victories compared with USA’s 273. Ouch.

We'll be doing a poll on our website next week so let us know which rivalry stands out for you the most and why by getting in touch here.

Did you know?

Fact of the week

According to the Guinness World Records, the longest hole in the world is the 7th hole at Satsuki GC in Japan. It measures a meagre 964 yards and is a par-7!!

Rumour has it that there’s also a hole measuring over 1,000 yards in South Korea, but that hasn’t made it into the records – yet.

It's quiz time

Something a little different for you this week. The European Tour's social media team put this silhouette challenge up a while ago so we thought we'd share it with you too.

Each of the eight golfers below has won on the European Tour in the past four years; all you need to do is guess who each of them is by the outline of their swing. Easy, right? Send us your answers below (no cheating!).

*Answers can be found here.

send us your guesses >

Weekly challenge

What do you have left in your food cupboard? Baked beans? Tins of soup? Peaches? Whatever it is, grab six tins (or more if you’re feeling adventurous) and have a go at this week’s golfing challenge. We guarantee you some fun!

The set-up

Put the golf balls away and use a tennis ball or stress ball for this one – you do want to eat the food after all. Create a pyramid shape using the tins as in the photo above; we’ve balanced them on a garden trug so they’re almost at eye-level.

The challenge

Just like when you’re at a fair, knock down all the tins in three shots and you win a prize - well, maybe not in this case! If you want to play with the family, let them have a go chipping or they can always throw the tennis balls if you’re super confident!

send us a message >

Golf at home

This week’s drill is all about improving your strike when putting. With such a small stroke – in comparison to a full swing – it’s easy to think that you can’t go wrong when putting. Well, give this drill a try and see how you get on.

What to do

Measure a ball’s width on the centre of your putter face and place a piece of blu-tack either side, as depicted in the image above. Set up a 10-foot putt in your home or garden and hit a few putts – if your strike is off-centre you’ll certainly feel and see a difference!

Striking the Blu-Tack?

If your ball hardly moves or you barely feel yourself striking the ball at impact, chances are you’ve hit a piece of blu-tack rather than the centre of the putter face. Give this a few tries – as well as from different distances – and see if you can spot a pattern. Let us know how you get on.

send us a message >

Video of the Week

Some of you may have seen this European Tour impressions video before but it's one of our favourites and is perfect for a little bit of light-heart entertainment! Enjoy.

I hope you enjoyed this newsletter. If you need any help of advice please reply to this email or pop into the shop and we'll be delighted to help you. Dan and the Golf Team.

Drayton Park Golf Club
Drayton Manor Drive
Fazeley
Tamworth
B78 3TN

Phone: 01827 251139

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