The final winter coaching session took place at Brighouse Bay Development Centre on a beautiful but cold windy day on Saturday 5 March 2016 under the tutelage of professional golfers Chris Robinson and David Broadfoot.
Sixteen aspiring young golfers attended to improve their techniques and course management skills. After they had warmed up on the driving range the first lesson was aimed at controlling the trajectory of the golf ball when pitching to a green over various distances and the accuracy was measured using Trackman technology. This reinforced their short game techniques from previous sessions. An interesting addition to the programme was the use of hickory shafted clubs which were over 50 years old. All the boys soon mastered the skills needed and were impressively hitting the ball accurately over huge distances
Before lunch they played a singles strokeplay competition over 8 holes. Scores varied greatly from Mitchell Cowie’s one under par and Callan Harkness at level par to some who were many over par due to balls being lost on the fairways from plugging in the soft ground. The boys were happy with their ball striking from the tee and the professionals saw some improvement in their short game skills.
In the afternoon the boys were again taken out on the course where course management skills under pressure situations were explained to them. The two professionals noticed the communication skills and dialogue with the boys had improved greatly over the winter and this session overran and the short game skills tests had to be abandoned.
The boys now have to go back to their Clubs and practice all they have been taught as their first match against Ayrshire is only 3 weeks away and for the Scottish Boys Championships in Aberdeen on Monday 4 April.
Ross Whyte attended his first session as he had been practicing hard at curling over the winter to represent Great Britain in the Junior Winter Olympics at Lillehamer in Norway. He proudly showed off the silver medal he had won in the mixed pairs and gracefully accepted the congratulations of his golfing friends. A wonderful achievement which hopefully will inspire the South Junior golfing team over the summer months.
The sixteen boys who attended were Nathan Watson (Kirkcudbright), William Squires (Kirkcudbright), Ross Cook (Thornhill), Rowan Marchbank (D&G), Ross Whyte (D&G), Callan Harkness (Lochmaben), Grant Hannah (Thornhill), Angus Bendall (Castle Douglas), Greg Rice (D&C), Ryan Cano (Thornhill), Mitchell Cowie (D&C), Corey Brown (D&C), Lewis Fraser (D&C), Jamie Alison (D&G), Callum McMillan (Kirkcudbright) and Lewis Cheetham (D&C)
The South of Scotland Golfers’ Association would like to thank the two professionals for their patience and teaching skills and Jim Dougal and the staff at Brighouse Bay Holiday Park for all their help and assistance over the winter. Their encouragement and interest in the development of the boys is much appreciated.
The photograph shows the boys with the two instructors before the afternoon session.
Performance Day 5 2016