Dear Members, Clients & Friends,

What a nice bit of relief in the temperatures after a couple of super hot days. To think that it was not long ago that we had such high temperatures, sometimes for weeks on end. Nowadays it only seems to last a day or two fortunately due to changing weather patterns, but let me rather not speak too soon!

Last Saturday I played a round with (soon to be) 88 year old Willem Oosthuizen. All I can say is that I will be a very happy man if I can still play golf regularly at that age!! This was great to witness and it made me realize what makes this sport so special. Oom Willem also never fails to wear his traditional Stellenbosch Golf Club blazer at prize giving. May the tradition live long oom Willem!

I don't know how many of you witnessed the final round of the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale Arizona. This was also what made me think how interesting the game of golf is and how it compares to the game of life, so it's worth a mention here. Rickie Fowler had a lead of 4 shots going into the final round. First he suffered a double bogey at the 5th but kept calm about it. After a rain downpour, his 3rd pitch shot at the par 4 11th did not spin enough on the wet surface, crept over the green, nearly rolled into a bunker (which would have been fine!), but ended up in the water of a penalty area (previously water hazard). After having dropped and while he was surveying his next tough shot, his ball rolled back into the water. Amongst all the rule changes, one of them states that if your ball moves as a result of natural forces, there is no penalty.

He called an official for clarity in this case, explained everything to him, and was rewarded by being told that he had to add an extra penalty shot before playing his next shot just because the ball had rolled into the water! So that (more hurried!) shot over the bunker to a tight pin ended up being his 6th shot. He then calmly holed the 20 foot putt for a triple bogey! By now he found himself one shot behind our man Branden Grace. Despite all of these odds against him, Rickie accepted his fate and kept his cool, which still won him the tournament. Unfortunately Branden helped him somewhat by dropping a shot on 17, but this once again proved that getting angry and upset about things out of your control never helps you!

It is so much fun watching Justin Harding doing so well on the European Tour. After two good finishes in the desert, he is taking part in the ISPS Handa Vic Open in Australia this week. When Justin has some off weeks, he practices at the studio on our FlightScope X3 launch monitor, and he also has his own FlightScope xi tour unit. FlightScope is helping me to help so many people improve their games as it firstly removes the guesswork, and secondly your improvement can now literally be measured! Please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to find out more about how this technology can help your game.

In closing, there are some exciting monthly events coming up at the range - this month on 28 February we will be hosting a Callaway Golf & Odyssey Custom Fitting Day. See below for more information and click here if you would like to reserve an official time.