May Academy Coaching Fixtures

1st  

Ladies Coffee Morning 10.30

Golf Foundation 17.30

2nd   

Girls Golf Foundation 09.00

Young Masters 10.00,11.00,13.00

Lady Masters 10.30

3rd 

Golf Foundation 09.00

Young Masters 10.00,11.00,12.00

5th   

Golf Foundation 17.00

Stiletto Golf 18.00

6th  

Golf Foundation 16.00

Ladies Free Taster 18.00

8th  

Ladies Coffee Morning 10.30

Golf Foundation 17.00

9th  

Junior Free Taster 09.00

Girls Golf Foundation 09.00

Lady Masters 10.00

Young Masters 10.00,11.00,13.00

10th 

Golf Foundation 09.00

Young Masters 10.00,11.00,12.00

11th  

Golf Foundation 17.00

12th 

Golf Foundation 17.00

Stiletto Golf 18.00

13th 

Golf Foundation 16.00

New 2 Golf Beginners 18.00

14th 

Stiletto Golf 09.30

Golf Foundation 17.00

Mens Coaching 18.00

15th 

Ladies Coffee Morning 10.30

Golf Foundation 17.00

16th 

Girls Golf Foundation 09.00

Lady Masters 10.00

Young Masters 10.00,11.00,13.00

17th  

Golf Foundation 09.00

Young Masters 10.00,11.00,12.00

18th 

Ladies Coffee Morning 10.00

Golf Foundation 17.00

19th 

English Blind All Day

Golf Foundation 17.00

Stiletto Golf 18.00

21st  

High School Coaching All Day

Golf Foundation 17.00

Junior Squad 18.00

22nd 

High School Coaching All Day

Golf Foundation 17.00

25th 

Junior Golf Camp 9.00-12.00

Golf Foundation 17.00

New 2 Golf Beginners 18.00

26th 

Seniors Coaching 09.00

Golf Foundation 17.00

Stiletto Golf 18.00

27th 

Golf Foundation 16.00

28th 

Junior Golf Camp 09.00-12.00

Golf Foundation 17.00

29th 

Ladies Coffee Morning 10.30

Golf Foundation 17.00

30th 

Academy Texas Scramble 09.00-12.00

31st  

Academy Texas Scramble 09.00-12.00

 

Academy Dates

The presentation for all Juniors currently on the YMG programme will be held on Tuesday 27th January from 6-6.45pm. All Juniors to attend please.

New Course Dates

Week 1 - 31st January / 1st February
Week 2 - 7th / 8th February
Week 3 - 14th / 15th February
Week 4 - 21st / 22nd February
Week 5 - 28th February / 1st March
Week 6 - 7th / 8th March
Week 7 - 14th / 15th March
Week 8 - 21st / 22nd March

mini tour results 8/10/08

1st Olly Jones 31 $10000
2nd Ryan Grainger 33 $9000
3rd Matt Wheatley 35 $8000
4th Tom Bates 37 $7000
5th Will Palmer 42 $6000
6th Tom Beardmore 44 $5000


mini tour leaderboard

1st Olly Jones $53000
2nd Matt Wheatley $48500
3rd Ryan Grainger $34500
4th Mitchell Bott $26000
5th Tom Bates $25500
6th Tom Beardmore $17000
7th Will Palmer $11000
8th Will Davies $9000
9th Tim Davies $8500
10th Simon Jackson $2000

Mini Tour Leaderboard 3/9/08

1st Olly Jones $43000
2nd Matt Wheatley $40500
3rd Mitch Bott $26000
4th Ryan Grainger $25500
5th Tom Bates $18500
6th Tom Beardmore $12000
7th Will Davies $9000
8th Tim Davies $8500
9th Will Palmer $5000
10th Simon Jackson $2000

Mini Tour 3/9/08

Results of Mini Tour October 3rd 2008

T1st Matt Wheatley 34 $9500
T1st Tom Bates 34 $9500
3rd Ryan Grainger 35 $8000
T4th Olly Jones 36 $6500
T4th Mithell Bott 36 $6500
6th Tom Beardmore 42 $5000

Mini Tour Leaderboard

1st O Jones $36500
2nd M Wheatley $31000
3rd M Bott $19500
4th R Grainger $17500
T5th W Davies $9000
T5th T Bates $9000
7th T Davies $8500
8th T Beardmore $7000
9th W Palmer $5000
10th S Jackson $2000

mini tour results 3/9/08

1st Olly Jones 33 $10000
2nd Tom Bates 36 $9000
3rd Mtchell Bott 41 $8000
4th Matt Wheatley 47 $7000

Next MINI TOUR date is on WEDNESDAY 24th SEPTEMBER at 5.30pm

Senior Success

Senior golfer Martin Baxendale has furthered his winning streak in the series of Senior matches with his 12th win from 12!!!!!! Over the past 12 months Martin has taken lessons with Noel Woodman to further improve his golfing skills.....seems like they are working!!! Well done Martin.

Junior Mini Tour 2008

Results for 11th June 2008

1st Matt Wheatley 36gross $10000
2nd Will Davies 38 $9000
T3rd Olly Jones 40 $7500
T3rd Ryan Grainger 40 $7500
5th Will Palmer 41 $5000
6th Lewis Spencer 43 $4000
7th Mitchell Bott 44 $3000
8th Simon Jackson 48 $2000


Results for 25th June 2008

1st Ryan Grainger 35gross $10000
2nd Olly Jones 39 $9000
3rd Matt Wheatley 40 $8000
4th Tom Beardmore 43 $7000


Results for 30th July

1st Olly Jones 37gross $10000
T2nd Tim Davies 41 $8500
T2nd Mitchell Bott 41 $8500
4th Matt Wheatley 44 $6000


Overall Rankings

1st Olly Jones 116gross $26500
2nd Matt Wheatley 120 $24000
3rd Ryan Grainger 75 $17500
4th Mitchell Bott 85 $11500
5th Will Davies 38 $9000
6th Tim Davies 41 $8500
7th Tom Beardmore 43 $7000
8th Will Palmer 41 $5000
9th Simon Jackson 48 $2000

Academy Success in Junior Classic Blinds

Well done to Academy Junior Tom Waldron for an outstanding Win in last weeks Junior Classic Blind Trophy, finishing in 1st place ahead of another young Academy star Callum Hutchinson who came a close 2nd. Well done to both boys.

Academy Juniors take 1st and 2nd place

We would like to congratulate James Palmer for Winning the Junior Stableford last weekend and his brother George a close 2nd.
We have been working together recently with James and George to enhance their potential and feel they are both well on their way to achieving their goals set out this season. Well done boys.

Exciting Coaching Events July 2008

Wednesday 9th

TRI GOLF FESTIVAL
Over 250 children from all schools in Droitwich will be attending a Tri Golf Festival at Gaudet Luce Golf Club.

Saturday/Sunday 12th and 13th

YMG PLAYING ASSESSMENTS
All YMG Academy Juniors have their end of course playing assessment which is to be held on The Hadzor Course for all except Masters 4 Levels in which a 9 hole playing assessment on the main course will take place.

Monday 21st

JUNIOR GOLFER NON GOLFER
All Junior Academy members will be bringing one non golfer to partner them in a 9 hole competition on The Hadzor Course.

Tuesday 22nd

SUMMER CAMPS START
Throughout the summer holidays there will be 2 day summer camps that will run every week until september.

Friday 25th
JUNIOR SQUAD TRAINING
To help our Club Junior Team, the Academy is holding a free Squad Training evening for all Squad members.

Academy Success Stories in Brief May/June 2008

Callum Hutchinson gets County call up and wins first match.

Jack Foster 2nd place in Junior Stableford

Neil Sheldon winning mid week stableford at Ravens Meadow

David Rutter Wins JG Ross Seniors Stableford

Sarah Woodhams Wins Ladies Stableford

Anne Perrett Wins Ladies Stableford

Roger Burrows Wins Seniors Stableford

Stuart Foster breaks 100 for 1st time

I thought this video summed it all up - enjoy

Trevor wins again

The Big 'T' triumphs again in the latest Hadzor Challenge

Competition results for 19th August

1st 33 The Big 'T'
2nd 34 The Hoff and Ash Pickin
3rd 35 Matty Wheatley and Ben Causer
4th 37 Jake Elliott
5th 39 Will Palmer
6th 40 Frango Matty Brown and George
7th 41 Mitch Watton
8th 43 Dan West
9th 44 Kieran Quaine and Will Hyde
10th 45 David Huntbach and Frosty
11th 48 Sam Stedman
12th 50 Charlie Arrowsmith Mike Yip
13th 58 Tommy Lloyd
14th 61 Harry Bennett
15th 66 Arron Barber
16th 67 Adam Harbatch

Well done to all the guys who entered and especially to Tommy for your first ever game.

Well done to The Mighty Reds

I would just like to say how proud I was to see The Mighty Reds that went along to Henley in Arden for the YMG Masters regional tournament on August 7th.
A sea of red took over the course with 65 entries from clubs all over the country 20 of which were from our Academy.
We had the most entries by far and with them all sporting The Mighty Reds shirt it was a proud day for myself to witness so many wonderful stories unfold.
To have the opportunity of joing these guys on their journey through life and seeing thier golf games evolve, their ability to deal with pressure strengthen and thier all round life skills grow with every new challenge this must be the best job in the world.
The only down side was Pedro and Jake who were due to play didn't manage to get there as thier mum was doing a sky dive first thing in the morning and then racing across the country to get her boys to Henley for their tee times, Activity mum or what! Unfortunately they didn't make the time but mum did the jump and survived so well done george for taking on that amazing challenge and living to tell the tale.

The Mighty Reds Team Sheet

Trevor Woods
Frango Pickin
Ash Pickin
Tommy Bates
Em Hyde
Will Hyde
Will Cooper
Will Davies
Will 'the red' Palmer
Sebastian Hudson
Tiger Spencer
Jake Norris
Jake Elliott
The Hoff
Dan West
Sam Smith Hutton
Jamie Leurs
Callum Hutchinson
Pedro Dominquies
Jake '50 cent' Hurdman

Thank you all for being true Reds.

New Coach for the Academy

I am proud to announce the introduction of a new coach to The Russell Adams Golf Academy.

Noel Woodman is a qualified PGA and Master Instinctive Golf Coach who has a wealth of coaching experience that spans over 14 years. Noel has coached all levels of golfers from beginners to Tour Professionals helping them all gain a simple understanding of how to make lasting improvements.
Noel has spent the last 5 years creating a successful Golf School at Ombersley Golf Club and will be a great asset to the future development of The Russell Adams Golf Academy.

Both Noel and I have been working together through our Instinctive Golf Coaching Levels and are now ready to take this into The Golf Academy.
We feel that we can offer the most natural coaching and learning enviroment at Gaudet Luce Golf Club. Our belief is that golf doesn’t have to be a mine field of technical, unnatural thoughts or feelings and is game to be played with freedom, joy and self discovery.

My vision is to build a Golf Academy that shows each individual the pathway to their own success, enjoyment and freedom in playing this amazing game.
I feel I am now closer to this with the introduction of Noel to our Coaching staff.
Noel will be available for coaching sessions from 1st August, bookings will now be taken.

We look forward to sharing our journey.


Russell Adams and Noel Woodman.

YMG TEXAS SCRAMBLE

1ST PLACE

MITCH BOTT DANNY DUDLEY HARRY BENNET SCORE 36-18= 18

2ND PLACE

DANIEL WEST JAMIE LEURS THOMAS ORAM SCORE 32-9= 23

3RD PLACE

BEN PALLANTE ADAM HARBACH HAMISH MOORE 37-9= 28

4TH PLACE

WILL HYDE KAI HODGES LIAM PAXTON 32

5TH PLACE

CHARLIE ARROWSMITH GEORGE HARRIS SAM STEDMAN 35

March Texas Scramble

Winners 25 shots

Ashley Picken, Liam Paxton, Hamish Moore

2nd Place 29 shots

Harry Anable, Ryan Grainger, Ollie Jones

3rd Place 30 shots

Mitchel Bott, Charlie Arrowsmith, George Ellson, WillCooper
Ben Causer, Jack Goldstraw, Jamie Deas
Ethan Davies, Joe Ingle, Jamie Leurs

4th Place 31 shots

Sebastian Fell, Callum Moore, Sam Bunn, Amy Allsop
Keiran Quaine, Harry Jones, Luke Picken
Jack Foster, Jake Elliott, Jake Norris

5th PLace 32 shots

Sebastian Hudson, Matty Wheatly, Will Hyde, Thomas Oram

6th Place 33 shots

Harry Bennett, Danielle Windiate, Lewis Spencer, Danny Dudley
Toby Stephans, Ed Ellson, Gabba Thornes
James Thomas, Tom Bates, Dodd Deas

7th Place 34 shots

Matthew Blackmore, Harriet Blackmore, Toby Jones, Brett Stephans
David Huntbach, Hannah Pope, George Harris, Adam Harbatch

8th Place 36 shots

Will Palmer, Louie Hurdman, Kai Hodges

Well done to all players and a special congratulations to Ashley Picken for his Hole in One 9 iron at the 7th. Well done Ash, bar bill is £129.76. Cheers.

2006 Awards Presentation

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Ethan Davies

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Matthew Brown

MINI TOUR CHAMPION

Ethan Davies

FLAG COMPETITION WINNER

Ethan Davies

HOLE IN ONE

George Cook, Ashley Jarvis

Junior Texas Scramble

Results

Team 1 Ben Causer Jamie Leurs Connor Tufton (28)
Team 2 Toby Jones James Thomas Josh Jones Tommy Oram (23)
Team 3 Matty Gill Kelsey Reynolds Ben Pallante Will Hyde (23)
Team 4 Jake Norris Hamish Moore Adam Harbatch Natalie Ingle (26)
Team 5 Joe Ingle Jamie Deas Drew Deas Georgia Tomlinson (22)Winner
Team 6 Matty Townsend Sam Stedman Emily Hyde David Rean (24)
Team 7 George Harris Matty Wheatley Jake Elliott Tommy Bates (24)
Team 8 Harriet Blackmore Matty Blackmore Liam Paxton Kieran'the red' Quaine (23)
Team 9 Brett Stephans Ashley Picken David Huntbach Alex Ling (29)
Team10 Luke Picken Toblerone Stephans Tommy Rean Sebba Hudson (28)
Team11 Trevor Davies Liam Stubbins Alberto Frostano (33)
Team12 Alex Honniball Sam Hutton Steve Lamb (28)
Team13 Charlie Arrowsmith Mike Yip Will Cooper Amy Allsop (28)
Team14 Callum Moore Tiger Spencer Edwardo Ellson George Ellson (22)Winner
Team15 Sam Bunn Ryan Grainger Pedro Hurdman (27)
Team16 George Cook Alfie Cook (28)

Instinctive Coaching

We have all got a shelf full of books, a draw full of Videos, a rack full of DVD'S, a pile of Magazines and a sky chanel devoted to and full of tips and secrets to play this amazing game that we call golf.

Have we ever had all this much information to do anything else in our lives?
How did we learn to walk, talk, ride a bike, drive a car, play guitar, skim a stone, play bat and ball, score a goal, hit a six, swim a length, juggle, hit the bulls eye etc
Probably not, maybe we have just been shown, had a go and let our Instinct take us through and some how played without understanding how, started playing a song without looking at the strings, driving a car whilst thinking of what you are doing later and not actually paying attention to the road, infact not even remembering the last 10 minutes of the journey, throwing a dart into treble 20 without thinking of the hinge in your wrists or the 90 degree elbow position.

Playing a game and thinking about playing a game have two very different outcomes, one has flow, a certain naturalness to it and is fun, the other looks confused, awkward, tends to frustrate and is far from fun. What game are you playing? What information are you taking on board to hit a white ball into a big field?

As an Instinctive golf Practitioner I believe the most fun we can have on a golf course can't come from quick tips, this will always lead to fear and frustration, it can't come from keeping your head down to the point where your whole body has lost any natural movement or your left arm is so straight that you have tennis elbow and can't play and it can't come from aiming way left to accomadate an impressive slice that still goes out of bounds.

Fun comes from undertsanding the task, simplicity of the task and enjoyment of discovering new games and shots. I believe there is more fun to be had in all our lives if we had the freedom to discover.

Junior Academy Flag Competition

YMG FLAG COMPETITION

NEAREST THE FLAG WINNER
JACK FROST

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

11TH HOLE
E DAVIES

11TH FAIRWAY
G COOK E HYDE

10TH HOLE
S HUDSON G ELLSON

10TH GREEN
S LAMB A COOK A PICKEN W HYDE D HUNTBACH

10TH FAIRWAY
W DAVIES

9TH HOLE
E ELLSON MWHEATLEY A HONNIBALL

9TH GREEN
W PALMER

9TH FAIRWAY
L SPENCER K QUAINE

8TH HOLE
J FOSTER LSTUBBINS L PICKEN

8TH GREEN
G HARRIS J INGLE

8TH FAIRWAY
W COOPER T BATES M BLACKMORE J TAYLOR

7TH GREEN
C ARROWSMITH N INGLE R HARRISON G THORNES J NORRIS

7TH FAIRWAY
J JOHNSON M BROWN H MOORE K HOBBS

6TH HOLE
D DAVIS

6TH GREEN
T STEPHANS S BUNN S HUNTBACH J ELLIOTT L PAXTON J DEAS O JONES M LEEDHAM B STEPHANS

6TH FAIRWAY
D DEAS H BLACKMORE C HOBBS D REAN D WINDIATE A HARBACH

5TH GREEN
K REYNOLDS T JONES

5TH FAIRWAY
M YIP

Another Ace

Congratulations to Ashley Jarvis who slam dunked a hole in one on the 6th hole of Gaudet Luce's main course. Ashley who is 14 years old has been with me since he was 11 and has shown great potential so far in his early days. Thanks must go out to his Grandad Phil who has really helped Ash get where he is today with his golf, Well done both.
Both Ashley and George Cook have recently been in the paper for their amazing shots along with Ethan Davies for his 2nd place finish at Heythrop Park, they are now signing their pictures at £10.00 per shot. Get them quickly as they may be worth more in years to come.

The Mighty Reds

I would like to congratulate all the guys who went to Heythrop Park Golf Club and represented my Academy to the highest level.
The YMG Coaching programme gives students the opportunity to compete in national events with the chance to make it through to the final at the Warwickshire on 8th October. With all the guys from the Academy having amazing days George Cook came 3rd in his group, Georgia Warner Tomlinson and Ethan Davies came 2nd in their groups and Emily Hyde won her group and has now got the chance to compete in the final. Callum Hutchinson won the Snag Golf Target competition and his mom (who doesn't play golf) held her own in a large field of experienced golfers, well done Callums mom.

The Mighty Reds were a credit to the Academy, their parents and themselves.

The Mighty Reds

Matthew Blackmore
Sebastian Hudson
Tom Rean
Alex Honniball
Callum Hutchinson
William Palmer
Geogia Warner Tomlinson
Emily Hyde
Ashley Picken
Luke Picken
Tom Bates
Ethan Davies
George Cook
Alfie Cook
Jack Foster
Callums Mom

We all wish Emily the best the final.

Golfing Star Gets Hole in One

It gives me great pleasure to announce that one of my pupils from the Academy has slam dunked his first hole in one.
George Cook amazed his twin brother and his father by holing out from the tee of our 2nd hole on the Hadzor course. I first noticed something was up when I spotted both of them sprinting across the course to where I was coaching a group of Juniors, before I could ask what the rush was Alfie, Georges brother shouted "George has just had a hole in one" this then started a round of high fives from all the group that were present and off both boys ran to continue their round. George is 6 years old by the way and both he and his brother Alfie have amazing freedom and natural talent that you can't or don't have to teach. Well done George, come on Alfie it's 1-0 at present.

Discovery of Real Awareness

In April I had the pleasure of coaching the English Blind Golf Association for the second year running and yet again I found it a truly life changing experience and confirmed to me that we may be getting in our own way when it comes to playing this game.

Witnessing these guys hitting long straight shots and chipping balls close or in the hole was truly breathtaking and made me realise that maybe this game isn’t as tough as we make out.

Being around this Group for two days I noticed a sixth sense of true awareness, the ability to feel when somebody is close to them in a room without seeing them, the sense that we all sometimes have from time to time during our lives but is often nullified by the use of our sight for awareness rather our apparent sixth sense.

Translate this into their golf swing and they have complete awareness of the club head, where it is throughout the whole swing which surely helps in their ability to deliver the club head back to the ball consistently.

Imagine a golf swing that consists of a total awareness of the club head rather than keeping your left arm straight, turning your shoulders, transferring your weight and keeping your head down. If we didn’t think about turning our shoulders would they stop turning? or would our left arm buckle and fold if we didn’t try to keep it ridged, surely if we were at one with the club and the task was to swing it toward a target then there would be no reason to reverse pivot or stay rooted on our back foot after we had swung the club at the target, like throwing a ball surely our body wants to follow the movement rather than fight against it and in 12 years of coaching I have yet to see anybody lift their head and take their eye off the ball before they hit it so keeping that head fixed in position could only lead to tension and a lack of freedom.

It seems to me that all the information that we are full of is clouding our ability to see what is really important in this game which is the whereabouts of the stick in our hand and how we apply this to the task.

When next practicing on the range place your attention on the club head as it moves away from the ball and stay with it throughout the whole swing, notice any grey areas where you may lose it for a second and then make this your goal to have no grey areas and full attention throughout the whole movement.

Can you do this and if you can then let me know how it feels. Enjoy the discovery.

Golfing trip in La Manga

I have just returned from a golfing trip in La Manga where I had some amazing experiences on and off the course.
I was lucky enough to be in the company of a relative beginner for 18 holes on the Championship South Course of the La Manga Resort and observe how playing with a Professional on such a course affected him and how a pretty free and easy guy was effected by the situation. As we walked off the first tee he talked in amazement of how his legs were physically shaking whilst he was standing over his ball resulting in a shot that trickled off the tee, to the amusement of all the guys who were in our group. I asked him what his thought process was standing over the ball and his reply was ‘ please don’t hit it in the water’.
Now as you read this I will tell you Don’t think of a Pink Elephant and the picture of a Pink Elephant pops in your head.
When my partner was thinking Don’t hit it in the water his brain actually was saying ‘hit it in the water’ as the brain will not recognise the word DON’T. My thought process on that first tee was one of ‘how good will I feel if I ripped this one down the middle’ which in turn brings a smile to my face, imagine smiling before every shot during a round of golf, what an amazing round of golf that would be.
As the round went on my partner started to ask for swing tips and fixes, now beware if you are an information giver when you play golf, you could be on the verge of destroying your playing partners even further, I decided to allow him to play 8 holes and give him time to settle his nerves and then changed the game.
On the 9th tee I gave him a task, I would give him one Euro if he hit his blue castle tee forward out of the ground and if it stayed in he would pay me one Euro, the bet didn’t involve where the ball went just can he move the tee forward. Now bearing in mind this guy hasn’t struck one tee shot all day the change in his game was miraculous, no swing information just a different task. Mental note to all you guys who are information givers out on the course, are you helping your friends? I lost the bet by the way.
The most interesting experience for me came when we drove by car down to the beach, the car park was on the edge of a cliff and there was a walk way down to the beach. The beach was deserted and didn’t look that appealing so we all stood on the edge of the cliff over looking the ocean and a fantastic view. We still had our clubs in the back of the car so I decided to take my driver from the boot, tee up a sparkling Pro V 1 and hit it into the fantastic view ahead, if you haven’t ever had the opportunity to do this before then I recommend you find a cliff one day and give yourself the task of hitting the water it is obviously impossible to miss the water so you can’t fail your task and the feeling of freedom you have is truly amazing.
I put it to the guys to have a go and see if they could hit the ocean, so out came 6 drivers and off they went one after another into the ocean.
Now the course we had just played was tight and these guys hadn’t hit it straight all day but when the task changed and the freedom came out all these guys hit long, straight amazing drives into the ocean, did they struggle round the course due to bad technique or did they struggle due to being scared of the outcome of a tight fairway?
Keep me posted of your thoughts when playing.
Russell.

New2Golf

I haven't posted for a few weeks, I've been busy re-shaping the New2Golf package that I've pioneered here at the Academy and at my previous Club. Its evolved over the years as a perfect entry into the world of golf for those who've never picked up a club before. As usual, the coaching style is relaxed and simple and bases the game around the player, rather than filling them full of technical jargon. The aim is to get the novice player ready to play a round after 5 weeks.
I'm about to face a personal challenge myself this weekend, as i'm off to a competition in La Manga.
See you all next week, I'll try and bring some pictures back with me. Russell

Achievement gets its due reward

Saturday 28th of January saw the Academy end of season presentation in which it was a great honour to present Callum Hutchinson with The Golfer of the Year Award.
Callum has made The Academy and Gaudet Luce Golf Club very proud of his achievements and as he didn'’t mention it in his speech I would like to thank his Mum and Dad for all their efforts in helping him achieve his goals this season, remember that one Cal.
To everyone else who I have had the pleasure of giving awards to in our presentations during this year, thank you for such fun times and well done for all the progress made during 2005.
This season brings more excitement, news and information through our new look information site, new class openings, more competitions, the Advanced Masters Programmes and the option of a Team Academy Shirt to smarten you all up and make you look like real golfers - well monkeys with golf shirts on anyway!

If there is anything you would like to see this year then why not email me with your ideas throughout the season.

Thanks guys, looking forward to a great season.

Russell

A New Year and a New Feel For The Game

Over the past 15 years I have been on a journey through golf where I have observed the golf swing and how the game has been coached.

I have studied the mechanics of the golf swing, searched for the perfect swing that will repeat time and time again, thought these positions to be the answer, played with and coached this way for many years only to find the natural feel I started the game with reduced and the thoughts increased. After many frustrating years of searching for the answer I felt further away from freedom and from being able to re-produce a once natural movement, than ever before. Although I was having some success as a coach I still felt there was too much information being passed across to pupils who were already full of information from Golf Channels, books, videos, golf magazines and friends.

Having played many sports in my time I had never played anything with so much information in my head as I was playing this game so I decided to enroll on a coaching Programme called ‘Trained Brain’ ran by top European sports psychologist Dr Karl Morris. During 2005 I worked through my Practitioner and Master Practitioner Certificates discovering that there was another way of learning. Last year I also had the fortune to visit a Golf school in Scotland who coach on the more instinctive side of golf hence their name, Instinctive Golf. Trained Brain and Instinctive Golf have shown me that it shouldn't take a thousand thoughts to hit a white ball into a field, that maybe this game isn't as tricky as we thought and that maybe all the information that we are gathering isn't necessarily helping us in our search for enjoyment of our great game.

Both these Academies had visited a Coach in California by the name of Fred Shoemaker who runs an Academy called Extraordinary Golf that coaches with similar thoughts, so this month I went out and visited Fred at his Academy and spent four days on his coaching course. During my stay I experienced a game that I had not encountered since I was 14 years old and first took hold of a club - in those days I had no thoughts and just hit the ball. To me this was ground breaking coaching, as I had thought that this was almost impossible in professional golf. In four days there was no technical information given either to me or to any of the other Academy members who were all amateurs, some beginners who couldn't break 100 before coming to the Academy. With no technical information, just a greater awareness of body, mind and target, we all found the true freedom where real golf can truly begin.

I thank you all who have joined my journey through the years and are excited about the side of golf I have uncovered. I have decided to create this Blog to share our experiences as we begin the learning process that I look forward to discovering with you all in the months and years to come.

Here's to what's possible in 2006.

Russell Adams
PGA Golf Coach, Master NLP Practitioner.