Summer 2011

Update with a few results, Sam Claypole becomes Derbyshire Amateur Champion at Burton, Craig Swinburn shoots 6 under to win the Nottinghamshire open at Rushcliffe and Lee Clarke finishing 3rd with a stunning 62 in the afternoon. Craig Young finished 3rd in the Midland Youths at Stoke Rochford shooting 3 rounds under par and Ian Walley, James Whatley both picked up some great pro am wins with 3 players finishing in the Top 12 of the 2nd Midland Order of Merit event at Wellingborough, Lee Clarke finishing 3rd and Whatley 5th.

Spring 2011

Its been a while since I updated due to being busy and not loads to report with the season starting so late. Results wise clients have got off to a steady start with Lee Clarke finishing 3rd in the Bahamas in the Virgin Pro Am Challenge, he followed this up by achieving his euro pro tour card for another year. James Whatley off to a solid start with some local pro am victories. James Stafford became the Derbyshire Assistants Champion after a good off season and clients Ian Walley, Kevin Taylor, Craig Swinburn and Lee Clarke all progressed to the National Club Pros Championship at the The Belfry. New client Craig also backing this up with a -6 win in Notts Pro/ Am. Good result also for Kyle Denham progressing to the National Assistants Championship. Busy period coming up with the Club Pros Champs and Open Qualification. An exciting year ahead. 3 clients made cut at the British Club Pros and all 3 also qualified for the Brtish Open Final Qaulifying Stages. James Whatley also won back to back pro-ams shooting -11 total. Some great youngsters currently ready to make the breakthrough to the next level.

At the EMGA Academy our School of Excellence programme has been a fantastic success with the youngsters making great strides, assessment days for 2012 will be updated shortly.

On a personal development note I was fortunate enough to attend a great seminar with Gary Smith on the short game. Some great ideas packaged together into a solid method that in my opinion provides a greater variety of shots with a smaller miss dispersion. I have started to implement some of these ideas with clients to great success. This was followed up by 2 short game days at Woodhall Spa where we worked with 30 clients on all aspects from 100 yards in, a great success and more dates will be added shortly.

Winter 2010/11

Got some great work done with some really committed clients this Winter and its now they all start to venture overseas and put the changes to the test. Roll on Spring!!

New programmes for 2011 include half day and full day coaching sessions, a couple of short game days and play with the pro. See emga.co.uk for details

Our EMGA School of Excellence launched at the end of January for 12-16 year olds and a fantastic first session with great feedback.

At the end of last year I was appointed Head Coach for all Derbyshire Mens/Boys squads, there is a fantastic amount of talented players in the county and I look forward to working with them and putting together an exciting schedule.

Sept/ Oct 2010

A couple of months to take stock of things before Winter performance programmes begin. On the coaching front clients performances this year were very solid rather than spectacular James Whatley and Ian Walley both finishing top 10 in the region, James having two top 3's nationally and Ian finishing 4th on the Region money list, both finishing top 5 on the county money list with Kev Taylor from Brailsford joining them. James won the Derbyshire Matchplay in October beating Paul Wesselingh in the final. I have now been fortunate to have my clients win between them all mens and boys amateur and professional majors in the county.

I spent a great day at the Belfry in October with Tiger Woods first coach Rudy Duran and Canadian LTAD expert Henry Brunton, very insightful.

Myself and James Whatley also had a top ten in the national 4 ball final at Forest Pines finishing on 16 under !!

August 2010

August was another busy month for most of my clients, I however managed to grab a week away at the European Amateur Champs followed by a family holiday in Finland.

Attended a couple of great conferences also in August with the Stack and Tilt founders and also a great green reading clinic with the Aimpoint guys.

As for my elite clients, James Whatley has had a solid year on the national stage following up his runner up spot at the Welsh PGA with a 3rd place at the English PGA, James however had his first MC of the year at the British Club Pros, which has forced us into a re-think in a couple of areas. Ian Walley has continued to play solid golf on the pro am circuit and notched up a few top 10's in order of merit events. James Stafford is having a great year in only his 2nd as a pro, currently leading the Derbyshire Assistants order of merit and 2nd in the Pros.

July 2010

See the August edition of Todays Golfer for a few tips/articles that I shot for them back in June, especially if you want to learn to hit that fade shot!! Click here to view.

2nd week in July brought the Midland Masters at Kedleston Park and an unbelievable pro am day with 4 clients shooting a total of 28 under par between them. First in Kevin Taylor of Brailsford with a career low 67 (-5) then followed closely by James Whatley and Ian Walley (-7) but then Lee Clarke topped them all with a (-9) 63, great shooting but all peaked a day early as only Walley and Clarke could manage top tens with -3 and -2 respectively in the Midland Masters order of merit event. Whatley won the Ashbourne Pro Am earlier that week also with a stunning 64(-7) to remain in red hot form during peak season. Big events coming up, English PGA Champs and the Glenmuir British club Pros.

The first week of July carried on where June left off as Ian Walley (66) and Lee Clarke (70) both breezed through local qualifying for the British Open, at Final Qualifying Ian came up just one shot short of a place in the Open Championship at St Andrews as he shot a solid 3 under total for 36 holes at Kingsbarns. James Whatley of EMGA also came up a shot short in the PGA Welsh Open as he lost in a playoff after making up a 6 shot defecit in the last round in tough conditions, a great result for James and a big win is just around the corner. Craig Young also continued his fine run of form shooting a solid 3 under at Coxmoor over 36 holes to finish 3rd in the Midland Boys Championship firmly establishing himself as one of the countrys form juniors at present.

June 2010

A fantastic 10 day period for SA Golf Clients, starting out with Derbyshire Boys qualifying for the national finals for the first time in their history. Craig Young part of that team then followed up by winning the Derbyshire Amateur Championship at Kedleston Park. Scott Howarth of Marple, Cheshire blew away the field at the Northern Qualifier for the PGA English Open shooting a stunning 64 (-7). James Whatley finished 3rd at the South Staffs Midland Order of Merit event (-8) and won the Shirley Pro Am, and Lee Clarke stormed to victory in the Notts Pros Championship with 66 in the afternoon at Woollaton Park. Ian Walley completed the set with a great 2 under in terrible weather conditions at Morley Hayes to win the Derbyshire Alliance.
Derbyshire Mens 1st and 2nd team then proceeded to both beat local rivals Notts, a great result.