Fore from four! Lets Golf Pro publishes unique playing guide to encourage youth to take up and understand sport.

Lets Golf’s Steve Furlonger, in conjunction with junior academy coach Phil Swinard, has published a ‘Golf Made Simple for Kids’ guide to encourage today’s youth to take up the game.




The book, which features a guide to golf in pictures and rhyme, is PGA approved, a British innovation and a world first. Self-published by the golf-loving duo, ‘Golf Made Simple for Kids’ takes young readers through the entire game, focusing on everything from etiquette, which clubs to use, and warm-up exercises to putting, chipping, pitching and bunkers.

The book’s USP is its use of phrases, rhymes and pictures that children can remember when learning to play golf. Readers are introduced to two characters, Kim and Oliver, whose illustrated actions are clear for readers from a young age to comprehend and copy. Steve and Phil’s characters are also highlighted throughout offering top tips and rules guidance.

Steve, the resident golf pro at Lets Golf simulation centre in Horley, commented:
“At Lets Golf we have seen a real increase in young children taking up the sport which is great news, not only as it bucks the trend of endless reports highlighting the sport’s decline, but also as it can be the most rewarding activity for youngsters of all abilities. Golf teaches children a number of personal skills that will last a lifetime such as etiquette, sociability and networking, not to mention keeping them active and being able to enjoy quality time with friends and family that play too.
“However, teaching a child how to play golf requires a different approach to teaching an adult. First and foremost, it has to be fun or you will lose their interest.


Secondly it must challenge their skill and stimulate their mind with suitable games. Our book not only teaches the child the golf skills through its unique picture and rhyme format, we have also incorporated at the end of each chapter a number of extremely fun games to challenge and test their newly developed skills. We have made golf fun!!
“We do not use technical terms because children respond better to visual cues and words they understand. This is where our world’s first rhyme and picture concept makes our book stand out from the crowd.”
Golf Made Simple for Kids is available from www.golfmadesimpleforkids.com for £9.99 or from Lets Golf’s shop at the simulation centre in Horley, Surrey.
For more information on Lets Golf please visit www.lets-golf.co.uk

CONGU Changes 2018

Changes to the CONGU UHS System were announced last month. In view of the proposed introduction of the World Handicap System (WHS) these changes have been kept to a minimum and take into account some of the options likely to be adopted in the WHS, principal of which is to encourage players to submit more scores to their handicap record.
The changes, which come into effect on the 1st of January 2018, are:

Retirement of Club & Disability Handicaps – As a result of their low impact these have been removed and replaced by a new Category 5 for Men and Category 6 for both Men and Women, providing for a maximum handicap of 54.0 for all golfers. Players will be able to maintain a Competition Handicap in all six categories. Upward adjustment for all categories will remain at 0.1 and downward adjustments for Net Differentials below Buffer Zones will be 0.5 for Category 5 and 0.6 for Category 6.

After 1st January 2018 Handicap Committees can increase handicaps above the current limits of 28.0 and 36.0, and they will also increase above those limits automatically as a result of above Buffer Zone returns in Qualifying Competitions and Supplementary Score submissions.

Supplementary Scores – Relaxation of the rules to allow an unlimited number of score submissions per year and removal of the restriction of one per week. However, the restriction on Category 1 players will remain in place.

Mixed Tee Competitions – Reinforcement of the single CSS Adjustment Calculation. Having a single CSS adjustment for two or more competitions will provide a more equitable value when one of the competitions has a very low number of players. To overcome the technical IT implementation issues, the approach agreed will be to enter all scores into a single competition (and so a single CSS Adjustment Factor is calculated) with a facility within the software to allow the results to be separated for each group of competitors.

Definitions – Confirmation that cards submitted for Initial Handicap Allocation are included in the definition of Qualifying Scores for handicap purposes. Accordingly a player whose handicap is allocated on the basis of such submitted scores under Clause 16 will automatically be allocated a Competition Handicap status.

9 Hole Competitions – Introduce the option of 9-Hole Medal Competitions and 9-Hole Open Competitions. For handicap purposes, the 9-Hole Medal scores will be converted to Stableford and will appear as stableford on the players handicap record.

Handicap Adjustments – Confirmation that the adherence to Appendix M (Guidelines for Handicap Reviews) is mandatory, not optional.

There will be no new hard copy of the CONGU® Manual, but an updated online version will be available on the CONGU® website, where a full summary of the changes will also be posted.

This document represents the substantive changes for 2018 – other changes, which are largely for clarification purposes, will be highlighted in the online documentation.

SCOT COLIN STRACHAN AUTHOR OF ROYAL ASHDOWN FOREST G C HISTORY BOOK

In two weeks, 'Fair Ways in Ashdown Forest' will be published to celebrate the 125 years of Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club on December 22. 
This book tells the story of an elite golf club playing on common land and how it has tried to live in harmony with foresters, commoners, conservators and still provide a bunkerless, top 100, national and international 36-hole venue.
Its author, Colin Strachan, pictured, a Scot, gives an insight into its content:
"No other golf club can list such a wide variety of members, from the men who built Tower Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge and the railways in Sussex and Kent to the axe man Dr Beeching, who closed them.
From our 1919 Captain, The Lord Chief Justice Scrutton who tried the 'Brides in the Bath' murderer,and Dracula (Sir Christopher Lee) to the angelic Christopher Robin and his father A A Milne a regular in the monthly medals.
"From the man from Forest Row, Frank Lucas, who laid the first really successful transoceanic cables to USA and Australia, to another another engineer, 1st Viscount Cowdray, who discovered oil in Central America when building the Panama railway after tunnelling the East River in New York.
We lost 14% of our members who enlisted during the Great War. Our members then included the Chief of Staff at Paschendale and the Admiral who commanded the Dreadnought Fleet. We had a holder of the Victoria Cross and ten members were awarded the Military Cross. We were represented in the embryonic air battle by one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society who died tragically test-flying his new gyroscopic compass. He was Keith Lucas ,son of our Ladies Club founder who was on the founding Committee of the LGU.
Freddie Tait was an original member  followed by Horace Hutchinson in 1897 Horace G Hutchison wrote most of his golf books from his home overlooking the eighth fairway.
In the next two generations we had Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and a Nobel prize winner Lord Robert Cecil.... and many more fascinating stories from the High Weald. One of our Presidents was the first RAF test pilot for the Spitfire, but most will be long forgotten when one of our artisan  members, the great Abe Mitchell, born illegitimately in East Grinstead Workhouse, will still be seen standing on top of the  solid gold Ryder Cup and another, Alf Padgham, was co-professional with Jack Rowe two years before he won the Open Championship."

The limited edition leather bound at £150 has sold out in two weeks and the £55 standard is selling well  ... 'an excellent buy for Christmas' (Donald Steel)
Copies can be obtained from the Secretary at Royal Ashdown Forest.

Global Golf Post

Global Golf Post is an on-line  golf magazine.   It has some great articles and is well worth registering to get it sent to you every week.  americangolf.globalgolfpost.com

World Hickory Golfer

Some of you will know that I sometimes play (at) hickory golf.  The history of the game continually fascinates me,  and I love to read about golf in "the old days".

I'd like to draw your attention to a new on-line publication which has started this month called World Hickory Golfer.   The address is www.worldhickorygolfer.com.   I've made a permanent link in the index on the left so that you can always find it.   The editor is Lionel Freedman, founder and organiser of the World Hickory Golf Festival which is being played over courses in East Lothian in three weeks time.

I'm sure you'll enjoy his first edition as much as I have... Enjoy!

Best wishes
Gill

NEW EDITION OF DAVE ANDREWS'
NOVEL COMING OUT LATER
THIS MONTH

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Here's an update from Dave Andrews, American author of the novel "Pops and Sunshine" which is a love story played out to the background of the US Duramed Futures Tour:

"I heard back today from a woman at the London office of IMG World. They are involved in organizing the Women's British Open as well as an LPGA event here in the States.
"They are going to consider my book as an item for the VIP gift bag at the Open.
"I have been writing all the LPGA events organizers with that suggestion and pointing them to the great reviews that keep coming in on the book ( more than a dozen now).
"I have done some rewriting of the story ... added a prologue and an epilogue... improved a lot of the dialogue (much of which was terrible) ... and modified a lot of the descriptive lines that some women readers have had issues with.
"The new edition will be coming out at the end of January. A lot of promotional developments are in the works now. I even have a lot of interest in Australia and some possible joint-marketing possibilities with a golf ball manufacturer there."
DAVE ANDREWS
Concord
New Hampshire
+ If you want to order a copy direct from the author, you can E-mail Dave Andrews at popsandsunshine@comcast.net. Simply give your mailing address. When you receive your book, send back a cheque to Dave Andrews, for $24.95 which includes half the $ transatlantic postage. Dave will cover the other half himself.

"Pops and Sunshine" by Dave Andrews

A golf book that will

make you laugh,

it will make you cry

Just in case you missed our recent review of

Dave Andrews' novel "Pops and Sunshine,"

here are some of the details you need to

know if you want to order a copy direct

from the author in the United States.

Jason Sobel, the golf editor at ESPN.com, has reviewed the Dave Andrews novel in his column. He put it on a list of eight golf books he is recommending as holiday gifts.

US magazine "Golf For Women" has also given it a great review. If you're interested, you can read the reviews through a link on the front page of the website for the novel... http://popsandsunshine.com/
Anyone who has lost a loved one too soon or faced high hurdles in his or her own life will be captivated by this touching story.

It will appeal to golfers and non-golfers alike.

Dave Andrews, pictured above, is a Harvard-educated former television news reporter. An avid golfer, he has become a fan of the Duramed Futures Tour in the United States and knows Vikki Laing.

His home course at Concord, New Hampshire is annually the site of one of the tour’s events.

His inspiration for the novel came from meeting many of the young aspiring women golfers on American's No 2 women's pro circuit.

Each of them had a passion, dedication, and determination that he found remarkable. Dave's novel is the fictionalisation of the dream that these young women share.
To obtain a copy of "Pops and Sunshine," you can E-mail Dave Andrews at popsandsunshine@comcast.net

Simply give him your mailing address. When you receive your book, send back a cheque to Dave Andrews, for $24.95 which includes half the $ transatlantic postage. Dave will cover the other half himself.
**Dave Andrews is now writing the sequel to "Pops and Sunshine." He hopes to have it finished in the spring of 2008. We'll keep you posted.

A golf book that will make

you laugh, it will make you cry

Looking for a good golf book to give as a Christmas present or even just a good golf book to read over Christmas?

"Pops and Sunshine" might just about fit the bill on both counts.
Jason Sobel, the golf editor at ESPN.com, has reviewed the Dave Andrews novel in his column this week. He put it on a list of eight golf books he is recommending as holiday gifts. US magazine "Golf For Women" has also given it a great review. If you're interested, you can read the reviews through a link on the front page of the website for the novel... http://popsandsunshine.com/

Anyone who has lost a loved one too soon or faced high hurdles in his or her own life will be captivated by this touching story.
It will appeal to golfers and non-golfers alike.
It is written by Dave Andrews, a Harvard-educated former television news reporter. Dave is an avid golfer who has become a fan of
the Duramed Futures Tour in the United States. His home course at Concord, New Hampshire is annually the site of one of the tour’s events.
His inspiration for the novel came from meeting many of the young aspiring women golfers on American's No 2 women's pro circuit.
Each of them had a passion, dedication, and determination that he found remarkable. Dave's novel is the fictionalisation of the dream that these young women share.

+Note from Colin Farquharson: The book, to the best of my knowledge, is not yet available in the British Isles. If you want to order a copy direct from the author, you can E-mail Dave Andrews at popsandsunshine@comcast.net
Simply give your mailing address. When you receive your book, send back a cheque to Dave Andrews, for $24.95 which includes half the $ transatlantic postage. Dave will cover the other half himself (He's a lot more trusting than I would be ... but, on the other hand, I've never had the patience required to sit down andwrite a book!).

**Dave Andrews is now writing the sequel to "Pops and Sunshine." He hopes to have it finished in the spring of 2008. Click the title below to read the prologue and first chapter of the "work in progress" manuscript of Goodbye, Pops

BOOK REVIEW

DAVID LEADBETTER'S QUICK

TIPS CAN BENEFIT

EVERY GOLFER

David Leadbetter is one of the superstars of golf coaching, credited with helping Nick Faldo to several Major tournament wins and continuing to coach the world’s best players such as Ernie Els and Michelle Wie.
“LEADBETTER’S QUICK TIPS" is a superbly accessible collection of mini-lessons that anyone can benefit from, whatever their golfing standard.
Derived from Leadbetter’s column in the US Golf Digest Magazine, it is lavishly illustrated with colour photographs and graphics.
The tips include:
*Longer and straighter drives.
*Consistency from the fairway.
*More accurate iron play.
*Better bunker shots.
*Making more putts.
David Leadbetter’s other books include the best-selling “The Golf Swing,” “100% Golf” and “Lessons from the Golf Greats.”
++“Leadbetter’s Quick Tips” will be published in hardback by Aurum Press on July 30, priced £12.99

Caddy-talk

Check out Vicki Aitken and Dan Weigand's new book "Caddy-Talk : The Psychology of Being a Great Golf Caddy" at www.caddy-talk.com

Vicki says "It’s the first “how to” book on caddying – and it’s the first book to look at the psychological dynamics between the player and the caddy. As well as what goes on in the expert caddy’s mind. We have 5 interviews with arguably some of the worlds best caddies – including Steve Williams (Tiger’s caddy), Mike Patterson (Karrie Webb’s caddy) among others. The book is aimed at both players and budding caddies alike. And its for sale through our website www.caddy-talk.com

NB. Vicki is the sister of Nairn-based LET Pro, Liz Mackinnon.

PS. Hi to Liz and Vicki's Mum, Barbara in New Zealand!