Featured in Today's Golfer Magazine - November 2007

Now and then, we all need a few pointers to get our game back on track. One way of doing this is to book yourself on a residential course. But how good are these golf schools?
Avid TG reader Charles Evans spent a week at the James Andrews School of Golf, in Hastings. Here is his diary of the daily schedule he followed, and whether he thought the course helped his game.

Day 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Day one
Is it really possible to change the golf game of a 26-handicapper in his senior years? That’s what I asked myself a few months ago. I took the bull by the horns and booked myself on a five-day golf school at Sedlescombe Golf Club, home to the James Andrews School of Golf.
I’m greeted by my instructor, Phill Bartholomew, one of eight PGA-qualified professionals who will guide our group of four in the coming days. He gets straight down to questions: how long have I played? What handicap? What are the strong points of my game? What weaknesses? What particularly do I want to achieve over the five days?
I meet the other group members: Martin and wife Brigette from Switzerland; Diane, returning to golf after a temporary rift in her love/hate relationship with the game.
One by one we are called into the video analysis centre. Nervously, I swing in the middle of a cluster of tiny cameras.
“How was it?” I ask.
“A few things we can work on,” Phill laughs. He takes me back on the mat, lifts my chin, turns my shoulder under it, lowers my grip, straightens my left arm. Suddenly there is more power. He prints out both swings from the video, we look at the comparison. The first is horrendous; the second looks, almost, like a golfer.
After a break Phill sends us back on the range with more balls. We have clear instructions on individual aims. Between balls, we all share a common sense of horror at our first video pictures, and a growing confidence as we see clear improvements. Intermittently he invites us back into the video centre to recapture our swings and monitor our progress, then joins us on the range, making the occasional observation, a correction here and there, words of criticism mixed with encouragement.
After lunch we head on to the Sedlescombe course ready to try our new techniques. Predictably, some work, some don’t. I hit longer shots but lack consistency with the new swing. We persevere, try new shots, enjoy some successes, and donate a few errant balls to our successors. I find I can remember and integrate into my swing, any one of Phill’s improvements - but not all at once. We trudge to the hotel bar, chastened and yet elated in equal measure.

Day 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Testimonials

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating and being fortunate enough to be able to play 18 holes the next day, I can truthfully say that it was the best round of golf I have played for several years. A rewarding experience and one well worth repeating."

Stuart Barber - Golf Today/Golfpro-online.com