Happy Holidays!

I want to extend my very best wishes to all members for a special holiday season. 

The Landings Golf Professional Staff and I would like to thank you for visiting with us to work on your golf skills, course strategy and game development through our lesson and group programs. I'm currently planning many wonderful new and returning programs to complement The Landings Club experience. 

Over the next few weeks, information will be available on the Club's website (http://www.landingsclub.com/) and other avenues for some very exciting new programs including:

• Junior Programs
• Spring After-School
• The Landings Club Junior Big Break
• Middle School & High School Practice Sessions
• Play Series 
• Golf Fitness
• Revamped TPI screens
• Group programs
• TPI Mini
• Swim & Swing
• Get Fit for Distance Core Golf
• Golf Schools
• Short Game
• Read & Putt Southern Greens
• Member & Guest Golf School Experience
• Using a Belly or Long Putter
• Special Guest Speaker & renown sport psychologist Dr. Rick Jensen on Monday, February 27
• Dinner with the Pro
• PGA Get Golf Ready Levels 1 & 2
• Complimentary Video Sessions with Tad Sanders & Mike McNutt
• Golf Talk on March 30

This is only the beginning of a wonderful year! Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!

Kiawah Island Club Event Recap

One of my favorite aspects of being a golf professional is giving back to the game and helping educate adults and juniors in its life lessons. 

As a member of the LPGA Teaching & Club Professional Division, I had a really neat experience Tuesday at the Cassique Crouse at the Kiawah Island Club. At this event, nine LPGA members and associates teed it up to each play 100 holes of golf to raise money for the LPGA Foundation. This fantastic foundation helps support LPGA*USGA Girls Golf. We each had mats to hit our shots from to minimize divots on the course and played anywhere from 3-5 balls per hole per person (lots of ball marks and balls on the greens). Due to daylight, it was from a shorter distance. 

We raced around the course and tried to better ourselves on the 2nd 18 and had lots of fun. I had a feeling someone would get a hole-in-one and sure enough, Carole Clarke did.  The greens were rolling quickly and we didn't line up our putts but rather played speed putting. My birdie tally wasn't as high but it was fun, great weather, a good cause and the Club took great care of us with breakfast and lunch. It was just an overall neat experience.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Clinic Photos and Recap

As I announced earlier, on Saturday, December 3, The Landings Club hosted a special golf clinic at Deer Creek Golf Course for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Coastal Empire.

It was an amazing event! We were able to make five matches (5 Bigs and 5 Littles) with children ages 10-14. We had great weather and the kids enjoyed working with Deer Creek Head Professional Ty Weller & Kate Gordon of Big Brothers Big Sisters on putting, chipping and swinging. We even walked one hole, playing alternate shot and doing a Golf Scavenger Hunt.

Thank you to everyone who participated! Enjoy a sampling of photos below. If you want to see more, you can visit the full Facebook photo album by clicking here.

Golf Instruction Gifts

Wow, the holidays are here already!  Today, I was playing golf with the Medal Tee ladies and one player had a terrific new Garmin wristwatch (sold at Marshwood) that shows yardage without having to point and shoot the range finder. 

It made me think of some fun thoughts for holiday gift ideas, so here is my Top 10 List of Golf Instruction Gifts that might help you find the perfect gift for a family golfer!

10.  Skill Assessment (an hour of swing, short game, putting and sand assessment to help guide golfers in their development)

9.  "Easier Said than Done" by Dr. Rick Jensen (awesome book by our former guest speaker on how to get the shots on the range to hold up on the course)

8.  Ball of Steel (great putting aid to help center contact and acceleration)

7.  Tour Tempo (terrific metronome I use a lot with students for swing, short game and putting, as well as

developing swing speed for more distance off the tee)

6.  Course Assessment (an hour of course play to observe technique, strategy and other golf areas to help with ideas to lower scores)

5.  The Light Refresher Program (either 4 half hour or 4 hour lessons that include 1 session each of putting, short game, swing and course)

4.  Orange Whip Trainer (great training tool to help develop tempo, speed, lag and more)

3.  Lessons with a Friend (2011 individual rate and 2nd person is still just $10 extra... split the cost for great savings!)

2.  Practice Series (attend Nicole Weller's Practice with a Purpose session Tuesday afternoons... learn effective drills and get feedback on skill areas)

1.  Series of Lessons (Buy 5 up front, 6th Lesson Free... either half-hours or hours)

2011 LPGA Teaching & Club Professional Summit Wrap-Up

Just back in from the LPGA T&CP (Teaching and Club Professional) National 2011 Summit and WOW, what an experience.  Held at Grand Cypress in Orlando, we had two day chock-full of seminars while the LPGA Tour was prepping for the CME Titleholders.  How fun to be in class and also see Lexi Thompson practicing in the background and Michelle Wie passing our room in her practice round with no one else around.  Very cool to be up close with the players!

The summit was sold out with 200 professionals and also 280 attendees at the Hall of Fame Induction for Kay McMahon, Jane Read, Carol Johnson and Patti Benson.  Huge dinner, great evening.  The daily sessions included Nancy Quarcelino, the famous Pia Nilsson & Lynn Marriott, Dr. Rick Jensen, Stack & Tilt's Andy Plummer & Mike Bennett, Cindy Miller, speeches by LPGA T&CP President Dana Rader and LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan, as well as Todd Anderson, Cheryl Anderson and more.  What a great two days of exchanging ideas, networking, catching up with colleagues and learning new concepts. Check out these pictures from the summit.

Golf Gurus Pia Nilsson & Lynn Marriott

Dr. Rick Jensen

LPGA T&CP Attendees Watching a Session

Stack & Tilt Session

Cindy Miller Session

My Mentor, Nancy Quarcelino

Golf Fitness Speech Recap

We recently held a complimentary Golf Fitness Speech highlighting the importance of warming up for better golf and health. 

It was well attended with nearly 80 people and I really enjoyed teaching with Brigitte and Jennifer from the fitness center. Also in attendance were our two special guest speakers, Tommy Schaff and Tim O'Neil from Savannah, both of whom play on mini-tours such as the Nationwide, Hooters and Etour. They gave great ideas on how to get the muscles warmed (cardio) and stretched (various key body parts) before AND after the round as well as ways to loosen up the swing at the range. 

Participants even stretched with the instructors near the end of the session. I plan on revamping our TPI (Titleist Fitness) program in the near future - please keep an eye out for news on TPI!  

Please click here to see images from our speech.

Exciting Golf Clinic for Big Brothers Big Sisters

I hope you all will come out and support a special golf clinic for the local chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters! Here is the press release to give you more information. I hope to see everyone there!

SAVANNAH, Ga., November 1, 2011 – Continuing its outreach and support for local community organizations, The Landings Club has created a special afternoon of golf instruction just for participants in the Savannah-based Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Coastal Empire, to be held Saturday, Dec. 3, at Deer Creek Golf Course. 

The clinic is scheduled from 1-3:30 p.m. at Deer Creek’s state-of-the-art practice area, which was developed as part of the 2009 renovation of the Tom Fazio-designed golf course and this year celebrated its 20^th anniversary.  A variety of instructional stations are to be set up at the facility, each featuring a member of The Landings Club's PGA Professional Teaching Staff, focusing on individual parts of the golf swing. 

The Big Brothers Big Sisters clinic represents one of many events coordinated by the members and staff of The Landings Club.  The generous Club members consistently raise funds and provide resources for organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the Hoskins Center at Memorial Health University Hospital and America’s Second Harvest food program. 

“We are looking forward to passing along some of our passion for the game of golf to our friends at Big Brothers Big Sisters,” said Steven Freund, executive director of The Landings Club.  “Golf has a way of making a positive influence on the lives of children, which goes together with the objectives of Big Brothers Big Sisters.” 

For more than a century, Big Brothers Big Sisters has worked to improve the general health, lives and future of thousands of children. Big Brothers Big Sisters is a donor and volunteer supported mentoring program for youth, providing needed support to children in communities across the nation through professionally supported one-to-one relationships.  Its mission includes promoting self-esteem in youngsters, expanding their awareness of life’s opportunities and providing guidance and support through long-term, one-to-one mentoring with caring adults. 

For more details about the Big Brothers Big Sisters event at The Landings Club, contact Nicole Weller, head golf teaching professional, at 912.695.5211.