Lee Westwood Golf School student James Mack turns Professional

LWGS student James Mack, having just returned from the school’s annual warm weather winter training in Spain has just taken the decision to turn professional.

James has had a fantastic couple of years at the Essex school, improving his handicap from 9 to -1, as well as winning the Lee Westwood Golf Tour finals, the individual order of merit at the Intercollegiate Tour final, 2^nd place at the British Schools & Colleges finals, alongside a number of top 10 county competition placings.  He is also the current course record holder on the Gainsborough course at his home club Stoke by Nayland.

James said ‘I’m ready to turn professional, I’ve been working really hard with the help of the coaches and now want to take the next step to playing golf professionally.  I’m really excited to see what the future holds.  My parents have been a huge support to me, encouraging me all the way.  I would also like to thank the school for everything they have done for me and for this year’s opportunity of continuing as a Golf Performance Programme student and being able to develop my game even further’.

Doug Mathews, Programme Manager at LWGS said ‘I honestly believe, with the continued hard work and dedication that James shows, he will become a great player.  He has the drive and determination and is an inspiration to others.  We wish him lots of luck’.

In terms of events James is hoping to compete in the Europro Events, the Jamega Tour and TP Tour this year – watch this space!

Students in Spain

Last week our students headed to the Iberostar Royal Andalus to utilise the fantastic golf facilities and receive quality golf coaching in the sunshine.  


After a long travelling day on Monday, Tuesday was a day for the students to get used to the warmer weather, the facilities and the courses. On Wednesday and Thursday we held the 36-hole individual event for the Essex and Cheshire students.  The 1^st round was played on the Seve Ballesteros designed Mar course at the Iberostar Royal Andalus Golf Resort with Tom Matthews (Cheshire) leading the way with a one stroke lead over Louis Martin (Essex), with Harry Shaw (Cheshire) one shot further back.


The 2^nd round was played on the Pinos course, which is a tight tree lined course, and the blustery conditions on the day made for a tough scoring day.  As the day went on it became clear that the tournament winner would come from the final group; Tom Matthews or Louis Martin.  Tom missed a couple of short putts on holds 15 and 16 which meant they were all square with two holes to go.  However, a fantastic birdie, par finish from Tom secured a two shot victory from Louis.  Tom Vyce (Cheshire) shot the low round of the day to climb into third place.  In the nett competition, Ethan Davey (Essex) won by an impressive 4 shot margin with Guy Van Leerzem (Essex), Harry Shaw (Cheshire) and Louis Martin (Essex) all tied in 2^nd place.


On Friday we played the inaugural game between LWGS and the WANG Academy from Norway.  The WANG academy operates in a similar fashion to the Lee Westwood Golf School, in that it is for talented young Norwegian athletes aged 16 – 19 who complete education whilst training in their chosen sport.  It was always destined to be a tough match and it was a challenging day for the LWGS team as the WANG academy possessed many of the best young talented golfers from Norway, including a number of international players, and many with plus handicap figures.  There were a number of close matches, but ultimately the WANG Academy players were too strong for us on the day.  However, there was no doubt that our players enjoyed the experience and we were very proud of how they all conducted themselves and showed pride in their school.  It was great to see the young golfers from different backgrounds interacting with each other throughout the day.  Certainly, our students gained some real benefit from sharing stories about their experiences and learning how the Norwegians scheduled their training days.  The day was such a success we are already planning a repeat match next year.


Sunday came around all too quickly where we played the annual game between the Cheshire and Essex Schools.  It is always a keenly contested match due to the bragging rights on offer.  There were 19 single matches, meaning a minimum of 10 points were needed to gain victory.  It rained a little in the morning during the warm-up but by the time the first group were ready to tee off the clouds had gone and the sun had returned once again – perfect timing!  The match was extremely tight and it was impossible to tell who was going to win until the very end.  The Cheshire School came out on top with the narrowest of victories (10-9), to take the trophy off Essex who won it the previous year.  It was fantastic to see the match played with such good sportsmanship, the students showed some real competitive spirit and represented their schools with distinction.

Well done to all our students and many thanks to all the coaches who work tirelessly for the entire trip to ensure the students get the best possible experience.