The 'Beast from the East' doesn't stop our winter training

With many schools closed and golf clubs under inches of snow, it's great to see the students carrying out their structured golf practice in a controlled environment -  making the most of the Schools fantastic indoor facilities.

Each of the School locations have a wide range of indoor areas which include: 

• A putting green -  ideal for working on your stroke in the warmth of inside. 
• A range of mirrors and putting aids  - to enhance the students practice.  
• A dedicated Swing Room - giving students the benefit of hitting balls without having to worry about ball flight for a while, which is a massive advantage as an improved efficient technique may have some undesired shots to start with. Not seeing these flights and focusing on the technique has huge long term benefits which outlast the short term graft.
• Knowing that golf requires more and more emphasis on the physical improvements in mobility as well as speed and strength, our classrooms are designed to be easily adapted on golf days to provide space to assist the students fitness conditioning – all part of the programme.

And there's still time to enjoy the snow!

  

SCHOLARSHIP TO THE USA

Congratulations to Liam Debattista who has recently been offered a golf scholarship to Hutchinson Community College in Kansas.

Since arriving at the school in 2016 with a handicap of 7 (now 2.6), Liam, through working with several of the coaches, has developed himself both in his golf and as a committed, hardworking, reliable person.

Liam has many achievements to his name not least being elected as School Captain, an exemplary role which is being fulfilled with vigour.  Liam has been Junior Captain for the past 2 years at his home club Castle Royle, he won the Junior Club Championship and was awarded Golfer of the Year at Lambourne Golf Club.

Liam said ‘this is life changing – for me, my family and everyone who has supported me.  I am so excited, very nervous, but can’t wait to take the next step’. 

American universities offer a fantastic opportunity for young golfers looking to further their golf career alongside continuation of their education, and the school now has a regular flow of ex-students spread out across the continental United States.  In fact, Liam will join former student Max Smith who is established at the same college in Kansas!

We wish Liam all the best when he leaves us in June; for his future in the States and in his ongoing career – we know he will make a success in all he does.

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.

Students to play match against Norway

 

While many UK golfers will be huddled around the fireplace, the Lee Westwood Golf School students will be competing against the WANG Academy of Norway. The event will be held on the 12 January during their winter training trip to the Iberostar Royal Andalus Golf Resort, in sunny Spain.

The Wang Academy operates in a similar fashion to the Lee Westwood Golf School, in that it is for talented young norwegian athletes aged from 16 to 19 years old, who complete education while training in their chosen sport. There are five schools in Norway (Oslo, Hamar, Stavanger, Tønsberg and Fredrikstad).

It will be a tough match against the WANG Academy, who work closely with the Norwegian Golf Federation, with the handicap range of players being +3.5 to 5, and includes up to 15 Norwegian international representatives. Programme Manager Gavin Hamlyn said 'it is a fantastic opportunity for out students to train and compete abroad. We are all looking forward to highly competitive matches, and the unique prospect of playing against a school from a foreign country".

During the trip there will also be the annual match played between the Lee Westwood Golf School - Cheshire and Essex teams. This match is normally played with much intensity due to the desire to bring back the inter-school bragging rights to the UK. The Essex School currently hold the title but it's all to play for again in just over a months time.

THE MASTERS - DREAM COME TRUE

Our students have been offered a fabulous opportunity to attend The Masters in April next year. A once in a lifetime experience, a trip to the holy grail of golf is on every golfer’s bucket list!

Open to students and parents, there are 2 different options to attend either the Tuesday practice round or the Sunday final round, plus 3 rounds of golf, bed & breakfast accommodation at the 4* Downtown Hyatt Hotel, premium car hire, and Virgin flights from London. 

A staff member will also attend - don't think it will be difficult to find a volunteer!

Ethan Snutch heads to the Junior European Open

Good luck to Ethan Snutch who joins a 156 strong field of finalists for the Junior European Open now in its 25th year. The Junior European Open, in association with Sky Sports, first staged in 1993, is the most accessible and keenly contested junior golf tournament in Europe. The Tournament has an enviable pedigree. In 1993 Luke Donald finished 3rd in the finals at Wentworth, closely followed by US Open Champion Justin Rose in 1994, also finishing 3rd.

42 regional events took place throughout the year across the UK and Europe with Ethan taking top spot at Lingfield Golf Club winning him the trip to the week-long Champions Finals in Andalucia, Spain.

Fingers crossed Ethan.

Open days at Essex and Cheshire

Come along to our Open Event at our Essex location on Saturday 25th November and our Cheshire location 9th December and discover what we have to offer.

It a great opportunity to see our facilities and learn more about all the options available to you to advance your golf.

Contact us now to book your appointment on Essex - 01206 265834, Cheshire - 01565 830 444 or e-mail info@leewestwoodgolfschool.com

James Mack in Essex squad

Congratulations, James Mack who has been chosen for the Essex training squad this winter. Members of this squad will be chosen to represent the county in upcoming matches. This is an ongoing process where his performances in Essex amateur events will help him to gain selection for higher honours.

It is no surprise that he is beginning to receive these opportunities with the continued hardwork he has been putting in. Working smarter on his game, and really targeting the problems has put the lowest scores on the board. Being involved with this squad will help his game elevate to the next level in conjunction with what we are working on here at the school.  This is a wonderful opportunity for James, well done.

A great start to the BSC qualifying series

It was a great start to our quest to qualify for the British Schools & Colleges National Final.

Our first event was held at Caldy Golf Club in Liverpool, and our scratch team was made up of Tom Matthews, George Mitchell, Ellis Muckley, and Zarak Curley. 

Our team were victorious with George and Tom both shooting -3 under gross (69), while Zarak and Ellis returned scores of 75 & 78 respectively. A great start to the qualifying series with a best of 3 team score of 3 under par!

Our next scheduled British Schools & Colleges match will not be until the new year. We will keep working hard in preparation as we look to go deep in the competition this year, and improve upon our 2nd place finish at the National Finals last year.

The final is scheduled to be played at the fantastic Trevose Golf Club in May next year.

Lee Westwood Golf Tour 2017 National Champions

This year the Lee Westwood Golf Tour National Final was held at Gainsborough Golf Club, home of PING’s European Custom Fitting Centre.  The event was held over 2 days (23^rd & 24^th October), with 60 competitors competing over 36 holes on the Karsten Lakes course to decide the 2017 national champions. 


The overall gross winner with a total score of 141, (72, 69) was Lee Westwood Golf School student James Mack, followed by Robert Holden who returned a total score of 148.  It was a tight race for the overall nett competition, but Julia Kerrigan took the title on countback from Ella Hammond-Baveystock and James Bennett, with a total score of 136 (8 under par).


2015 overall winner Tom Riley claimed the U21 nett title with consistent 1 over nett rounds on both days.


Robert Holden won the U17 gross competition, with a score of 148, with Nathan Newton as runner up with 149.


In the girl’s gross competition, Ella Hammond-Baveystock won with a score of 150, followed closely by Julia Kerrigan with 152.


Robert Holden, Charley Allsopp, Immy Leeder & Megan Evans took the nearest the pin competitions, and Ben Bolton sunk 6 8ft putts in a row to become putting champion!


A big thank you to PING’s European Custom Fitting Centre for allowing our finalists exclusive use of the fitting bays to test some of the clubs and PING equipment.  In the yardage challenge, both Tom Cotterell & Harry Shaw managed to land their balls within 10cm of the target.


It was great to see so many of our past and present students participating in the event, and congratulations must also go to Louis Martin and Eden Inglis for finishing in the top 10 gross and nett.  


Another fantastic event; with one parent commenting ‘Julia has woken up and still can’t believe what happened!  Once again I would like to thank you and all the staff for running an excellent event; she’s already looking forward to next year’


We can’t wait to see the tour grow in 2018 under our new branding – watch this space for more details!

New girls course record

NEW GIRLS COURSE RECORD AT LWGS-ESSEX

Eve Clarke, our Golf Performance Programme student from New Zealand, topped the nett leaderboard in this week's Strokeplay competition with a nett 67.

Her fantastic gross 72, level par, made up of halves of 38/34, was 5 under her handicap and included 4 birdies, beating a previous school course record of 73 set by Sophie Mills back in 2014.

This is an impressive 9 shots off her first week at the LWGS just 7 weeks ago....

Well done Eve, keep up the good work.

STILL TIME TO JOIN

Started your new course, not sure if you have made the right decision?  Thinking of changing?

Do you know you can enrol on our full time golf and education programme right up until the end of September and our golf performance programme any time throughout the year?

Contact us and you are one step closer to joining the fabulous team at Lee Westwood Golf.

info@leewestwoodgolfschool.com 01565 830 444

Liam makes TV debut on Sky Sport Golf Channel

Watch Liam McNeela’s debut on Sky Sports Golf Channel!

Earlier in the year Essex graduate Liam entered a social media competition to win a chance to appear in an advert for Callaway. He was among a few who won the competition and was invited to attend the Oxfordshire Golf Club. Liam’s swing was filmed with the new Epic driver and the data as seen in the video clip is from Trackman. Nice swing Liam!

Looking good in PING

We are delighted that PING, having kindly supported the Lee Westwood Golf School for many years by supplying the unique 4-series golf bags, have now, for the 2nd year, supplied the students with their uniform player pack. 

Due to the intensity & frequency of golf playing & practice that our students are involved in on a weekly basis, it is essential that we have quality uniform that can withstand the rigours of a full time golf programme, week in week out for the full year. It has to be practical, comfortable & hard wearing, as well as look good.

Engineered exclusively for golfers PING apparel combines the latest technology, state of the art fabrics and production methods, alongside luxury materials and craftsmanship to provide unrivalled quality and performance.  The Sensor technology platform protects against the elements to delivery enhanced comfort in all playing conditions, something our students are very grateful for!

Our students on the Golf and Education programme and those attending our Golf Performance Programme are looking forward to starting the new academic year this week, we love the new clothing and we know the students will too!

There is still time to join the Lee Westwood Golf School, contact:
info@leewestwoodgolfschool.com or 01206 265 834 (Essex)/01565 830 444 (Cheshire)

ETHAN SNUTCH CLEANS UP AT SITTINGBOURNE

A massive well done to our Essex 2nd year student Ethan Snutch who has won the Kent Golf Union, Oscar Ash Cups Championship at Sittingbourne & Milton Regis Golf Club this week.  In a field of over 50 young golfers Ethan shot fantastic scores of 76/72 gross and 72/68 nett, securing the top prize in both categories. 

This success shortly follows Ethan's achievement of qualifying for the Junior European Open final which, in association with Sky Sports, is widely believed to be the toughest test in junior golf in Europe.  The Champions week finals will take place in Andalucia, Spain in November and is staged over five rounds.  We wish Ethan all the best.

 

LOUIS MARTIN IS SUFFOLK MATCHPLAY CHAMPION

A huge congratulations to Louis Martin who won the Suffolk Matchplay Championship (Presidents Mashie) at Diss Golf Club on Sunday.

16 qualifiers from the Amateur Championship took part with the field reduced to 4 at the end of day one. In the top half of the draw Louis, had impressive wins, 1 up against two County players. The final saw Louis establish a 3 up lead with 3 holes to play, his opponent staged a recovery by winning the next two holes but was unable to win the final hole leaving Louis the winner 1 up. 
 

Louis is an extremely hard working student, putting in a lot of time and effort with his golf practice.  This has resulted in his scoring average already being reduced from 82.3 to 79.1. 

Fantastic result, well done Louis.

 

Record breaker

This week saw James Mack break our student record on the Gainsborough course at Stoke by Nayland Hotel, Golf and Spa. 

James shot an impressive -7 (64) to beat the existing student record by 1 stroke, previously held by Jacob Hassan, gained in September 2016. 

James has had a fantastic year; making his Euro Pro Tour debut in March, playing in the Qualifying Schools at Stoke by Nayland, finishing 2nd in the individual gross at the British Schools and Colleges finals and recently winning the Lee Westwood Golf Tour event at Stoke by Nayland. 

James Mack started the school in September 2015 off 5 and has now reduced his handicap to 0.3 with a scoring average of 70.4. 

James is continuing at the school for another year prior to hopefully embarking on a career on tour.

Another great result, this time from Shay McQueen who shot (66) -6 on the Constable course, that's only 1 less than the course record currently 65 held by Joe Fryer in 2013.

George crowned nett champion

Essex 2nd year student George Lancaster has been crowned nett champion in the Golf Club Championship at Chart Hills Golf Club during the weekend.

In a field of 50 George produced fantastic scores of 75/73, to finish 1st nett and 2nd gross.

Since being at the Lee Westwood Golf School George has reduced his handicap from 11 to 4.4 and has seen his scoring average reduce by 11 shots.

George is working hard with the Lee Westwood Golf coaches in preparation of his next journey at Tournament Golf College.

We wish him all the very best.

WELCOME BACK

 

This week we hosted our first ever former students reunion at High Legh Park Golf Club in Cheshire, when last year’s students were invited back to play against the current cohort.

It was great to welcome back Adam Ranson, Brook Coward, Will Armitage, Tom Vyce, Andrew Ni & Matt Osborn, who all left the school in June 2016.

Banter levels were high as they tee’d off in bright, sunny conditions and we are pleased to report a clean sweep for the school team, who won every single one of their matches!

We hope everyone who attended enjoyed the day; Tom Vyce said “I had a really enjoyable day, it was great to catch up with all the lads & create some more fun memories with them”.

Overall the whole day was a great success, and we look forward to developing the current vs ex students format for next year, and seeing a lot more familiar faces for the event.

To be part of the Lee Westwood Golf School contact us on info@leewestwoodgolfschool.com or 01565 830 444