Top Golf Tips (8)

Stretching Exercises For Golfers

If you want to increase the power and range of motion of your swing, then you must definitely try out some stretching exercises to improve your game, as well as to prevent any jerks that you may experience during the game. Doing some stretching exercises regularly helps to prevent any internal injury that may occur due to sudden strain while playing golf.

An ideal warm up regime should take between 15 to 20 minutes consisting of some simple but effective stretching exercises. Below are a few exercises that you could try.

Brisk Walking: Walking with low skips for 3-5 minutes warms up the body and prepares and loosens any stiffness in the muscles.

Squatting with the help of a support: Squatting is another form of popular exercise that is helpful for golfers. It elevates the heart rate and increases blood flow in the whole body, thus preparing it for the action.  While squatting, you must remember that you must squat till your thighs are parallel with the ground. Repeat the exercise approximately 15 times.

For a change, you can also try single leg squat using a support. Lift one leg at a time while you use a golf club as a support and place it on the opposite knee. Try to make an angle of 90 degrees. Now squat till the knee of the leg supporting the other leg is parallel with the ground.

Arm Swings: Stand with both your arms by your side. Swing your left arm in clockwise and anticlockwise directions for at least 30 seconds. Similarly swing your right arm. This will help you in achieving the correct swing which you desire in your game to get the required length. It is a great exercise for avoiding any injuries in arms and is a must for all golfers.

Some other popular exercises are waist rotations, bends, shoulder stretching, wrist rotation and leg swings. All or some of the exercise forms if incorporated in the warm up regime will definitely prove useful for any player. So get ready for some warm up sessions before you jump into action.

Top Golf Tips (7)

HOW TO INCREASE DISTANCE

If you are battling with a lack of  distance, one of the first things you should concentrate on is releasing  your hands through the ball correctly. Make sure that your forearms are close together at impact, and after impact, your forearms should form an “X” or be crossed.  This will ensure that you are not blocking the ball, it will help with the slice, and will do wonders for your distance.

Be sure to make a full turn.

Maintain a relaxed body with light grip.

Keep left side firm with left knee bent through
impact.

Swing through the ball, not at it.

Keep arms fully extended through impact.

Fishing at Donnington Grove

Mayfly Madness on the River Lambourn

It is about this time of year that every fly fishermen starts to twitch; the days are getting warmer, the evenings are lighter later and just around the corner is the famous Mayfly period, more commonly known as ‘Duffers Fortnight’. Why ‘Duffers Fortnight’ you may well ask. Well, the answer is that the fishing is said to be so easy that any old duffer will catch a sackful of trout! This is a magical time of year to fish the beautiful River Lambourn that weaves its way through the Donnington Grove Country Club. This is a famous Berkshire chalkstream that is renowned for some of the best dry fly brown trout fishing in southern England. The water is gin-clear, with a good head of wild fish that are supplemented by careful stocking throughout the season.

Over the past four years the Donnington Grove Country Club has embarked on an extensive programme of restoration and conservation to create the perfect river for fly fishing enthusiasts. The banks have been re-aligned, the overhanging trees removed and flow deflectors built in the river to improve the habitat for the trout and grayling. The result is an explosion in the wild trout population and a much better fishing river for the angler. Such is the success of the scheme that Donnington has fishermen who return every year, with regulars making three of four visits in a season.

The fishing is available by the day for one or two fishermen. The beats is over 1000 yards long, double bank the whole way with a great variety of runs, riffles and pools.. For more information or to book on-line click http://www.fishingbreaks.co.uk/chalkstream/lambourn.htm#donnington Our resident Fishing Guide, John Stephens, is available for private or group tuition on request.

Brand New Lake View Rooms are Now Open!

We are delighted to announce that we have just opened 5 more rooms that are certainly comparable to the wonderful rooms in The Summer House. We have had some wonderful feedback from guests staying in the Summer house and we are looking forward to seeing customers great reaction to the Lake View rooms. We started building the rooms in 2009 and are extremely happy they are ready in time for the start of this years Golf season. Having the Lake View rooms means that Donnington Grove can now offer its customers 30 high standard rooms!

Each room has a welcoming feel about it and it’s own patio area outside where our guests can sit and enjoy the wonderful views of the lake. However don’t just take our word for it, have a look at some of the photos below or better yet why not book a visit.

Donnington Grove Testimonials

Over the past few weeks we have received some fantastic positive feedback from happy customers. Below are but a few comments customers have left us and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them for using Donnington Grove and we hope to see them all again very soon.

Angela Carroll stayed in our recently opened Summer House.
Just wanted to contact you to comment on our stay this weekend, we thought the room in the summer house was wonderful and we didn’t want to come home!! It was so peaceful sitting and taking in the wonderful view.  Your staff were all really friendly and we will definitely recommend you to our friends. We shall be back again!
Thank-you for a lovely weekend.
Angela Carroll

Mr Velotta also stayed in our Summer House.
I really enjoyed my stay at Donnington Grove. The summer house was perfect and I really enjoyed the golf course, I found the staff very friendly and more importantly the food was excellent..
I hope to be able to stay again in the future.
Joe Velotta

Mr Gillespie held a hospitality event at Donnington Grove to raise money for Asthma UK.
I just wanted to thank you very much for helping organise a wonderful day of golf last Friday. Everything went off perfectly. We managed to raise £510 for Asthma UK. The golf course was in excellent condition and received rave reviews from the group. Please pass on my thanks to Gareth and his team. I would also like you to pass on my thanks to the bar staff and catering staff. The food was first class. I have been to a lot of courses all over the country and had some pretty awful food. I must say Friday was a delight. Really good food and excellent service from breakfast onwards. All in all it was a tremendous day at a tremendous golf course. I would recommend a day out there to anyone without hesitation.
Thanks for your help and I look forward to playing there again soon.
John Gillespie

Top Golf Tips (6)

Learn to Chip with the Water Bottle Trick

Many golfers have trouble with chips and this is more than likely because they are trying to life the ball into the air and end up blading it across the green. Solid chips are achieved by hitting down into the back of the ball and not trying to life it up. Hopefully this drill will help you produce the types of chips you dream about!

Balance a club on the top of a water bottle and place your ball 12 inches behind the middle of the grip. Make your chip stroke without knocking the shaft off the bottle. You’ll need to descend into the call and keep your clubhead low to the group post-impact. If you try to scoop the ball or allow the club to pass your hands, you’ll send the club and the bottle flying. If you practice this but only a few times your chipping will improve dramatically.

The next golf tip is, ‘Drive For Show, Putt For The Dough’

Top Golf Tips (5)

Using Pool Cues to Improve Your Driving

There is nothing more frustrating than having to search through the woods or even wade through the lake to find your ball. All golfers want to have the natural ability to drive the ball off the tee far and straight! This drill will help you too improve your contact off the tee as well as helping you to eliminate the tendency to slice your shots.

The main reasons for these problems are that you can’t make contact on the centre of the clubface with your driver and this is costing you in distance and accuracy. You will know if you are doing this as when you hit the ball it will feel like a brick. If you hit it off the toe, you’ll feel a soft impact, like you whacked an old apple.

Lay four Pool Cues or anything equivalent on the ground vertically. The spaces between the cues should be slightly wider than your clubhead. Address an imaginary ball in the middle lane. If you tend to hit it off the toe, take practice swings making sure your clubhead travels through the far lane after impact. If you hit it off the heel (or tend to shank your irons), your downswing path should go through the near lane. After 10 practice swings, tee up a ball and swing away. Now that you’re slotted correctly, you’ll hit it square and the same distance every time.

The next golf tip is ‘Learn to Chip with the Water Bottle Trick’

Top Golf Tips (4)

Golf Tip 4: How to escape the sands of time

There is nothing worse than when you are playing a smooth round of golf and then all of a sudden you find yourself stuck in the sand! Countless times have I been on a winning streak and then held back by one bad turn in the pit. This tip is to help with that situation by playing the sand instead of the ball. Ironically the best way to get out of the sand is by ignoring the ball.

When you’re in a greenside bunker the club should never touch the ball. You want your wedge to toss the sand beneath and behind the ball onto the green. The ball will float out on a wave of sand right onto the green.

You must convince yourself that the ball is an afterthought on these shots. To practice this, stand in the flat of a practice bunker and place two tees opposite your left instep.

YOU DO NOT NEED A BALL! Hinge your wrists quickly on the backswing to create an upright path, then swing down and let your sand wedge hit about two inches behind the tees. Make a full follow-through, finishing with your hands at shoulder height. You’ll see that the tess have flown up and toward the hole along with the sand you sprayed. Repeat this several times and see how high and far you can make the tees fly! Then drop a ball down and repeat the swing. Hopefully this drill will make escaping the bunkers an easy stress free shot.

Next tip is how to use pool cues to improve your Driving!

Top Golf Tips (3)

Golf Tip 3: How to Stop Slices & Hooks

Slices or hooks aren’t cleaver, pretty or funny and no one likes them!  Slices and Hooks can cause a large amount of anger and frustration in any golfers games so here is a tip to try and get rid of them . . .  for good.

The main cause for golfers slicing and hook is that they are taking the club back off plane and aren’t making the necessary compensations on the way back down. So what can you do about this?

Lay your driver across your shoulders with the grip end to your left. Take your stance and make your regular backswing turn. Now, you may have seen this drill before, but hardly anyone does it correctly. Most golfers think that you should make your backswing turn so that the shaft points at the ball. That’s way too steep, and one of the reasons why you slice. Swinging the club too flat with the shaft pointing way beyond the ball is equally bad (and a potential source of your hook).

The correct way to perform this drill is to turn your shoulders and maintain your posture so that the shaft points at a spot just a foot on the other side of the ball. That’s a perfect on-plane position. Combine a nice, smooth backswing with this exact shoulder turn and you’ll be in perfect position at the top.

The next tip is ‘Help I’m Stuck In The Sand And I Can’t Get Out’

Top Golf Tips (2)

Golf Tip 2: How to make solid contact using your irons.

Your Drive is killer, you swing to die for, but you can’t seem to make solid contact with your irons? If this sounds like you, then this tip can help. The problem you are facing is that your swing is to ‘up-and-down’ which causes you to deliver either a fat shot or a wide slice. This is how to solve this problem.

A too-steep backswing creates two problems: 1) The resulting steep downswing will force you to stick the club in the ground before impact (fat), and 2) When you take the club back too high, your forearms tend to rotate down, cupping your left wrist and opening the clubface (slice). To swing the club properly around your body, think about keeping your elbows level at the top.

A good way to practise this is to take the club and find your position at the top of the swing. Then have a friend or a caddie grab another club from your bag and try and balance it between your arms. The club should rest across the insides of your elbows; if the club isn’t flat then you elbows aren’t straight. Use this technique to practise until you have the correct position at all time.
Tip 3 will be on How to Stop Slices & Hooks