BARNEY PUTTICK
PGA Golf Coach

Hi Everyone, March certainly started off wet, windy and playing golf assuming the course was open, definitely proved a challenge. I must admit to feeling slightly guilty as good fortune and family ties saw me out in the sunshine State of Florida for the first two weeks of the month. Apart from the weather it was just nice to tread on firm fairways and see the ball run, something which was happening here for the last couple of weeks. Whilst I was there the Arnold Palmer Invi

Hi Everyone, I saw from my fortunately sunny base in Portugal last week that we had our first real blast of winter at home. My guess is that there will be more to come, however, March is in view and with BST on 27th March thoughts of Spring and who is going to win The Masters can come to the forefront of our minds. This time of year is really one for keeping our game ticking over as playing presents challenges of wet lies, restricted movement, due to our extra layers and slo

December 2021 Newsletter

Hi Everyone, Great to see golf in full swing, all we need is for the weather to catch up. At least the much-needed rain has come down and hopefully some heat to follow as I can’t think of a day when I haven’t had at least three layers on and a woolly hat handy just in case. The interest in golf continues to grow and certainly I have been busy with all levels of player from professionals to novice golfers, all eager to fine tune their game. A common theme has been short game c

Hi Everyone, Well we are now in sight of being able to hit a ball in actual anger for the first time in 3 months. I would suggest for the opening game or two, to throttle back the power and keep the swing at say 65 - 70% power. I know over the last few months the golf media who love a Bryson DeChambeau story and that the only way to play golf is hit is as hard as is possible and consume as many calories as possible too! The key for most of us is to make solid contact with t

Hi Everyone, It certainly looks good for us to return to golf at the end of March and let us hope for only weather interruptions for the rest of this year and beyond. Lockdown has been tough for all of us, none more so than the players on the Ladies European Tour who had a truncated season in 2020 along with uncertainty as to whether the Tour would survive. Well, good news came last week with the announcement that a partnership with the LPGA had been finalised. The players ca

Hi Everyone, Looking out from my kitchen today it feels as if I am inside a snow globe. For those of you who do not remember this mainly Christmas ornament, when you shook it, you were treated to a snowy scene and back in the day this passed for entertainment! I have to say I am very glad TV viewing has moved on and I have been watching the rise and rise of World Number 1, Dustin Johnson. Since August when he won the Northern Trust event by an eyebrow raising 11 shots and bec

Hi Everyone, I appreciate it is very easy to feel demotivated at the moment with no imminent sign of being able to play golf

Hi Everyone, For me July and August have passed by so quickly with my diary brimming with golf swings in need of a spot of fine tuning and something I didn't think I would be saying this year, some golf trips. The weather has certainly been interesting with record high temperatures, some high winds and then a Bank Holiday weekend which had me rummaging around for my woolly hat! With David Short Golf I have been to the well appointed Belton Woods in Grantham to deliver three

Hi Everyone, Certainly levels of optimism in golf are completely different as we approach July than they were at the beginning of April. The pandemic had taken hold of the country and our economic future in golf and all areas looked bleak. Although I would be one of many saying as a society we must be careful, certainly there is some light at the end of the tunnel and it isn't a train! During our cautious return from lock down a curious phenomenon has taken place in golf an

Hi Everyone, To say how things have changed for everyone in the last few weeks would be a slight understatement. For all sporting folk this is a hugely frustrating time, however we can see by following the government guidelines, we will take the pressure off the NHS and hopefully come through the virus. The only debate in golf is how the schedule will look when we are allowed back on the courses. Clearly for the Professional Tours regular flights will need to be in place an

Hi Everyone, I thought I would put off my first Newsletter of the year until regular golf was on the menu in the UK. However, it looks like we are going to have to wait for our regular fix as the weather continues to disrupt play everywhere. We must count ourselves fortunate in our part of the world as at least some play has been possible, unlike parts of the Midlands and the North where regular closures have been ongoing since November. The Professional Tours have no real

Hi Everyone, Welcome to my last newsletter of the year, which has had some incredible sport played with golf, cricket, rugby and athletics to the fore. I have really enjoyed this year as I have met some great people and visited some super venues. My particular favourites were Biarritz, Perthshire and our recent trip to Mauritius which exceeded expectations in food, weather, golf and horse racing. With my own coaching I have been fortunate to work with some fabulous new stud

The clocks going back this year really has signalled the beginning of the end of Autumn and as they say in Game of Thrones "Winter is coming

Hi Everyone, All in all a good summer I feel this year. On a recent David Short Golf trip that my wife Jennie and I were hosting in Scotland, we had a first (certainly in my lifetime) of seven days wall to wall sunshine, which is unheard of north of the border! We played the wonderful Blairgowrie courses, which if you ever find yourself up there are well worth visiting along with Pitlochry and Creiff. The welcome we received was terrific and we had a member assigned to our

It's hard to believe we are in the second half of the year already and the sport this summer has been terrific.

Hi Everyone, Finally the green keepers prayers have been answered and this week looks great for giving our golf courses a good soaking. Everywhere I have been that does not have fairway watering, has been suffering, so allied to some nice heat next week we will have some nice growth. I have been fortunate with plenty of coaching opportunities and a couple of playing ones too. With some friends we played the excellent Burnham and Berrow near Bristol. A classic links test

Hi Everyone, The recent welcome rain, and the projected warmer weather over the coming weeks will really help the golf course recover to their best. It’s been a tough start for our hard working greenkeepers, what with the grass enduring last year’s long hot summer, followed by a cold dry winter and early Spring. The prospect of anything growing was as likely as growth on the top of my head ! For the first time in the golfing calendar , we have a major in May with the PGA Cham

Hi Everyone, Clocks have sprung forwards and officially summer time is here (with predictable cooler temperatures and for the golfing world the unofficial start to the season begins with this weeks Masters. The powers that be there are steadily turning The Masters into a festival of golf. A few years ago they brought in the great idea of Drive, Chip and Putt tournament for various age groups of boys and girls from age 7 upwards. There are regional heats and the winners head

Hi Everyone, Whilst the new rule changes haven't eliminated Brexit as a topic of conversation and debate, they have made a pretty good fist of it! For most of us the new caddy rules don't affect us, however the rules faux pas with this on the Professional Tours have been big talking points. The ruling says "The Players caddy must not deliberately stand in a location on or close to an extension of the line of play, behind the ball for any reason", if they do it is a penalty.