BARNEY PUTTICK
PGA Golf Coach

Hi Everyone, My wife Jennie and I had a wonderful festive break with our friends at David Short Golf. On Xmas day I decided to have a photo of myself on the most photographed hole in Europe, the 17th on the Royal Course at Vale do Lobo. We are now on our annual visit to Florida and flying here as snow is falling at home still brings a childlike joy to me, which agreed it shouldn't! In the news recently there has been a lot of activity in Parliament and a bit of chit chat arou

Hi Everyone, The year is drawing swiftly to a close and 2018 has been another excellent year of golf. So many highlights to look back on with my favourites being Georgia Hall's terrific win in the Ladies Open at Lytham and Europe's stress free Ryder Cup win and the joyful pairing of Tommy & Francesco aka Moliwood! The current World Number 1 (although this accolade is a bit of a revolving door at the moment), Brooks Koepka performed the amazing feat of winning 2 Majors in the

Hi Everyone, November is doing what it's supposed to do and offering us grey, short days, so roll on Christmas I say. Although time for our golf in the UK is curtailed, the professional tours are still in full swing and the European Tour started its 2019 season last week! It has been the month of the comeback with the first wins for five years for forty somethings Lee Westwood and Matt Kucher. The "Kuch" as he is affectionately known, along with what sounds like booing from

Hi Everyone, Finally the Ryder Cup is hoving into view and Captain Thomas Bjorn has made his picks to make up the Team of 12. He certainly opted for experience, the quartet of Casey, Poulter, Stenson & Garcia have played 20 Ryder Cup matches between them and the Captain felt for the balance of the team this battle hardened foursome would blend perfectly with the rookies. I have to say it is tough on Cabrera Bello and Matt Wallace with the latter winning three events this ye

Hi Everyone, Just returned from Scotland having had the pleasure at being at not just one but two Opens. My wife Jennie and I attended the third round of the The Open Championshipt at Carnoustie and saw some incredible golf. What surprised us both was the size of some of the greens, which were much smaller than we thought when we saw them on tv. Add in some challenging run offs (all shaved to within an inch of their lives), cavernous bunkers, a stiff breeze and you have an

Hi Everyone, The long hot summer (not tiring of writing that yet!) of sport continues after a brilliant World Cup, exciting Wimbledon and The Open Championship takes centre stage at Carnoustie. The tee times were released on Monday and almost the first one we look for is Tiger Woods who is playing his first tournament on these shores since the 2015 Open. Hard to believe it's nearly 20 years since he finished 7th at Carnoustie in the Open made famous by Jean Van de Velde's m

Hi Everyone, It is incredible to think how quickly our courses go from being a quagmire to hard and fast running. With our recent dry spell (back to back days in UK speak!) the fairways finally have some run, as do our chips coming onto the greens. Along with the warmer air encouraging our balls to fly further, a definite review on the clubs we use and landing points of shots is a good idea. The good news is that the approach to the greens are now predictable in terms of w

Hi Everyone, Only a few days ago we were searching out the suntan cream and shorts only to be back in thermals and waterproofs before you could say "It's lovely for the time of year". However, I am very confident temperatures will move back into double figures and although keeping your waterproofs handy is a good tip throughout the year, we should only need two layers rather than the seven, I had on to coach the other day! The professional tours are well underway and I was p

Hi Everyone, With British Summer Time underway and the lighter evenings, we certainly have the look of Spring if not the feel! I appreciate it has been a long winter this year in the UK and I feel very fortunate to have missed quite a bit of it. I am particularly pleased to have swerved the beast from the east by being in the Far East, Thailand in fact on an excellent trip with my friends from David Short Golf. We visited the amazing island of Phuket, home of my now favour

Hi Everyone, I was very fortunate to spend several weeks in January in Florida, visiting with my wife's lovely Mum and Dad and enjoying some super golf on mud free fairways. Highlight of this trip was playing the uber exclusive Isleworth Golf Club billed as Florida's version of Augusta. My great friend Kevin organised this treat. The golf course as you can imagine was terrific and the greens were lightening quick. Quite a few tournament Professionals make their home here

Hi Everyone, And although when the snow comes everywhere looks Christmas Card perfect, when it goes that's a different story! Looks like we will be playing from this week and temperatures will be nearer double figures than zero, which is good news. However, the cold air does affect the flight of our golf ball and not in a good way. Basically the cold air is denser than warm air, add in reduced mobility due to extra clothing (even if the postman is still wearing shorts) and

Hi Everyone, In theory as we get into November the golf season is beginning to wind down, however on the European Tour the 2018 season has already begun, just 4 days after the grand stand finish at the Tour Championship in Dubai. Justin Rose looked as if he had the momentum with him as he took control on the final day. However, as we all know this game has a way of jumping up and biting you. Some unforced errors on the back nine, meant Tommy Fleetwood won the Race to Dubai

Hi Everyone, Autumn is really kicking in now and the courses are really looking a picture with all the leaves turning. Spare a thought for our hardworking greenkeepers though as after the golden turning period the leaves start falling off in industrial quantities, leaving guess who to hoover them up. On a personal front, I have had a really enjoyable late summer run starting in August taking a a David Short Golf Group to Herefordshire and Monmouthshire. It is a part of the

Hi Everyone, It is amazing that we have already reached the last Major of the year. Interesting that the powers that be are changing the dates for 2019, so the PGA will fall in May. I think this is a good thing as in August it does tend to get forgotten about, to back this up, can anyone name the last 5 PGA Champions? Of course, this is my last chance to showcase my Nostradamus like predicting skills and give everyone an idea what player to put their pension fund on! Like

Hi Everyone, This week's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale to me marks the height of the British Summer. One of my up and coming students, the current Bedfordshire amateur champion, Jack Hawksby gave me a nice start to The Open by winning one of the regional qualifiers at Sandy Lodge with a super 67. This put him in the Final Qualifier joining some experienced players from the Challenge and European Tours. Young Jack, (still a teenager) played at the superb Hollinwell in N

Hi Everyone, The start of the summer is normally announced by flaming June, however at the moment it is definitely raining June! I am sure by the middle of the month we can venture on to the golf course thinking more about “have I put sun cream on” rather than whether I have water proofs and a spare towel in the bag. The professional game is as ever providing some amazing golf for us all to aspire to and this year’s Open will be really fascinating with hopefully all the m

Hi Everyone, And that old saying of "ne'er cast a clout till May be out" was never truer than for May 2017! I have had thermals, roll necks and woolly hats on this month as well as applying sun screen and looking out my deck chairs! It now looks like our waterproofs will not be required for the foreseeable, although courses everywhere are in real need of some water. Speaking of golf courses, I have been fortunate enough to play at some super venues recently with Woburn & Th

Hi Everyone, April to all golfers means just one thing.... The Masters. The majority of viewers have not been to Augusta in person, however years of watching on TV means we know all the holes, especially Amen Corner, so well. It is without doubt on all golfers bucket list to go there and experience it live just once. As ever selecting a winner is a challenge, although it is hard to look past World Number One and winner of the last three tournaments, Dustin Johnson. For the

Hi Everyone, Although the recent bracing breezes and the odd drop of precipitation tells us otherwise, March heralds the beginning of summer in my mind, as the clocks go forward later in the month. It is great having more light now either end of the day and although we are a little way from mass budding of trees and plants, there is a feel that winter is drawing to a close. The big golf news is the proposed rule changes and making them simpler to understand and implement, so

Hi Everyone, Good fortune and family ties take my wife and I to Florida at this time of year and I am sure you will all be glad to know the region is enjoying unseasonably warm weather. Temperatures consistently in the 70's (they prefer fahrenheit over here) have made our trip even more fun. We attended the mind boggling PGA show in Orlando, which to give you an idea on size, boasts "ten miles of aisles". Basically everything pertaining to golf is there and some things you