Saturday, 22 March 2008 00:00
With the tour back to Europe for a 3 week stretch I was out to Maderia this week for the practice days of the BPI Portugal Madeira Open. Sunshine and showers was the theme of the 2 days which made it difficult to set up the cameras and SAM puttlab we use when out at events.
With the field containing many players from the challenge tour rankings, as this is one of smaller events on the schedule, it was an ideal opporuntity for many to pick up some new equipment or fine tune their putting.
The new Donna model that Yes! Golf have launched is proving to very popular. Ian Garbutt, who is also a pupil, will be using one this week. Ian was custom fitted at 32 inches with 40g counterbalance weight in the grip end. Interestingly Dimon Dyson after picking up the Donna for the first time finished 3rd recently in the Maybank Malaysian Open.
In between the showers, but hampered by the wind, we spent some time with Steve Alker and Stuart Manley on the SAM system passing on some vital info to help fine tune the practice and preparation.
David Horsey, a pupil who uses the callie model, was also at Madeira. We met up to follow up on the work we did a few weeks back on his recent visit to the studio. We were essentially working on his tempo, rhythm to help him with his pace control, which will be vitally important on the undulating Sant de Serra greens this week. James Hepworth who uses a Yes! Golf Carloyne Long Putter also dropped by to do some work.
All in all a a busy couple of days at an event which kick starts a lot of travel for me as the tour comes back to Europe.
