Mark Janes Golf Academy : professional golf instruction at Chessington Surrey

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15th November 2004

October/November News -

YMG Junior Golf

Both Gary and I are really busy with the children’s classes coming into the winter months. We have just started two new Cadet Classes in November which fantastic news considering the current weather. Due to holidays and general Christmas festivities the next Cadet start dates will be on the following dates:

Saturday January 8th 2005 9.00am – 10.00am

Sunday 9th January 2005 2.00pm – 3.00pm

Saturday 12th February 10.00am – 11.00am

To book your place on any of the above classes please call Gary on 020 83919038 or pop into the golf shop and speak to any member of staff.

Gary is building a first class reputation within junior coaching, interest and numbers are higher than ever and this is down to Gary’s enthusiasm and terrific teaching ability with the children.

Mark Holiday

I am taking my holiday a little later than usual this year and will be away from the 15th November, returning to work on Tuesday 30th November. I wont tell you were I am going, you know I don’t like to wind you guys up, but apparently the Singapore Slings are rather nice, oops sorry about that!! I look forward to seeing you all from the 30th November on my return.

MJGA General

I guess a huge amount of our clients realise the importance of working on their game during the winter months. As instructors our best results are achieved when our students get a balance between lessons, practice and play. During the summer people tend to play a huge amount and rarely practice, by the end of the summer they have started to drift back to their old habits. So please use this time of year to get the balance right and tidy that technique on the range so you can take to the fairways in the Spring with total confidence.

My winter teaching times this year are:

Tuesday 10.00am - 9.00pm

Wednesday 9.30am - 9.00pm

Thursday 9.30 am – 5.30pm

Friday 9.00am - 3.00pm

Saturday 9.00am – 5.00pm

As always if you don’t get the time you require or want to contact me personally then please feel free to email me on mark@markjanes.com or phone my direct number on 020 83919038.

I want to also thank you all for so many kind recommendations over the past few months. It’s always hugely rewarding to be recommended to your friends or colleagues; it makes all the hard work even more worth while. We are fortunate that recommendations make up a huge part of our new business, so please keep spreading the word and telling your friends.

Christmas is coming!!

Anyone who is thinking about Santa and maybe some new clubs in the stocking this Xmas, needs to give our club-fitting expert a call. John Dempster is the man who knows everything there is to know about golf clubs. Club-fitting is a complimentary service and a must when trying to select a new set of clubs. John will make sure that you find some clubs that suit your individual requirements and at a price that suits your budget. At the end of the day we are all different shapes and sizes, so we can’t all be using the same set off the rack, the clubs need to be personalised for you.

Christmas lesson vouchers make a great present for your friends and family and are available now. Vouchers can be made up from as little as £19, 6 for 5 (one free lesson) offer on all individual lessons.

We will be available for lessons throughout the holidays, subject to a couple of slight alterations to our usual schedule, please call for more information.

10th September 2004

August/September news - London Triathlon 1st August

I must start by thanking anyone who sponsored me on my little exercise adventure on Sunday. I really appreciate the support you have all shown and because of your support Cancer Research have benefited to the tune of roughly £1,800. If you have not seen me recently and were unaware of my little fund raiser please get in contact and donations will be greatly received and forwarded to Cancer Research.

I finished in a respectable 3 hours and 2 minutes, about 20 minutes quicker than expected, so I am really pleased with my first effort. Next time I will be using a road bike; my mountain bike was not making life any easier on the 40km cycle ride. As for the swimming, well that was more like kick boxing, with legs and arms going all over the place, mind you I’m big enough and certainly ugly enough to have fought my corner!! Even the dreaded dock water, which I tried not to drink too much of didn’t finish me off!! It has to be said the run was ok, apart from the heat, only 28 degrees, maybe some warm weather training in Spain needed next year!!

If any of you guys were among the 7,000 participants this weekend, please get in touch and we can swap notes. For those of you inspired by this note, I am more than happy to get some entrance forms for next years event, please, please don’t hesitate to call me, I will be awaiting your calls.

In closing, on behalf of all the team at the academy we wish you a successful summers golfing and let’s hope the weather helps us out and the sun keeps shining!

If you are away on holiday this month then we wish you a relaxing and fun time with your family. But (I don’t want sympathy now) we are still here working our fingers to the bone, so if you need any help then please call us now. Personally I am away just the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of the month, apart from that I am here with my usual busy schedule from Tuesday to Saturday, late nights on Tuesday and Wednesday until 9.30pm. I will be away for my holiday in late November so plenty of time to fine tune your games until then.

We look forward to seeing you all soon and helping you enjoy your golf to the maximum.

Happy golfing!!

Mark, John and Gary

10th July 2004

July News - Teaching Conference

On the 3rd and 4th of June Gary and I attended a superb teaching conference at the Belfry Golf Club. During the two day conference we listened to presentations from Butch Harmon and his three brothers, Craig, Dick and Bill, Dr Karl Morris, Pia Nilsson, Maureen Madill, Guy Delacave and Scott Cranfield. I have always believed in continuous learning and self-improvement, so attending such conferences are key to the development of MJGA. The moment we feel we know everything and stop improving as instructors is the day we shut up shop!

Having spent most of their childhood growing up around Ben Hogan, Jack Burke and Tommy Armour among others, the Harmon brothers have certainly learned from some of the best pro’s in the business. They all bring a very relaxed approach to teaching, which I have always believed helps the student to relax, enjoy the lesson and obviously improve their technique. Butch spent some time going through what he believes has changed in Tigers game and if you look at his current swing, then trust me that is quite a lot. It’s too much to go through now, but if you are interested give me a call and I’ll talk you through it!!

Dr Karl Morris has a PHD in Sports Psychology and is a master trainer of NLP. Having always been interested in sports psychology, I found this talk particularly interesting. It has always fascinated me how some people can play great golf on the range and then leave it there, when others find it easier to tap into their best golf on the big occasion. I am keen to learn more and indeed help my clients with this vital part of the game, I believe the best coaches in the future will be helping students with the mechanics and the psychology side of their games. NLP is a fascinating subject and something that I am currently developing my skills on, basically it’s a way of studying how people excel in any given field and teaching these methods to others, so watch this space!!!

In general the academy is buzzing with established clients and many, many new students. Our YMG Junior Programme is really expanding and new start dates are being published all the time so please look on the notice boards at the centre or on the website for more details.

20th June 2004

May/June News - Coming Soon!!

A new programme of golf instruction for you ladies will be launched very soon. We will be running new classes starting on a couple of mornings per week, the classes will run for eight weeks per course. All the instruction is tailor made for you ladies, so we guarantee it will be hugely beneficial to your game and a great deal of fun at the same time. I will be in touch very soon to announce start dates and times, please call us on 020 83919038 for more information.

29th April 2004

April News - No More Slice!!

Visiting the right hand side of the course too often? Is that controlled fade becoming an out of control slice?

Then we at the MJGA have the answer!! I have recently purchased the NO MORE SLICE teaching aid.

As a rule I’m not that big on teaching aids, but this is a real gem of a product and well worth the investment.

It can be used in many different ways, depending on which fault you are trying to cure. But the most effective and common use for it is to cure the classic out to in swing that sociable golfers who slice and meet up on the right hand side of the course suffer from. I will explain more when I see you but basically it allows you to swing at normal speed (or even slower) whilst giving you an incentive to keep the club tracking into the ball on more of an inside path. If you get aggressive and the club moves back onto it’s more familiar out to in track then you hit the tubing. You get to build up an awareness of what you are doing whilst actually hitting balls, unlike so many drills that you do without hitting the ball. It bridges the gap between doing the drill in your practice swing and actually hitting balls, therefore learning so much quicker and more efficiently.

For more information about the NO MORE SLICE please feel free to contact me by phone or email and will get rid of that slice for ever!

15th March 2004

March News - Beginner Group Lessons

Beginner Group Lessons are proving as always to be hugely popular this year. We have had many classes throughout the early part of the year, giving people the perfect platform to get involved and progress to the course very quickly. Classes are starting all the time over the coming months, some of these dates are posted on the website under the lessons section. More dates wile posted throughout the summer. What is becoming very popular is several friends getting together and planning their own group, this gives flexibility as to when you have the lessons and learning with friends is always fun and maybe the incentive you require. Why not contact us now and see how you maybe some friends can get involved in this cost effective way of learning how to play golf.

Our junior golf programme is always busy but especially so at the moment, with the sun out and also our involvement with the Kingston Festival of Sport. This runs from the Saturday 8th May until Saturday 15th May and gives local children a chance to have ago at golf for FREE!! Yes I really mean it, this costs nothing and all the equipment is supplied. So if you or your friends children would like to attend a fun filled hours lesson at the academy then contact us now as places are filling up quickly. Dates are shown below and on the junior section of the website. During this week we will explain to any interested parties how the children can get involved with our regular Young Masters Golf programme that runs throughout the year.

25th February 2004

February News - Demo Days at Chessington Golf Centre

We are holding several club demo days throughout the year. It’s the perfect opportunity to come along and try the very latest technology the golfing world has to offer. Our team of professionals will be on hand to give you impartial advice on what suits your individual requirements. With a comprehensive range of products and a price guarantee that simply won’t be beaten, it’s the perfect combination for all your golfing needs!

Our next demo days will be on the following dates:
Thursday 2nd July 2004 – Wilson – MacGregor – Ping – Taylor Made - Cobra
Saturday 24th July 2004 – Yonex – Mizuno – Hippo
Thursday 23rd September 2004 – MacGregor – Taylor Made – Wilson - Ping

All these demo days are complimentary and we can even custom fit the clubs to suit you at no extra charge, our team of professional and friendly staff are here to help you in any way we can.

15th January 2004

New Year News - Teaching Seminars

Following on from our trip to Germany last October when we attended the European Teaching Conference we will be taking ourselves off to the Belfry in Sutton Coldfield on 3/4th June to the PGA Teaching Conference. We are thoroughly looking forward to listening to a fantastic line up of presentations including Butch Harmon and his brothers from the USA, Pia Nilsson Swedish National Coach and Dr Karl Morris, renowned mental coach. Attending these seminars is a vital aspect of the academies development and another way of keeping ourselves attune to the ever changing world of golf instruction. If you feel there is a question you would like us to ask Butch Harmon or indeed one of the other speakers, please email your thoughts and I will endeavour to get them answered.

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