Greetings golfers,

Welcome to another exciting edition of our weekly newsletter, bringing you the latest from the world of golf and a lesson in patience and why it helps on the golf course. We also have lots happening in the shop at the moment too, so be sure to pop your head in next time you're here and take a look around.

Enjoy the read. 

Patience...

Is a virtue! We're brought up with this as being good for our everyday life, but many golfers don't realise how important being patient is during our competitive rounds. Many things can test our patience, from simply dropping a shot on the 1st hole of our medal round to the group in front losing a ball and not waving us straight through. There's an old saying in golf that "many great rounds start with a bogey". Why is this? Henrik Stenson made a bogey at the 1st at Royal Troon last year in his last round 63 whilst playing partner Phil Mickleson made birdie.

Did it bother The Iceman? Of course not!

Perhaps it takes the pressure off or simply relaxes the player. Perhaps it makes him more determined. One thing is for sure it should never make you angry? It's too early in the round to be angry or frustrated so you just brush it off. Later in the round if a bogey makes you angry it normally means disaster, leading to a run of dropped shots until the round is ruined and you relax again. At this point your good form from earlier in the round returns and you finish off playing well.

So, how do you stay patient in the first place? Often, this can be achieved or ruined before actually setting foot on the course. When you are driving to the club, have you given yourself enough time so that you are relaxed and not impatient behind the wheel? When on the range before your game, don't worry about the shots you're hitting just treat it as a warm up. This might seem strange but many good players have shot fantastic scores in competition after hitting the ball really badly in warm-up.

Slow play has become a big issue in golf but what is it? Slow play is not when a round takes 5 hours, although many of you will be super frustrated or even angry long before the end of such a game. Slow play is when someone takes too long over a shot, or leaves their bag at the wrong side of a green, or marks their card before leaving the green. If the group ahead of you is waiting for the group ahead of them, they are not being slow and therefore you mustn't let it bother you.

How many times does one bad hole lead to another? Forget it. Be more patient and you will hit fewer bad shots and your scores will improve.

Click here to book a lesson if you feel you need help in this department.

Latest from the world of golf

What a weekend at the Ladies British Open and at the WGC Bridgestone. First Korean IK Kim showed real courage and nerves of steel to win the first major of her career. Then Hideki Matsuyama shot a final round 61 to win by 5.

Kim made big news for all the wrong reasons 5 years ago when she missed an 11 inch putt on the 72nd hole of the ANA Inspirational. She lost the play-off for her first major and was obviously devastated. It took a long time for her to get over it, but taking a 6 shot lead into the final round at Kingsbarns was always going to test her nerve. It's never easy having a big lead but her -1 under par 71 and -18 under total did enough to hold off the charge of English player Jodi Ewart Shadoff who shot a closing 64. She certainly buried the memories of that little putt as, time after time, she holed from 3 or 4 feet to keep the round going. Fantastic!

Matsuyama was the only player on the range late on Saturday night, only 2 shots off the lead but not at all happy with his game. He practiced until he felt he was happy, but returned on Sunday morning and his warmup was awful. His first tee shot disappeared into the left rough, at which point he was thinking 81 was more likely, but he scrambled a par and then chipped in for eagle on the 2nd and he then went crazy making 7 birdies and no dropped shots.

Patience again doing the business!