Last weekend Hassocks Golf Club member Denis Nixon collected his new PING Karsten irons following his custom fit session on FlightScope (click here to find out more about PING's irons). Denis' old set of irons were the TaylorMade RocketBallz irons which were only three years old but had not been customed fitted.

Have your irons been customed fitted? Did you buy irons 'off the rack' like Denis? If yes, the results below will make interesting reading.

We started Denis' custom fit session by recording shots with his old 7-iron (Please see the first screen shot below). Denis averaged 139.5 yards with his 7-iron. The most notable factor of Denis' shots was the launch angle - Denis' average launch angle was 14.7 degrees. The recognised optical launch angle with a 7-iron with an 80 mph swing speed is 17 to 19 degrees.

After trying several options in head and shaft the best performing combination was the PING Karsten. We were able to increase Denis' launch angle to 17.0 degrees, a huge increase of 2.3 degrees. This resulted in a 10 yard increase in total distance for Denis (Please see the second screen shot below). However, extra distance is only of benefit with increased accuracy, which we were also able to achieve this for Denis. We reduced Denis' spin axis from 4.5 degrees down to 2.5 degrees, a decrease of 80% (Spin Axis is the measurement FlightScope uses to measure the accuracy/'straightness' of a golf shot).

Would you like to hit your irons further and straighter? Click here to book a custom fit session.

TaylorMade ex-demo SALE

We are currently selling our 2014 TaylorMade ex-demo drivers, fairways and utilities. We have stock of SLDR and JetSpeed models at huge discounts. Come in-store to what is available.

FootJoy Scratch Cards 

Would you like to win a prize from FootJoy?

Simply try on a pair of FootJoy Contour Series golf shoes and get fit to receive a FREE FootJoy Scratch card. Reveal three FootJoy logos at win a prize!

Why not combine this amazing chance with trying our new stock of 2015 FootJoy golf shoes fresh from being delivered this week?

Plus, enter FootJoy's Grand Prize Draw to win a place in the 2015 BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am at Wentworth.

January Stableford

Congratulations to Scott Kemsley (pictured here) on winning the January Stableford. This was Scott's first competition win and handicap reduction since becoming a member of Hassocks Golf Club. Scott returned a very good score of 39 points in very difficult conditions to win the competition by one point from Matt Roberts. Greg Burt finished third with a Stableford score of 37 points, a very impressive return playing off a handicap of 2 (Gross 71).

The competition standard scratch score reflected the difficult playing conditions on the day and increased by 2 shots to 70. Following his competition win Scott's handicap was reduced by one shot to 19.0. Two people recorded 2's during the competition. Howard Burt and Mark Simmons shared the pot and each won £28.

I would like to pass on my personal congratulations to Scott. Scott has recently started a course of lessons and has been putting in a lot of hard work and practice. The changes we have made to his technique have clearly started to work, I'm sure this is not the first handicap reduction of the year! His face my become very familiar in the newsletter! Well done, Scott.

January Midweek Medal 

Tim Osman claimed victory in the January Midweek Medal last Tuesday in dreadful conditions. Tim returned a very creditable score of nett 71 to win the competition by one shot. Senior Captain Keith 'Tiger' Cowley finished in second place. The podium was completed by Paul Gumbrell with a nett score of 75. The competition became a 'handicap reductions only' because of the difficulty of the playing conditions. No 2's were recorded on the day; therefore the pot rolls over to the next midweek competition on Tuesday, 20 January - January Midweek Stableford. 

Parafix Match

Last Sunday the Parafix Team played away to Chichester Golf Club in the 5th match of the Parafix League. Unfortunately, the habit of winning at home and losing away continued, despite the result being very close again. The end result finished 3-2 to Chichester. Please see the pairings and results below. The match has meant our record is now played 5, won 2 and lost 3. Greg Kemsley and Scott Kemsley won 7&5; Danny Burchell and Paul Mayes lost 6&5; Steve Baugh and Matthew Roberts lost 2&1; Lee Murray and Rikki Jackson won 2&1 and Robert Temple-Smithson and Pete Mullett lost 2&1.