GOLF

PRO TIPS

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Using the full width of the tee is important as this can change the visual shape of the hole, so don’t just walk on to the tee and tee your ball up in the middle. As you can see from Picture 2 we have taken advantage of the two divots in front of the ball to help with the direction we wish to hit our ball on this par 3. This is legal and used by nearly every tour player! You can also do this when winter rules are in operation at your golf club, making sure you move your ball on the fairway so a given object, pine needle, leaf etc is in front of your ball between your ball and your target, the same way as the divots on the teeing area.

THE PUTTING GREEN

A very popular way to putt is by aiming a line you have added to your ball in the direction you want to putt. Many golf ball manufacturers are producing balls with, one, two and three lines on the ball, proving this really works and is totally legal.

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Here is your chance to WIN a 30 minute Golf Lesson with The Gurus! Just answer the following question correctly and your name will be entered into a draw to take place on the 1st of February.

What is the name of Tiger Woods son?

Please email your answer to sales@algarvegolfguru.com To book a golf lesson, please contact Richard or Eddie and mention Simply Algarve as a referral. E: sales@algarvegolfguru.com W: algarvegolfguru.com

Richard Hudson and Eddie Charnock, Algarve Golf Guru, PGA Professionals give us a few tips and tricks to use the next time we hop on the golf course

One thing a golfer needs to understand is how to use the rules to his advantage. If you watch the top players on tour you will see on many occasions they will ask for a ruling as they are looking for a free drop/relief from an impossible lie!

In this article we are not looking to break any rules, but we are going to introduce you to a few tips and tricks that are totally legal that can help you to lower your score!

THE TEEING AREA

The teeing area is where you start each hole. It has a defined size and shape that is a two club length deep rectangle measured from the tee markers you are playing your round from. You can stand outside the teeing area as long as your ball is within it.

As you can see from Picture 1, being allowed to stand outside the teeing area can be used to your advantage should the tee marker be aiming in the right direction. This will assist you greatly with your aim!

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Relax, we look after your tax a airs, while you enjoy your life.

Parting words...

Jake Cleaver discusses his favourite colour and its connection to everything around us, more specifically, wild flowers and the buttercup!

You can Have you noticed probably tell that as you get by my spiky older hair in my people stop

‘mugshot’ asking you important questions, like: “what is your above that favourite colour?”. When my favourite was the last time somebody asked you that? We seem to colour is be concerned with so many other things when we grow green. It’s a up and it seems a shame to me, as I believe you can tell very fortunate quite a lot about someone favourite, at by what colour they would choose to paint their soul. this time of You can probably tell by my year especially spiky hair in my ‘mugshot’ above that my favourite colour is green. It’s a very fortunate favourite, at this time of year especially, as once a little water has been added, Mother Nature sticks in her paintbrush and gets to work colouring it in everywhere, until the ground is covered in a thick carpet of lush green foliage, and the sun shines down providing the beautiful shadings of light and dark as the green mingles harmoniously with its beams. And once we’ve got this layered base background, nature can then afford to start to play and decorate a little with dabs of other colours dotted here and there. The second colour on nature’s painting palette is always yellow, and soon speckles of bright golden flowers can be seen shining like stars and highlighting the constellations in the universe of green. The classics that are largely responsible for the carpet are what I like to think of as ‘lucky leaf clovers’, without them things wouldn’t be nearly as green. People think of them as ‘weeds’, which really baffles me. They say they are an invasive species and aren’t native. But I mean, how long does somebody have to live in a country for them to be accepted as a national? They’ve been here as long as I can remember - and I’m Portuguese. Gardeners complain that they are not meant to be here and are so difficult to get rid of.. But if they grow naturally and are SO difficult to get rid of, it seems a lot like they are really ‘meant to be here’ to me. The green they provide on the landscape is important for lots of reasons. It absorbs and reflects back the sunlight which leads to a cooler climate and makes it a lot more likely that it will rain more. And when it does rain the more roots there are in the soil ensure the water can’t run away and escape out to sea, and instead, stays around bringing up the groundwater table - leading to even more green areas. This all helps to slow down global warming as (like all things green) they take a breath of carbon dioxide deep down into the ground putting it back where it belongs, and exhale fresh air for us all to breath. These mini green forests also provide the perfect microclimates for all kinds of creatures, great and small, to thrive. Not to mention, how their abundant floral displays provide the much needed nectar necessary to keep the local pollinators businesses a buzz.

I feel like people try too hard to grow things and have perfect gardens and lawns (that were just invented by French and English aristocrats as a status symbol to show off how wealthy they were, as it showed they could afford to dedicate vast areas of their land, and to have so many servants spending time mowing and tending these delicate little patches of grass, that didn’t provide anything useful,

like food, or even flowers) when really.. The real magic just

grows at your feet. Just look around. The wildflowers come and go naturally as the season winds on - and I’m always amazed at how the different colour combinations come at different times. It’s like they all adhere to a strict dress code and there’s always a natural underlying theme going on. All we have to do.. is notice.

But back to those lucky clovers and their yellow flowers - that open up to catch the sun beams, and close and hang down like trumpets in the shade. I used to call them ‘Boa Noites’, which is slightly concerning in retrospect as when I was a kid I used to suck on loads of them. The stems anyway, not the flowers. They are obviously okay though because I’m still awake (unless, of course, this is all a dream? Possible.. is the world really filled with moving flowers??). I don’t eat them anymore as they taste horrible. Too sour. I think that may have been the point back in the day, as when I was younger my cousins used to get ‘Nuclear Warhead’ sweets from America, which were especially designed to be sour and disgusting. At least Boa Noites are considerably cheaper and a lot more readily available. It could also be that tastes change when you get older, I mean, I’m convinced Kinder eggs used to taste WAY better too. Plus, I now like mushrooms and tomatoes. Who would have thought it?

These flowers are actually called ‘Bermuda Buttercups’, and I think you should go out for a walk and try to get lost in a triangle of them. I like to think of the sea of green that they provide as ‘the snow of the Algarve’, as there’s nothing more satisfying than putting on your Wellington boots and going stomping through a big field of them. You can wade through sinking your feet in deeper with every footstep drawing a trail behind you. And when you get tired, if you are brave enough, lie down and sink deep into the green, wave your hands up and down and try carving out whatever the green version is of a ‘Snow Angel’ is?

So, have you thought about it? I know it’s probably been a while, but what is your favourite colour? Start asking people again, and keep an eye on the countryside for the next few months - the wild and wonderful flowers are coming, and they are bound to start tinting the ground with yours.