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January 2022
Dear TSGers, let's start by mentioning that 2021 was a watershed year for TSG! Not only did we have more events than ever posted on the site (1600+ games in total) but the site saw a record number of visitors with more than 280K golfers (yes, you read that correctly!)! More than a quarter of a million golfers visited the page during the 12 months Dec to Jan. An astonishing achievement when you consider there was no golf played in the UK between Jan and March.
We were also formally accepted as a FULL member of the Association of Golf Writers AND we won a global Woorank SEO marketing award for the growth in traffic against brands and websites in 152 countries. Cool! However, our attention now turns to 2022 and this year's TSG Majors. We plan to announce the dates in the February Newsletter, but we are accepting entries to this year's TSG Matchplay competition now. Join the group page now to express your interest and to receive updates on the event! Ian & The TSG Team
#TSGISAHAPPYPLACE #BEHAPPY
TSG Site News: NEW Logo & Registered Trademark
We are very pleased to formally share with you the NEW refreshed TSG logo!
A big thanks to graphic designer, Jan Lewis Creative. She was very sensitive to our 'love' for the established TSG identity, while completely understanding we wanted to see it refreshed but without losing its charm. We love it!
This coincided perfectly with the TSG brand being officially registered as a UK Trademark. Oh yes, we can now put a ® next to our name! #Cool
TSG Partner News: TSG named as Official Partner to The Cairns Cup
For those that don’t know, The Cairns Cup (aka “The Billy”) is a Ryder Cup style disability event. It came about from The Phoenix Cup 2018, when two teams of disabled golfers from the USA & Europe played a 'friendly' match at Rotonda Golf Club, Florida.
Mr. Billy Cairns was a team member of the travelling European team but unfortunately passed away suddenly, from a heart attack, the day after arriving in Florida. This made the competition very emotional and ensured that the camaraderie between the two teams was unprecedented.
The Cairns Cup CIC is now a not for profit company that will allow the event to grow and promote opportunities for Disabled Golfers in the USA and Europe.
Despite being postponed twice due to COVID, this event will now take place at The Shire in London w/c 7th May.
As an official partner, TSG will be promoting this event in the run-up to May! VISIT THE CAIRNS CUP WEBSITE >>
TSG Partner News: TSG partners with LEADING COURSES.com...
The Social Golfer has teamed up with European Tee Time Booking Engine and golf course review website, www.leadingcourses.com
Find and book tee times online and in real-time at the best golf courses in Europe and beyond! Leading Courses enables you to conveniently book tee times in Spain, Portugal, France and many other countries, direct from the TSG Main Menu.
Golfers can browse this extensive list of European Tee Time Booking options, thus allowing users to benefit from the feedback given by other nomadic golfers.
European Golfers can then book their tee time via our desktop website or from their smartphone.
Currently, the platform is available in 7 languages, with over 25K golf course reviews from 153 countries. At the time of writing Leadingcourse.com is being used by more than 400,000 golfers each month.
N.B. This page contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
TSG Site News: TSG Group pages
As regular TSG members know, we are always keen to improve the layout and function of the site. We have been working hard over the winter break to bring you new and improved pages and a better user experience. This week we finally relaunch our Group/Society pages.
As you will see, Group & Society Organisers will now have much more control of their group, with customisation options, an updated TSG email service, more leaderboard options (TBC) and less page skipping when reading comments. We plan to add more options to these pages during 2022 included multiple leaderboards and a Roll of Honours section.
Please bear with us as we implement these pages. Also, please feel free to make suggestions to the team on how we can improve these pages further.
TSG Site News: Members' Home Page & TSG Email
Here, we have not changed anything other than add additional buttons (in electric green) to the header bars on each topic section. This should make things much easier to navigate and locate page links.
We have also upgraded the internal site messaging system, making it more intuitive and easy to manage from your mobile phone. These changes will also help to speed up the time it takes for the site pages to load.
However, don't think we are now putting our feet up just yet. Next stop is the new TSG World Handicap Upgrades. No sleep for Adam, TSG lead developer in February and March then!
TSG Site News: PRO Membership Credit Card Payments
After only being able to offer payment via PayPal since 2011, we are now pleased to have integrated Visa, Mastercard and other debit card payments via the Stripe platform.
However, we are not doing away with PayPal. We're just giving our members more flexible options.
TSG Monthly Leaderboard: (sponsored by 2fore1.co.uk)
Ian Smith at Princes Golf Club in Kent with an EXCEPTIONAL = 39 pts.
Well done to Ian on his first leaderboard win since joining the site in only March last year. Welcome to the 2022 TSG Masters, Mr Smith!
H'cap change: 14.6 to 14.1
BUY YOUR OWN 'NAVY' TSG TOWEL >>
Also, a special mention to our November winner (there was no December newsletter), Mr John Barber, who also finished top of the leaderboard in November with a stunning 44 pts. I don't know JB.... you wait ten years and then two come along at once!
TSG Partner Offers: Golf Escapes
The Westin Resort Costa Navarino is a stunning 5 star, family-friendly destination, set in a charming area of Greece, with four superb golf courses and a wealth of fantastic facilities and leisure activities on offer.
May 2022: 4 Nights, Bed & Breakfast + 3 Rounds of Golf (The Dunes Course / The Bay Course / International Olympic Academy Golf Course / The Hills Course) + Buggies + Golf course transfers + Range balls + Early booking discount = £639pp
PS. don't forget to mention The Social Golfer when enquiring, for your special discount.
TSGers get £25 OFF your next booking (T&C's Apply).To find out more about other great golfing deals visit: www.golf-escapes.com
TSG User Survey: Your feedback is important...
As we are now all living in a review culture, like any business, we rely on feedback and interaction with our members. As such, we would love to get your view on how we're doing...
N.B. You must have a Gmail account in order to do this!
Course Review of the Month: The Black Horse Pub, Fulmer, Slough, Bucks
"Golf a different way!"...
Virtual Golf Lounge is a different golf experience as you play in a barn off a pub, with no walking or weather distractions. We were greeted by the owner and shown to our bay for the evening. There are 3 bays available and you book in hourly segments. We had our bay from 6 - 9 pm and were given a detailed show of how the system works (which even a complete technophobe like me could grasp quickly).
We ended up choosing St Andrews old course for our match but there were loads of courses you could play, as well as other games for group competitions (Nearest pin, Longest drives, Capture flags). Playing inside and towards a big screen was off-putting at first, because you feel a little enclosed, but there was a lot more room than you felt whilst swinging. To start, our distances were quite a lot shorter than expected but we did improve and relax as our session went on.
Food and drinks are available from the very friendly and knowledgeable staff. We only had burger and chips but there was quite an extensive menu. As a 3-ball, we took nearly two and a half hours to complete St Andrews. This was with a lot of chatting to the owners and eating food during our game so I think you would comfortably knock over 30 mins off that, if not more, if you were just concentrating on your play.
I've hit into a few simulators before and I can say this was easily the best I've played, with the Trackman system telling you everything you would want about your striking and probably some stuff you'd rather not know....would happily go back, especially on a dark evening or a wet weekend!
TSG Blog Pages: Recent popular articles by the TSG team & members
Whenever we can, we like to review courses, Golf equipment, and the latest Golf technology and apps available online. Visit our Golf Blog pages for the latest insights and more...
• A Touch of Golf - John Lyons Interveiw >
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