‘David Leadbetter Golf Academy Opens at La Manga’
Monday 15th September 2014 was the official opening of the new La Manga Club Practice Center and David Leadbetter Golf Academy and was attended by a host of local golf dignitaries and representatives from the USPGA BUT the thrill on the day was that David Leadbetter himself conducted the official opening, the ‘driving off ‘ceremony and the passed on important tips to a number of ‘willing’ golfers of all ages.
The facilities are second to non in Europe and as you would expect the academy includes all the latest state of the art equipment to analyse both the swing and putting techniques and a group of 8 people had paid €2500 for a weeks stay, play and practise including personal tuition from David Leadbetter himself.
I had the opportunity to speak with David Leadbetter who was remarkably approachable and signed a few golf hats for me for use on charity days and was quite open when interviewed about a number of golf related topics and for example when asked if he thought Nick Faldo had 6 ‘majors’ in him when they started to work together stated “ I thought he had perhaps 3 majors in him but he was so focused and dedicated to the cause, to the point of being disliked by many, that it was no surprise when he won more majors”.
It was a pleasure to be at the opening event and being so close at hand to see the ‘master at work’ and was one of the highlights of my golf career.