Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Golf Tips For Choosing A Driver

By Lea Hairson

The irons weigh from 14½ ounces for the No. 2 to 16½ for the No. 9. Sand wedges will go up to 17½.
Shafts of clubs are graded in three types, flexible, medium, and stiff. Most of the bigger, stronger pros use the stiff shaft. The medium shaft is for the average player. The flexible is generally considered best for players of more advanced age and for women. It is best suited for a slow swing. The limber-ness of a shaft is known to the manufacturers as shaft deflection.

The amount of loft in the face of a club (the amount it inclines from the vertical) varies from 10½ degrees for the driver up to 58 degrees for the sand wedge. There is only one degree difference between the No. 4 wood (19 degrees) and the No. 2 iron (20 degrees). Here are the lofts of the standard clubs:
Woods Irons
Driver 10 ½ degrees
No. 2 20 degrees
No. 2 13 degrees
No. 3 23 degrees
No. 3 16 degrees
No. 4 27 degrees
No. 4 19 degrees
No. 5 31 degrees
No. 5 21 degrees
No. 6 35 degrees
No. 7 39 degrees
No. 8 43 degrees
No. 9 47 degrees

Pitching
wedge 53 degrees
Wedge 55 degrees

Sand
wedge 58 degrees

We have heard a great deal, for years, about swing weight. The term is tossed about so loosely, in fact, that few players have much of an idea what it is. Swing weight indicates the distribution of the weight of a club. It is the proportion of the weight in the head compared to the shaft and the grip. Swing weights are listed from C-0 to D-9.

But a D-9, for instance, doesn't mean that 9 ounces of a club weighing 13% ounces are in the head. D-9 is merely one of the calibrations on what is known as a lorythmic swinging weight scale.
A D-9 is no club for the average player to use, either. It is what Arnold Palmer and many of the other pros use, and it is for a strong, fast swinger. For the average player the ideal swing weight is from D-1 to D-4. For women the range is from C-4 to C-6.
In a general sense, the more you "feel" the head of the club when you waggle it or swing it, the higher the swing weight. You have often heard players say, and no doubt you have said it yourself, when handling a new club, "Feels like a lot of head in this." What you are feeling is the swing weight.

You could be fooled, of course, by the shaft. A medium swing weight, for instance, in a club with a flexible shaft, would feel like a very high swing weight. You would "feel" an inordinate amount of head when you swung it. In fact, with a club like this, you would have a very difficult time developing a decent swing at all. But the manufacturers have taken care of this. They do not put out clubs with high swing weights on flexible shafts. In men's clubs the swing weights for a flexible shaft are D-0 and D-1. For medium shafts they are D-1 to D-4. For stiff shafts they are D-4 to D-9.

Which Clubs to Carry
Since the USGA permits the carrying of fourteen clubs, it would be difficult to persuade the average golfer that he shouldn't take full advantage of the rule. He would not be happy, indeed he would feel himself laboring under a handicap, carrying fewer than the rule allows. So, which ones should they be?

From the conventional set of three woods, nine irons, a sand wedge, and a putter, the average player should drop the No. 1 iron and the No. 2 wood. For these he should substitute the No. 4 wood and a pitching wedge. The No. 2 wood and the No. 1 iron, with their relatively straight faces, are the hardest clubs of all to use. Many pros dispense with the No. 2 wood, the old brassie, though most of them carry a No. 1 iron, mostly for use off a tee. If the pros cannot use them effectively, what chance does a 16-handicapper have to make them behave?

It is also a fact that most golfers find a lofted wood easier to handle than a long iron. This seems to be specially true as the player grows older. If you are one of these, and do not want to or cannot take the time to master the longer irons, then drop out the No. 2 and pick up a No. 5 wood.
Generally speaking, we recommend the carrying of a driver, Nos. 3 and 4 woods, Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 irons, a pitching wedge, a sand wedge, and a putter.

There are some to whom the No. 1 wood, the driver, seems to be a special type of poison. There is no logical reason for this. Anybody who can hit a 3 wood, or any other wood, off the fairway has more than enough ability to hit a teed-up ball with a driver. If you hook or slice so badly with the driver that you are afraid to play it, something is radically wrong with your swing.

Lewis is and avid golfer. He has trained, played and gives expert golfing lessons golf for a number of years.
To learn more about his golfing style check out Golfing Tips
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lea_Hairson

Monday, November 12, 2007

The Importance of Keeping Track of Your Golfing Scores

By Joseph Pahl

Golf is truly a unique game. You use different clubs for different purposes. There are different stances and different grips for those purposes. It's the only game where the playing field changes from course to course, unlike basketball, football and other sports.
You can play with others, or you can play alone. Keeping score can be a bit of a hassle, so why, when it's a friendly game or if you're golfing by yourself should you keep score? What does it really matter if you keep score or not?

What matters is the reason why you took up golf in the first place; because you wanted to do something where you could get out in the fresh air and challenge yourself. As fun and as competitive as play among friends is, the ultimate player that you play against is yourself.
There's something keenly satisfying about watching that slice that you have been working on getting rid of suddenly disappear. Or when your short game becomes your best game. But you won't be able to keep record of these events unless you keep scores of your games.

Everyone wants to lower their handicap, but, if you don't keep a score card, how will you ever know if it's going down. Or up, for that matter.
Keeping track of your score will help you to map your problem area, find your strong points, and keep track of your handicap. You can watch from course to course to see if the problems you run into at your home course come up when your at a different course at a different locale. But you can't do that without keeping track of your score.

Enjoy playing with others? If you all have a similar handicap the game will be more enjoyable. Your can study each others scores and help each other get better and more consistent play.
Playing golf is more than a game. It's a mindset. It can help you to better yourself by watching how you improve over time. This can be very motivating, especially if your workplace is a pressured environment. But you can't tell if you've improved if you don't keep accurate scores. Where would you be in your business if you didn't keep track of your progress?

Golf is about fellowship, fun, personal fulfillment, personal growth. Keeping score will simply keep all those elements working together.

Joe Pahl
Want to learn more about how to easily reduce your golf score by 7 strokes in just seven days? Go to http://www.7Days7Strokes.info to find out how.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Pahl

Monday, November 5, 2007

How to Avoid Obstacles When Golfing

By Robert J. Carlton

The obstacles you face on the golf course range from sand traps to water and trees. Even though you will not usually encounter more than one obstacle during the game, having to move your golf ball from behind a tree or trying to get it out of a sand trap could end up costing you a higher score. Golf balls that are lost in the water cannot be retrieved, so you will have to place a new golf ball near the water and sacrifice a shot in order to get back on track. Because of these obstacles, your game may never be as good as another golfer, but it is the obstacles that make the game much more interesting.

If you dread the obstacles on the golf course, you are not alone. They can be a real pain to get around and could cost you valuable strokes. In order to avoid these obstacles, the best way is to perfect your swing so that you can purposely avoid these obstacles. If you see a few sand traps, or brush up ahead, plan your next move. This could be anything from shooting over the trees, shooting around the sand trap, or shooting past the water to get to the green.

Once you reach the green, you should not think that you are safe from obstacles. Greens that are on hills are also obstacles you much overcome. If you don't hit the ball correctly, it may roll down into a sand trap or small pond. When trying to get the ball on the green, you should gauge the distance and use enough force to push the ball to the top of the green and close to the hole. Inexperienced golfers are apt to overshoot the green, which can cost them two or three strokes if they are not careful.

When practicing at home properties in La Manga, Spain, you can create obstacles such as hills and bodies of water by purchasing a putting green and moving to different areas in your yard. This will help you learn how to gauge your shots and learn how to control your ball. You can also practice at the driving range or on the golf course. Golfing at different courses that offer a variety of obstacles is a great way to learn even more about controlling your golf ball so that you can avoid these obstacles.

Golf is a great game, but it takes patience and practice in order to become better. If you are prepared to have a good time while golfing and you are able to focus on performing well, the game of golf will become even more enjoyable.

Being especially interested in Oliva and Denia, Robert Carlton has been writing countless short articles on the matter. You might come across his publications on properties in la manga spain at http://www.alicante-spain.com
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Wednesday, October 3, 2007

The Golfing Experience in San Diego

By Jonathan Blocker

Golfing in San Diego is great fun. The weather is warm and mild for much of the year, so golfing can make a fantastic year-round sport here. When you make golf reservations in San Diego, not only will you enjoy the delightful scenery that all of the great golf courses offer, but you will also benefit from the healthy exercise you will get while golfing on these beautiful courses.

One of the great aspects of golfing is that it is a sport that can be enjoyed in the later years of life as well as in earlier ones. All athletes, regardless of their age, can benefit from the great strides that science has taken in the areas of sports nutrition and injury treatment. Due to this, golf enthusiasts profit from being able to recover from injuries more quickly than was possible in the past due to advances in sports medicine. In addition, older golfing athletes can enjoy the sport for a longer period of time if they train effectively by using golf conditioning, which was popularized by the legendary Tiger Woods. These include exercises focusing on the body parts that must endure the most stress during a game of golf. These exercises will help not only improve your balance, coordination and flexibility, but they will also increase the muscular strength of your core, or center of the body, as well as the arms and legs, which are strenuously used in the sport. It makes sense to start conditioning a couple of months before you want to play, so that your body will have time to adjust and improve from the exercises.

Walking is a great cardiovascular activity that is easy to do, and the time will fly by as you exercise when you are walking on the fantastic golf courses of San Diego. Book your San Diego discount tee times soon, and put the fun back into your exercise routine. There are so many lovely golf courses in San Diego that you owe it to yourself to visit. One is the Oceanside Golf Course. This course is fairly flat, so it makes for an easy walk. No matter if you are a beginner or an expert, Oceanside will offer you a great game of golf. You can get your fill of water features here, with a dozen offering aquatic excitement, as well as a stunning view of the Pacific Ocean on the twelfth hole. If you enjoy variety in your walking routine, try the Mission Trails Golf Course. You will wander through a beautiful valley for the first half of this eighteen-hole course, and then you will get to traverse the Lake Murray shoreline for the second half of your fun exercise experience.

Jonathan Blocker is an avid business and travel writer. He has been traveling on commercial airlines and air charters for several years. He has traveled millions of miles around the world using charter flights and jet charter services
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonathan_Blocker

Monday, October 1, 2007

Jack Nicklaus - Simply The Greatest Golfer Of All Time

By Terry Edwards

Talk to any golfer, or any knowledgeable sports person for that matter, and ask them who the greatest golfer of all-time is and they will most likely answer Jack Nicklaus. This is no dis-respect to Tiger Woods, but Jack Nicklaus changed the world of golf for over 40 years. Jack's 20 majors are five more than his closest challenger and is a tribute to his incredible desire to win. This will applies not only on the course, but off of it as well. His work ethic and dedication to golf are what others only dream about.

Born in Columbus, OH January 21, 1940, Jack Nicklaus burst onto the PGA Tour in 1962. Along with his friend Arnold Palmer, they forever changed the golf world as we know it. They brought golf to television, and there classic duals changed the way people thought of golf. It helped to make it a household word. Suddenly, golf became cool.

One of the things that separates Jack from other athletes is that he did it the right way. You never heard about Jack being arrested for doing something he shouldn't have been doing. There were no scandals. There were no performance enhancing drugs. No alcohol issues, etc. Jack Nicklaus exemplified the meaning of the word class.

Jack is one of only two golfers who have won all four majors more than once. He is also the only player to have won all of golf's majors in both the PGA and Senior Tours.
One of the most memorable of Jack Nicklaus' performances came at the 1986 Masters. At the age of 46 few, if any people had given the Golden Bear any hope of playing well, let alone any chance at winning. But, for Jack, winning is what runs through his heart.

Trailing by 4 shots behind guys like Greg Norman, Tom Kite and Seve Ballesteros, things didn't look real good after nine holes. But, what followed on those final 9 holes will be forever remembered by anyone who loves golf. He birdied 9 - 10 - 11 and 13. Next came an eagle on 15 and the crowd, along with the TV audience knew they were witnessing something special. Then Jack nearly hit a hole-in-one on 16, making an easy birdie. At 17, Jack made a 12 putt for another birdie that put him in the lead. The crowd had never roared as loud as they did that day.

The golfers playing behind Jack could not even set up and play their shots at times due to the noise. When Jack made par at 18 for a 30 on the back 9 at Augusta, all he could do was wait and see what the other golfers would do. Amazingly, Seve Ballesteros hit his ball in the water, took a double bogey on the 15th hole and took himself out of a chance at winning. Tom Kite missed a crucial putt on 18 that would have tied him with Jack. Next, Greg Norman, who was tied with Jack at the time, made a bogey on the finishing hole to give Nicklaus the win and the green jacket. It's a tournament that will forever be remembered by golfers and fans alike.

The list of accomplishments in the career of Jack Nicklaus is immense. He finished with 73 PGA Tour wins and led the Tour in money earnings eight different years.
An interesting story at the end of Jack's career came at the 2005 British Open. Jack had announced earlier in the year that he would retire in 2005 at the British Open on the Old Course at St Andrews, the birthplace of golf. Well, the Open was not scheduled to be played at St Andrews until 2006. So, the organizers of the Open decided to move the schedule up one year and play the Open at St Andrews in honor of Jack's final tournament.

Today, Jack Nicklaus enjoys spending time with his family as well as his love of designing golf courses around the world. His design company, which he runs with his sons and other family members, is responsible for the design of nearly 1% of all the golf courses in the world. He also owns his own golf equipment company and runs the Memorial Golf Tournament, an annual stop on the PGA Tour.

It was only fitting that Jack finished his final hole of his last professional golf tournament with a birdie at St Andrews. Sinking a 15 foot curling putt, Jack raised his arms an extended his putter high in the air as he has done for so many years when he would sink a critical putt.

The golf world, and the world in general, has been blessed by having known Jack Nicklaus. Simply put, he is the greatest golfer of all-time.
You can find out much more about Jack Nicklaus as well as get valuable golf tips and information at our website http://www.Golf.InfoFromA-z.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terry_Edwards

Monday, September 24, 2007

3 Golf Tips to Lower Golf Handicap And Improve Your Golf Game

By Tim Lee

If you are looking for means to lower your golf scores, then here are some valuable tips that are sure to help golfers of all ages and abilities to lower their golf handicaps.

(1) Practice…Slowly
Good form during a swing is very important in improving one's performance. However, too many people make the mistake of simply going for many repetitions instead of honing their form per swing.
If you do not force every practice swing to form perfection, simply doing repetitive exercise can actually be detrimental since you could be repeating a wrong form over and over again. This could burn the wrong form into your muscle memory and could seriously hinder your bid for better performance – and a lower handicap.

Practicing a golf swing in slow motion can be a great way to fine tune your swing and get the right form while you are at it. Your mind will connect better to the proper muscle movement and form.
You can start speeding up a little a time while you do this. Eventually, you can get yourself doing the right form over and over again. This is when repetitive exercise can help.

(2) Get a Grip
Good golf grip is important for any serious golfer. And the best way to develop your grip is by practicing it every time you can. Most golfers have golf clubs by their sofa – for easy access whenever they lounge by the television – so that they can practice their grip as often as possible.
With enough practice, holding a club properly will become second nature to you. So keep those clubs within constant range for a better golf grip.

(3) Get a Mirror
A mirror is a great way to monitor and evaluate how your swing is going. You could use a video recorder as well to get better angles of your swing – and they are great for keeping you focused on swinging instead of looking at the mirror. Choose whatever option is convenient for you.
Mirrors and videos can help you get immediate feedback on whether what you are doing is correct. You may also want to send this video to instructors who can then tell you what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.

Conclusion
As with most things, only practice makes perfect. However, you can avoid wasting your time during practice by learning to practice smarter instead of just more. The tips mentioned above will help you get started on this road.
To learn more tips on lowering your golf handicap, please visit http://www.supergolf.info/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Lee

Thursday, September 20, 2007

All The Secrets To Buying Discount Golf Equipment Online

By Dane J Stanton

When people think of golf they think of a sport that is based more around mental capabilities than physical aspects, however there is also one another part of golf that is perhaps the most necessary and that is the equipment a play carries with him or her. Whether it be the set of clubs he or she is using to play with, the balls they choose to hit, gloves, shoes and so many more, golf equipment is a huge part of the game. But can every afford to buy the best equipment? Put straight, no they cannot, but don't fret. There is a way to buy discount golf equipment online and you can save vast sums of money doing so.

As we all know, there isn't a cheap piece of equipment that goes along with playing golf. If you take a look at the price of an average set of clubs in your local golf store, you will notice that the price is most of the time over your budget. There are many discount golf stores available all over the country, but if you could not be bothered looking for one nearby, do what everyone else is doing, search the internet.

There are a myriad of discount golf stores online and all of them will do anything to get you to buy something from their catalog, so use this to your advantage. Ask these stores if they can improve upon their current prices. Shop around first to see if there is the same piece of equipment for sale somewhere else that's cheaper. This way you can get these discount golf stores to bring down their prices. Of course you aren't going to be able to reduce the price of a set of golf clubs, for example, by a couple hundred dollars, but you are going to save 'some' money that you can spend on other equipment, like golf balls, because we all know you can't have enough balls right?

Quality and Price
Any seller can give you discount golf products at any time of the year but stocking up at end-of-season summer clearance sales might be a good idea when golf shops are getting rid off inventory before winter.

Brands such as Nike, Adidas, Mizuno and Callaway sometimes have promotions and discounts on all their golf products, ranging from their golf clubs to golf balls and golf shirts to shoes. These discount golf products do not lack in quality just because they are on sale, as the same amount of effort is put into each product because they are backed by the manufacturer’s brand name.

Accessories
You could save money on golf apparel as even though it looks great to be in correct golf gear from head to toe, it is not necessary for your game. So do not scrimp on golf clubs. Rather, wear regular sports clothes on the course and save.

Also, know where to draw the line between fancy extras and core equipment. Often, salespeople might explain how a particular feature is a must-have, but your homework or advice from golfing buddies can prove otherwise.

Let me tell you this, there are also many discounted golf accessories, like golf bags and shoes that have already been launched during a particular time of high demand. Of course the market has then slumped a little and they have been forced to sell their equipment for less. There are so many ways to buy discount golf equipment and it's imperative that you take advantage of all the offers you can find.

If you want to learn more about Golf including free information, reviews and much more, or you want to join our free weekly newsletter then please visit golf shops (Recommended) or for more free articles all about golf visit http://www.GolfShopReview.com/GolfShops
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