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The newest golf clubs are much more high tech than even a few years ago. It seems easier than ever before to improve your game with a new golf club. The modern golf clubs are more lightweight and have larger sweet spots. They’re designed to help you hit more consistent shots, while allowing more room for mistakes. The old blade style (solid club head with no cavity back) golf clubs left no room for error. You had two choices, hit the golf ball perfectly or settle for a bad shot.

Does every new club you buy help to lower your score? We all wish it were that simple. Focusing solely on the invention of newer, better golf clubs can give you false hope. To explain: most of the amateur golfers out there now are expecting the golf club to fix problems with their swing. This attitude can leave you very frustrated and also help in emptying your wallet.

When the focus is on improving your game, there are many other aspects to consider. Sure, having a good set of well fitted clubs, and golf balls that perform better is helpful, but so is your training. The core to playing successfully in any sport is to have a proper routine that consists of strength, flexibility, and balance exercises, as well as consistent practice. Golf is no different. (more…)

Better Golf… Through Knowledge

It is said that “What you don’t know can’t hurt you”. In golf, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Let’s take a look at a few things the average golfer probably doesn’t know about and how these things are probably costing you strokes.

Practice makes perfect… Not!

Practice only makes perfect if you are reinforcing proper swing techniques. For most golfers, a practice session consists of ripping through a bucket of balls on their lunch break or on the way home from work. A trip to the range will not help you unless you are going to spend the time to “work” on your swing, and not just reinforce those bad habits you’ve already developed. Use the following suggestions to help you turn that grip it and rip it pit stop at the range into a true practice session.

1. Only bring one club to the range with you at a time.

2. Hit a small bucket of balls and take your time with each swing.
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It’s every golfer’s worst-case scenario – You’re golfing great, you’ve got a perfect swing, the perfect stance, and you were able to get rid of that slice that’s been on your back. NO matter how well everything goes, even the best golfer can find himself (or herself) occasionally stuck in a sand trap, stuck in the grass or trapped behind a giant tree on the golf course. Unfortunately, the traps are what make the game interesting. Without them, the game would probably become boring for even the most devoted golfer. Obstructions help to make golf a more interesting and challenging game, and you’ll learn to appreciate the traps when you find the best ways to get out of them.

The odds that your golf ball will roll to a stop right behind a tree are slim, but it does happen. There are ways out of this situation. You could chop down the tree, or drill a hole in the tree large enough to hit your ball through, but that’s probably not going to make the maintenance crew of the golf course very happy.

A lot of golfers just sacrifice one putt so that they can place the golf ball in a more favorable position. How well this works depends on your ability as a golfer, and what you’re willing to risk on one play. If there is another tree close by, you can try a ricochet shot, but it’s not very reliable. You can’t judge where the ball will go once it hits the rough bark of the tree.

A good solution is to practice a curve ball before you get into this situation, so that you’ll know what to do when the time comes.

Sand is a whole other problem completely on the golf course. Many golfers opt for the “whack and see” technique. To do this, pull a sand wedge from your golf bag, hit the general vicinity of the ball, then watch the sand to see if your golf ball takes flight as well.
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Sunny laid back Sunday morning, extended weekends or a vacation, discussion on none of these is complete without a mention of golf. What exactly is Golf? Well it is an outdoor ball game wherein the aim is to hit the ball into a series of holes in the minimum possible strokes. A round of golf consists of 18 holes. Now the number of strokes you need to hit one hole is your Par. Each hole has a teeing area around it, which includes a fairway, a rough sideway and a green well-mown area around the hole. Then there are the “not so wanted” barriers like sand traps, water etc that are called the bunkers.

It is believed to have originated from an ancient game called chole, supposedly meaning, “ball”. Most of the people believe that Scotland is where Golf was born, probably out of a banned 15th century game called ‘gowf’. However many folklore relate it as an acronym for Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden. The modern Golf came into being again in Scotland in the later half of the 19th century. Later on over the 20th century golf saw a facelift with a variety of golf equipments and techniques being invented.

Golf has woven itself in the social fabric as the game of the elite and high-end businessmen. Would you believe if we tell you that many US business school add golf to their management curriculum? It is a game of social status. After all one has to shell out huge sums on latest equipment, the right clothing and the green fees of the golf course. This has still kept golf away from the reach of common man. Nevertheless, the massive popularity of the game can be judged by the very fact that there are over 32,000 golf courses in the world!

Players move around the golf course with their caddies who manage the equipments of the players. The player whose ball is farthest from the hole gets a chance to play first when each individual player has had his chance of playing the ball once. The game is won by the person or the team that scores the maximum holes. It can be played by teams in foursome or by individuals. A very interesting term taking rounds in the golfing community is “Golf handicap.” This is the score of proficiency of different players, which affect their net score, thus allowing players of different capacities to play against each other.
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