Bunker Play - 5 Tips to Help You Get Out of the Sand

By Daniel Poundall

Hitting your golf shot in to the sand is something every golf player has to deal with, and for the average golfer can quickly become a nightmare and ruin your round. But with the correct knowledge and technique getting out of the bunker can quickly become a simple and less complicated task.

By following these 5 easy to follow bunker play tips you will be hitting your golf shot out of the sand like a pro in no time.

1. Correct Choice of Club

Getting out of the sand can be a daunting task and choosing the correct club plays a key part in achieving this. As the name suggests the sand wedge is your usually the best club to use when your in the sand. Not only is the sand wedge the most lofted club in your golf bag, it is also specifically designed to cut through the sand with ease.

2. Open Club face

Having an open club face when hitting your golf shot is a great way of getting out of the bunker. An open club face increases the loft on your club making it easier to get out of the sand and is ideal for hitting the ball out of greenside bunkers.

3. Open Stance

As well as an open club face it is important to have an open stance. Your feet and shoulders should be facing towards the left of the target line (right for left handed golfers) and the ball should be slightly back in your stance.

4. Hit Behind the Ball

For best results it is a good idea to hit down on the shot roughly 2-3 inches behind the ball. Doing this will help you get underneath the shot allowing the sand to push the ball out of the bunker. Pushing the sand out of the bunker is what gives the ball more height and can also help the ball stop quickly after it lands. Remember that the further behind the ball you hit the further the ball will roll and the less backspin you are going to get.

5. Swing through the shot

Like most golf shots it is important to remember to swing all the way through the shot. Some golf players fail to do this thinking that they will hit the ball to far, but if you've followed the above steps correctly, your golf shot will be converted into height and backspin and hopefully land nicely on the green.

Follow these simple steps and you will be hitting better more consistent shots out of the sand in no time.

Get FREE Golf Swing Tips at http://www.golfclassic.info where you can browse a wide range of Golf Ebooks, Golf Articles and an Online Golf Shop where you can find a great range of Golf Equipment and Merchandise.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Poundall

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Miniature Golf

Blacklight Mini-putt is personally my favorite kind of mini-putt.

Among the many forms of golfing, miniature golf or mini golf has started to become a popular past time among busy professionals and family alike who are either popular fanatics of the game or prefer to take on a regular gaming activity in the comfort of their own homes.

History

Perhaps, miniature golf was created due to the increasing demands of golf courses that do not occupy a significant land area but still able to provide all the amenities expected of the more conventional golf courses.

This midget type of golfing became surprisingly popular before World War 1 in 1910 and the early 1920's. It was originally termed as “Garden Golf” due to the usual scenery characteristic of a golf landscape.

Contributors

Thomas McCulloch Fairbairn was the first to completely initiate change in the way mini golf courses were designed and played. He takes on a new role in introducing anatomical changes to the then current details of midget golf courses.

He was to contribute to the dramatic advancement of mini golf landscape by replacing the usual objects typical of conventional golf courses, to artificial greens and physical hazards.

A mixture of color dyes, cottonseed hulls, tree landscaping, and the creation of artificial bunkers, curves and rolls and water hazards (miniature lakes) have successfully replicated the more traditional golf sport into a geographically manageable level.

Ensuing Years

The late 1930's further revolutionized the production of golf courses when Joe Taylor and Bob Taylor added new features to the then mini golf architecture.

They put up more obstacles that serves to make mini golfing a more fun game to play. Wells, castles and windmills were installed along with other physical deterrents.

With their increasing efforts to create a more ideal midget golf course, a number of industries catering to the production of these merchandises created the first National Association of Putting Course Operators, Manufacturers and Suppliers in 1961 in association with Arnold Palmer and Don Clayton.

Al Lomma together with Ralph Lomma, his brother, of Lomma Enterprises, Inc. in 1955 introduced a more robust feature and broke away from the more conventional straight putting.

Current Developments

Mini golf tournaments are now being aired on television especially pn ESPN suggesting the game’s thriving economic status.

More and more people are beginning to appreicate the value of mini golf courses and statistics show that more than 45% among the players of this popular game are families or groups of friends.

With this renewed and thriving interest in mini golf games, the US ProMiniGolf Association, the officially recognized affiliate organizations in the World Minigolf Sports Federation was instituted to take over initiatives related to the game.

Article source: freearticles.com



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Golf Career as a Tour Caddy?

If you are tired of your current job, looking to make a career change, or wanting a golf career, you may try becoming a tour caddy. Its fun, exciting, lucrative, and a great way to travel and get paid. If you don't like it you haven't lost anything and you were able to experience things few ever get the chance to experience. You can always find some other golf employment or move on to another field of work.

A career as a PGA Tour caddy has become a highly pursued field of employment. Due to increased media coverage of professional golf, fans are becoming aware of the career opportunity avaliable as a tour caddy.

Tour caddy opportunities are avaliable each and every year on several different playing fields, European Golf Tour, Nationwide Tour, Challenge Tour, Champions Tour, and LPGA Tour. There are more opportunities available as a tour caddy than most people realize. The problem in acquiring one of these positions is most don't have a clue where to begin to find these positions. Should you have an interest to persue this as a golf career discover the steps necessary to begin your quest as a tour caddy

Should you be interested in discovering what happens behind the scenes on the Pga Tour sign up for my free newsletter. Feel free to send me any questions you may have about the Pga Tour or other questions about golf. I will include them in my newsletters.

Find out how you can get a job as a caddy on the PGA, European, LPGA, or Champions Tours.

Before considering a career as a tour caddy you need to be sure you are qualified. The qualifications needed to become a tour caddy are:

Must know how to caddy and be good at it.

Have some knowlege of the rules of golf.

Be aware of golf etiquette.

Understand golf course management and strategies.

Be willing to travel.

If you don't meet these conditions and still want to pursue a golf career as a tour caddy don't worry. These qualifications can be achieved is a relatively short time. Find a local country club that has a caddy program and get involved, it won't take long to learn.

Article source: www.pga-golf-tour-caddy-guide.com



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Nutrition for Golf Strength

By Alexander D Fortey

The importance of strength for golf if you are unaware is vast. We utilize up to 90% of our muscles maximum output when performing a drive shot. We need strength in our physiques to do this. Now golf strength is different from power lifter or bodybuilder strength, but we still need power and muscle building training to develop this. An important element of golf strength is proving the correct fuel to develop it.

Healthy eating and nutrition is fairly common knowledge, you will see advice, information and dietary recommendations in regular magazines, journals, government issued promotions and so on. Yet still many Individuals lack either the right personal knowledge about their own habits and application to construct reasonable eating plans for themselves that will lead to health benefits, lean muscle development, fat loss or indeed what I shall be discussing today; nutrition for golf strength.

Eating a well balanced diet containing fruits, vegetables, proteins, fibres, non processed foods and carbohydrates should not be about "being on a diet" Quite simply, diets do not work. A diet is something that is not sustainable, a regular eating pattern however is. So how do we develop a regular eating pattern that will enhance our golf game through correct nutrition for golf strength and what should it look like?

Before I provide you with an example of a good eating day that will promote muscle repair, glycogen restoration and correct nutrients that are needed to consistently develop golf strength and functional strength for all the off course activities you may well do now or indeed hope to do in the future. I need to make you aware that before following a suggested eating plan, check to see if it realistic for you;

Can you follow it?

Does it feel like you will be lacking to many things?

Do you feel you will be craving certain foods such as a pizza or a candy bar?

Is it right for your lifestyle?

Does it fit into a golfers schedule?

Does it support the energy demand of golf playing and athletic golf strength training?

Simply take time to be sure that it ticks these boxes for your physiology and your golf and fitness needs. If you think you will or you usually crave candy, then that is you tenancy to need sugar.

Therefore, do not totally eliminate it others you will not maintain a sustainable habit, you will be forcing yourself to avoid caving in to candy, and allow yourself "cheat meals".

Cheat meals and days are good, but cheat is the wrong way to look at it. Who are you cheating on? Your Diet? If that is the thought then you will "cheat" consistently Instead employ the mindset of planned sugar integrations into you eating habits, allow them, maybe include a little more sweet thing within your main meals etc. The mind always craves what it cant have if you don't let it. Therefore a solid nutrition plan for golf strength and strength in the gym for high performance workouts requires the best fuel.

Food is our fuel, but if done well can be the most enjoyable of pleasures. If you have bought a brand new car recently, most likely you keep it clean on the inside and out. Would you even think twice about putting the crappy cheap oil into the engine, or filling up with low grade gas? I am guessing not. Yet why is that individuals will consume all forms of sugar, fat and items passing off as food that are a couple of ingredients away from being a plastic or alike. With correct choices the habit of eating well can include really tasty food that will improve you on course performance and lifestyle.

Now granted a nutrition plan for golf strength is not going to greatly defer from a well balanced, full of good proteins nutrition plan for most athletes. However with golf being a demanding endurance sport also, we must ensure glycogen stores for one thing are well replenished. None of this High protein low carb diets for any athletic golf training client of mine. We need those carbs to produce consistent energy to the brain, to the muscles to ensure co-ordination and focus is always guaranteed and good proteins to capitalize on the strength training.

Here below is an example of an eating day for a male, who weighs around 200 lbs, 30lbs of it being fat (15%) who trains 3 times a week, around lunchtime, practices once a week, plays twice a week 18 holes. He often craves, salty foods such as burgers or chips.

(please note that a days eating suggestion is merely that, it is also simply a snap shot of the whole picture, we do not know if this guy has been exercising for long, specifically what his goals are, what the other days or weeks in the next few months will consist of eating wise and so on)

But with this guideline you will be able to see that it supports this guys lifestyle and goals.

Meal 1

Large coffee.

2-3 eggs, on a whole-wheat bagel

Or 1 bowl of oatmeal or muesli with lactose free milk with honey and almonds and 4 tablespoons of hemp seeds mixed in.

Meal 2

¼ cup of almonds (not roasted) nature valley bar or something similar

An apple 30 minutes later can have coffee here but not everyday. This meal is generally about 45-60 minutes before training .

Meal 3

Post workout shake and or 6 oz Chicken breast, skinless, 1 1/3 cups Rice with broccoli, 2 tsp Olive, oil this is best pre prepared at home.

Or A roast chicken and salad whole wheat sub. get foot long and eat some more later on if too much. light mayo if needed, no extra salt. And no coffee or drink with or immediately afterwards. (this leads to bloating) leave at least 30 minutes

Meal 4

Nature valley bar or something similar. Be very wary of anything full of chemicals, fructose corn syrup or modified corn starch.

Follow with a banana 30 minutes later.

As an extra big bonus if possible have small tin of flavored tuna with 3-4 crackers.

Meal 5

9 oz Ground beef (< 10% fat)
1/2 cup Onions and red peppers, 1/2 cup Tomato sauce, 1/2 cup wholewheat Pasta, 2 tsp Olive oil (after cooking)

Or Baked or 6 oz pan fried fish with 1 1/3 cup of mixed vegetables lemon and pepper to taste.

Extras

On nights out, you can treat yourself, just be mindful. And limit yourself f to just 1 or 2 maximum treats every 2-3 weeks ie pizza or wings. Crepes and eggs are fine.

A few beers and bad food is ok too. As long as 90% of the time you are good.

Make some adjustments for yourself and try this relative pattern of nutrition, and you will be supporting the body to develop golf strength.

If you feel you may need a custom eating pan or you have any questions visit the site http://www.athleticgolftraining.com and contact me there.

Alex Fortey Golf Physique specialist

http://www.athleticgolftraining.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alexander_D_Fortey

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Unusual Golf Accessories

tacky tacky tacky!

When it comes to improving your golf game, it is fair to say that there are plenty of accessories out there which may not be familiar to many people, but still make big promises about how they can improve your game, and many look simply outlandish when used in public. For those people who are fans of golfing movies, imagining the main character from Tin Cup when he has the shanks and tries every known accessory to try and improve his game, but looks quite bizarre when wearing all the different examples of golf accessories.

There are of course plenty of accessories which are pretty normal, such as nets for chipping and driving practice, and even a simulation putting green carpet which can be rolled out to practice putting almost anywhere, although it has often been found in many offices. As well as these, there are also plenty of golf accessories which aim to teach you how to improve a swing, or to get better at chipping or another part of your game, and these can often be hit and miss as to how successful they are.

However, in terms of the unusual or bizarre golf accessories, one of the most common is the baseball hat which has a piece of plastic hanging from the beak, which is specifically designed to help people to aim at the right place when taking a swing, which is claimed to reduce the amount of shots that go awry. Another common accessory which is built in to an item of clothing is a pair of trousers which have much less flexibility around the hips, and are designed to get the golfer thinking about keeping their hips during their swing, and certainly comes under the heading of unusual golf accessories.

One of the new developments in golf accessories that have appeared over recent years are the software programs which are created for the games consoles that have motion sensors, which then analyze your swing and provide tips for improvements based on this analysis. However, these can often be for games consoles such as the Wii which only has a limited amount of motion sensor feedback that is input into the console. And from there, the data extrapolated can be limited, but this is certainly one of the growth areas in golf accessories at the moment.

Although it is fair to say that there have been plenty of downright bizarre golf accessories over the years, even though they may look odd, they can often help a player to focus on one particular part of their game that isn't keeping up with the rest of the game, and can actually help to improve things. It won't always be the case that all the golf accessories can be worn down to the local course or the driving range, but they certainly can be helpful when used in private to help bring back the golf game with some of these unusual golf accessories.

Billy is Director Of Content for LeadsByFone, a marketing and lead generation company servicing the flood damage and restoration industry.

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