Tips For Lowering Your Golf Handicap Ahead of That Big Golf Holiday

Sometimes, when people are booking a golf break with us, our clients ask us to book a couple of lessons at the beginning of their holiday. That makes sense and we can recommend the best teaches in many resorts around the world. However, here are some simple tips to help keep your golf ball budget down!

So without further ado, here are a few golf tips for lowering your golf handicap ahead of your big holiday!

1) Practice, practice, practice!

Sounds obvious, but the best golf tip is to practice as much as possible. While not everyone can get to their local golf course for a round everyday, you can still work on your swing in the privacy of your own home - chipping balls into a bucket in your back garden, or observing your swing movements in a mirror. When practice swinging, start slowly and feel the movement before speeding up to the full tempo. Even a tiny bit of daily practice will help build up your golf muscle memory - it's amazing what 10 minutes a day can do to your golf holiday performance!

2) Prepare like you're a pro

On the golf course, there's a thin line between joy and frustration. If you treat every round like a professional would, you'll have more fun. Warm up properly, spend a while in the driving range and take appropriate breaks to minimize mistakes. Play this way, and you're guaranteed to become a more consistent player.

3) Get the right gear

Getting top notch equipment will often cost more than lessons and have less of an impact on your performance. While it's true that the right equipment can help, it won't magically transform your game - I've seen plenty of talented golfers play well with dreadful clubs and I've seen plenty of others play badly with high quality clubs. That said it is a good golf tip, if you're looking to be the best you can possibly be, to invest in tailor-made clubs to suit your build and swing. And if they don't improve your game, at least you'll look good during your golf holiday.

4) Don't lose track of your short game

Spending lots of time on the driving range and practicing your big swing is one thing, but make sure you don't forget your short game..."Drive for show, putt for dough!". It may be a less dramatic shot but good scores are made on and around the green and you use your putter more often than any other club. The good news is that the short game is easier to practice in the comfort of your own garden, and in a few weeks you'll be in far better shape for your golf break.

5) Analyze your game

The best way of knowing your strengths and weaknesses on the golf course is to pay attention to your performance. If you pay close attention to where you make mistakes, you'll know which areas of your game need correction. Run through your game and write down the results of each shot - you'll soon notice where your weaknesses lie so you can practice on them.

6) Don't expect miracles

Play to your handicap and don't get upset when you hit a bad shot. Everyone hits bad shots - the trick is to keep your concentration and to make the next shot better.

Whether you have 6 months or 6 days until your big golf break, you'd be amazed at the improvements these tips can make in lowering your golf handicap!

Morgan Clarke is the Chairman of Your Golf Holidays, a company that has been providing luxury golf breaks for over 25 years. The award-winning specialist tour operator is privately-owned and determined to ensure that both experienced golfers and novices will enjoy an unforgettable experience in whichever of the 20+ countries they want to play in.

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Doing Business With Golf

Golf is an incredibly popular sport and is played on all rungs of the corporate ladder. In fact, many business people will emphatically state that they could not do business without the involvement of golf, citing it as the best and most convivial way to network and nurture relationships with customers and contacts.

Because so many business executives have a passion for golf, it is likely that you are going to need to incorporate it into your marketing campaign in some way; the question is: how?

You could hold regular golf hospitality events. However, these are generally high-budget and most companies cannot afford to run too many of them during the course of the year. The other problem with outdoor business events such as golf tournaments is that their success is dependent on the weather, which is notorious as being a let-down.

Another idea is branded golf gifts. Many companies opt to present their important customers and contacts with token gestures from the array of promotional products available such as personalised putter covers, logo golf balls and markers. However, this way of showing a gesture of appreciation for months or even years of valuable business is hardly unique and therefore doesn't offer an effective way of standing out above your competitors.

A powerful way to make an impression amongst business contacts is to combine hospitality with exclusive gift-giving. One way to do this is to utilise an indoor or virtual golf competition.

There is a huge selection of golf training aids out there and whilst they are aimed at serious and professional players, they can also make excellent corporate indoor golf competitions!

Providing you choose a golf training product that can be used safely in an indoor environment; is easy to set up and use and provides a scoring system to allow a competition to take place; there you have your weatherproof, indoor golf tournament! And more than this, it also acts as a high-end executive gift for your golf-loving clientele that don't have time to get out on the course and would appreciate the chance to practice in the confines of their own office!

Indoor golf tournaments are ideal for:

• Client entertainment without the worry of bad weather
• Charity and fundraising events
• Staff team building exercises
• Employee leaving parties
• Adding a touch of fun to annual meetings
• Attracting attention at trade shows or local events
• Drawing attention at new branch openings and product launches

Golf practice aids make excellent, highly appreciated gifts for:

• Valued customers and business contacts to show appreciation for loyalty or to celebrate a special occasion such as an award win
• Staff achievement awards or service anniversaries

Golf is perhaps the most business-related sport! Make the most of your customer's love for it by incorporating it into your marketing and customer relationship campaigns!

Paul Thornley is a PGA Professional, golf coach and director of Targetline Limited. Targetline is an indoor golf competition which offers the ultimate corporate hospitality solution, encouraging delegates to interact by adding a fun focal point that helps everyone feel at ease. Targetline is also widely used by golf industry pros and amateurs worldwide as an indoor practice and training aid. It can be set up in minutes, used safely in any confined space, and is compact for storage. For more information visit: http://www.targetline.co.uk

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Golf Swing Tips - The Most Important Tip to Improve Your Golf Swing Technique

Practically every weekend golfer looks for golf swing tips to try and discover the holy grail of the perfect golf swing. Unfortunately, like so many of King Arthur's knights, they never find it. Why not? Is it because they lack the talent, faith or hard work? Is there some missing ingredient which causes the golf swing tips they learn to fail for them?

First of all, many golfers just do not have enough practise. Golf, like martial arts or any other sport, requires practise. Unlike, say martial arts, where you only need to practice your kicks and punches on a flat surface, golf can be much more complicated. Golf is closer to warfare - you need to practice how to use 14 different golf clubs on a variety of different surfaces and terrain. How many of us actually manage to practice all 14 of our golf clubs? At best, most of us only train with two golf clubs - the driver and the putter. What about the 2 fairway woods? And the irons and wedges? How many strokes do you lose in the sand trap or bunker because you were not familiar enough with your wedges? Is your skill with your irons good enough to get you out of the roughs efficiently?

So, it does not matter how many golf swing tips you managed to find. If you failed to get enough training with all 14 of your golf clubs, 1 tip has the same effect as 10 tips -- absolutely zero. Consider the example of Vijay Singh. Many golf experts and analysts have various nit-picks about his golf swing mechanics. Some of them do not like his posture. Some dislike his backswing. Others think he has excessive followthrough. But he ignores them all. All he does is swing his club at the ball all day long. Even during tournaments, he is reported to practice his swings 3 to 6 hours everyday. All this training pays off for him - he is a consistent tournament winner, earning six to seven figures every year in prizes.

Secondly, too many people rely on finding a silver bullet. Instead of practicing their swings and other shots, they waste their time looking at the latest new-fangled golf club in the catalog or golf shop. As if getting the latest and greatest driver or hybrid club will improve their golf swing without any practise. They forget that every time they change their club they need to re-learn the golf swing mechanics of that club. This is especially bad for some golfers who buy new golf clubs like their wives buy new shoes.

Thirdly, many golfers do not fully understand their golf swing techniques. They take the golf swing tip for one technique and try to apply it to another golf swing technique, with disastrous results for their golf swing. At the most basic level, there are two different types of swing - the "one plane swing" and the "two plane swing". When you read a tip, do you know which type of swing that tip is meant for? Many golfers face serious problems when they apply the tip for the "one plane swing" to their "two plane swing" or vice versa. For your information, Vijay Singh uses the "one plane swing" while Greg Norman uses the "two plane swing".

Despite the proliferation of golf swing tips and free golf lessons online, you only really need one tip to improve your golf swing technique - just hit the ball more often. That is all. Just hit the golf ball 10 times more everyday and you will see your handicap improving (Unless you already hit the ball 1000 times everyday).

Do you have these 3 problems with your golf swing: 1) inconsistency; 2) slice; 3) distance? Click here to find out how to improve your golf swing.

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Use Golf Swing Weights - Great Way To Improve Your Swing

Every golf player is always on the look out for ways he can improve his swing, and there are many varieties of training devices and ads on the market that can help you practice the swing techniques. One such popular device that you could train with is the golf swing weight. It is simple to use, it is cost effective and can be used anywhere you please, not just at the club.

The weight oriented training device is basically just a weight that you attach on to the shaft of your golf club, and it rests on the head of the club. You could use it on the wedges to get the best practice, as can you use it on the irons. After you have positioned the weight on the head of the club you are going to be practicing with, all you need to do is swing as you normally would. You can practice using this little device on the practice range or even in your own backyard.

Basically this swing weight will improve your flexibility during the swing motion. As you would probably know, flexibility can be very important in getting the right golf swing motion. This device will strengthen your power as well, so when you swing without it after a period of practice you could expect the ball to travel further than before. So it helps improve the condition of the forearm and wrist muscles that give the strength to your strokes. The absence of this strength is a problem for many-many golfers, and ironically, it is one of the easiest areas of the game to improve with this simple training device.

And since the attached weight makes the head of your club larger and heavier you will be able to keep a better eye on the path that the head travels during your swing motion. That would help you improve the plane of your swing as well, so that your club head strikes squarely on the ball as it should for a good stroke. You improve the feel with this weight, and that helps you strike the golf ball more solidly than ever before.

There are specially made clubs that already have a heavy and weighted head that you could use for the same exercise. You could get either variety on golf related web sites or in sports stores that sell golf equipment. When you need to work on your swing, why not invest in this great and cost effective training utility? You could even practice with it in your own yard, or anywhere there is enough room to swing a club without damaging something.

Abhishek is an avid Golfing enthusiast and he has got some great Golfing Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 63 Page Ebook, "Understanding And Enjoying Golf" from his website http://www.Golf-Skills.com/97/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.

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Getting Some Height is Good For Your Game

Men in white coats are now recommending we get high. Higher than weve ever gone before with their latest products.

Dont start sniffing your golf ball but do make sure you get as high as the proverbial kite off the Tee. You need to add at least 5 of launch angle on your tee shots with the golf balls of 2007, when compared to those you used in 1997. And if your swing speed isnt aggressive, then you need to launch higher still.

Todays golf ball needs to go to a much higher elevation than the older golf balls, to spin less than the older golf balls and then carry further. The spin rate and aerodynamic design is important to make the golf ball hang for as long as possible, with forward momentum, before it starts the descent.

Each of the better manufacturers will also produce premium golf balls that can deliver you the best launch conditions and greatest distance from the tee box whilst also offering increased spin rate and greater control with the shorter irons AND superior feel around the green with your Wedge Putter. But, those come at a price.

These manufacturers also offer less expensive alternatives. Most will have a 2pce alternative that will make compromises between Driver distance, spin rate on approach or feel around the green.

Srixon, ever the golf ball innovators, introduced the Srixon Tri-Speed. This is actually a less expensive 3pce golf ball. This golf ball will provide you with superb distance AND sensational feel.

To get the best advice on all aspects of golf visit your local PGA Foremost Golf Shop

James Langmead PGA Qualified Golf Professional and former Callaway Club fitter of the year http://www.thegolfshoponline.co.uk

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Golf Clubs - This is the Way the Professionals Easily Identify Them

Golf clubs come in many shapes and sizes. Golf clubs are built to either a standard or custom need. Which one you choose depends on how often you play. For a tip on which one to choose, consider how often you play. If you play a lot, it is recommended to get a set of custom golf clubs. However if you play once in while, it would be best to buy standard golf club.

Golf clubs themselves generally fall into five categories. Each category has its own specific time and place to use. The first category, the Wood category clubs were made of wood until the 1980's. Nowadays, these clubs are made of metal. Composed of steel or titanium, these clubs are used to send the golf ball flying. These clubs have a deep club head.

Iron category golf clubs usually come as a set of eight clubs. The first club in the set will makes it easier to shoot longer shots while as you go through the set, you'll notice that area cover by each shot will decrease between about ten to fifteen yards as well as a steeper climb and steeper fall than the last one. Wedge category golf clubs are mainly used for scoring. The four types of wedge clubs by name are pitching, gap, sand, and lob wedges.

The Putter category is often the most used club in the game of golf. Used on average thirty-six times in a game of golf, the putter also has the most types than any other kind of golf club. With three types of club head heads and three types of lengths, there are nine different combinations in which the putter can assembled.

The newest addition to the golf club family is the Hybrid. As the name suggests, these clubs contain features of both the Woods and Irons category. Growing in popularity due to their ease of use, these clubs are even used among professionals of this sport.

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San Diego Chargers NFL Team Logo'd Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball" Putter"

The hottest putter in golf with your favorite Team Logo. Unique 2-Ball alignment system improves your aim for better accuracy. Extended head design promotes a smooth swing along the target line. Low; deep center of gravity reduces backspin for a smoother roll. Includes a putter cover. Availability: Usually ships within 1-2 business days.

If you want substance ahead of hype, if you want results ahead of noise, then you are going to be pleased to know that the Ping G10 Driver is here and it stays true to the Ping traditions.

This club is about an evolution of the design and principals behind the hugely popular G5. The face is a little taller, while the body is a little wider, which, together with design changes in the variable thickness crown, allows weight to be deeper and lower.

For you, the result is a lower spin rate and higher launch angle from the face. That means increased hang-time and greater distance.

Ping has extended the way that the club face works with the crown and sole to increase ball velocity at impact, whilst remaining within the USGA Characteristic Time regulations. A faster ball speed translates directly into increased yards.

MOI was a consideration in the design, so this is the straightest Ping Driver yet, but not at the expense of other critical elements that make up the complete solution. So this Driver looks really good, has a great sound at impact, and most importantly, performs better than it looks and sounds!

But performance has got to be the #1 priority when selecting a Driver and you wont be disappointed with the results the Ping engineers, led by Brad Schweigert, achieved.

This club is proof that great engineers can create great results without having to resort to the wacky. And proof of the clubs credentials, if its required, is the number of Ping G10 Drivers already in Tour players bags, including US Open winner, Angel Cabrera.

For the very best advice visit your local Foremost PGA Golf Professional

James Langmead PGA Qualified Golf Professional and former Callaway Club fitter of the year http://www.thegolfshoponline.co.uk

Golf Channel and Equipment Reviews