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.

Consistency is the crucial to your golfing game on the whole, and getting out of a sand trap is not exclusive to this. It is hard to control a golf ball in the sand. Golf balls don’t really roll in sand and difficult to control a putt from a sand trap. In addition, you are probably going to be dealing with an upward slope of the trap before you’re out on the course again. Therefore, the only really dependable way to get out of a sand trap is to use the wedge and try to get enough lift on the ball to clear the sand.

Make sure that you choose your wedge cautiously. Keep in mind that you want enough lift to clear the sand. However, less lift is usually easier to manage.

No matter what obstacle you’re facing on the golf course, having good control of the ball, choosing the right club for the job, and setting up your shot just right are the ways that you will be able to get out of those sticky situations on the golf course.

No two golf games are alike, no matter how good or bad the players may be. One reason for this is that the weather conditions on the day you play will never be identical, and weather has a large role in the game of golf. While some die-hard fans will be on the course rain or shine, others will never play during thunderstorms. These people are probably smarter than the others! Wind is one feature of the weather that has an enormous impact on your game because it affects the way the ball travels. Golf balls spin when they are hit, and the spin can be enhanced by wind. This may cause the ball to drift away from its target. Golfers must account for the wind when they take their shots.

Golf is an excellent form of exercise if you walk the course. You will walk an equivalent of about four miles during an eighteen-hole game, since a good course is about two miles around. Doctors often recommend walking to keep the heart and lungs healthy. Walking is also a great stress reliever.

Playing a game of golf gives you a good reason to get out of the house and spend some time outdoors enjoying the beauties of nature. Most courses are well landscaped and located in nice areas. You can also watch the wildlife that lives around a golf course, including squirrels and rabbits. The proximity to nature helps you forget about the mistakes you made on your last shot. It calms you down so you can prepare for the shot to come.

Some golfers find that playing the game is one of the best stress relievers they’ve found. On the golf course, you can really hit something and not get in trouble for it. You are actually rewarded for hitting the ball as hard as you can. It’s a perfect way to get rid of your stress.

There is also quite a bit of honor associated with the game. While this may be surprising to some people, it is a fact that golf is the only game in which a person calls a penalty on himself or herself. Those who play the game with honor never hesitate to do so when it is required. There are dishonorable players who claim to be good at the game, but who would never call a penalty, regardless of how much they deserved it. The scores of these players are meaningless, however. And this kind of behavior is likely to be evident in other parts of their daily lives.

There is a big difference between ‘general’ flexibility training and golf flexibility training. Just take a look at the positions the body is in during the golf swing and you’ll see many potential golf stretches you can come up with on your own.

The most common area a golfer should apply golf flexibility training is the backswing, impact and follow through.

You might be saying, “well that’s the whole swing”.

Yes…you might think so, but I’m talking about creating a golf flexibility training program that incorporates golf stretches specifically for those positions of the swing. As mentioned earlier, just take a look at the position your body is in at the top of your backswing; impact; and follow through into your finish.

There are your stretches!

It’s not rocket science to come up with golf training programs regarding both flexibility and strength. You’ve just got to use your creative side and keep the golf swing in mind when devising these golf training programs.

Tension is the biggest “killer” in the golf swing…bar none!

Most amateurs, if not all of them (us) have tension in our golf swings. Tension robs you of power. This is a known fact! A tense muscle is a slow muscle. A slow muscle produces minimal speed and ultimately power.

The key to a powerful golf swing is minimal tension and effort equals maximum distance AND accuracy.

One quick way to improve this is with a consistent golf flexibility training program done daily. This doesn’t entail 60 minutes of your time and dozens of stretches. I’m talking about 6-8 key golf flexibility training stretches taking up no more than 15 minutes per day.

Can you handle that?

I know you can. If your golf performance is important to you, you’ll make the time to get the results!

And when you step onto that course and start making effortless golf swings that go farther and straighter than ever before, you’ll know it was well worth doing your golf flexibility training.

The problem is that there are so many different golf fitness equipment in the market these days that it is difficult to identify the really effective ones and the duds or inappropriate ones.

The situation is hardly helped by the fact that clever marketing is usually put to use in promoting a vast majority of golf fitness equipment. The result is that many disappointed golfers have ended up with loads of the stuff in their garages that has hardly improved their game.

In fact you would find some who would confidently tell you that their game has gotten worse rather than better.

Golf fitness equipment that I have found to be very effective is the weighted club. This is a very golf-specific piece of equipment because one ends up going through the exact same motions you do with an ordinary club but with more weight.

This greatly helps in strengthening and conditioning all the relevant muscles used in the golf swing.

The inside approach is another great golf fitness equipmentto help improve any golf swing. This particular device is extremely useful for slicers and helps deal with this problem fairly quickly.

As golf fitness equipment,exercise tubing is very affordable and yet very effective. The strength of this device is in its’ ability to break down the golf swing into as many different phases as you would like to focus on for the sake of improvements. It offers specific resistance training for each phase.

Golf exercise balls are the sort of golf fitness equipment that any golfer with a bad back should have. There are almost countless different stretch exercises that you can with it.

And what makes this golf training aid even more attractive is the fact that you can do your exercises in the office or at home when you have a moment.

Simple dumbbells can also be very useful golf fitness equipment to have around.

Focusing on two points–spine angle at address and the position of the left arm on the downswing–clears up the confusion about swing plane and explains its effect on your golf swing and your golf handicap.

Several reasons exist for swinging off plane. Picking the club up with your hands or rolling the clubface open during the swing are two. The most common reason for swinging off plane is adopting the wrong spine angle at address, as I’ve often pointed out in my golf tips,

Spine angle forms the natural axis around which your shoulders should turn at a 90-degree angle. The spine angle you set at address is critical because it decides the shape and plane of your swing. It’s the reason why I focus on adopting the proper spine angle in my golf instruction sessions.

If a player tilts too far over at address, the flatter spine angle causes the shoulders to “tilt” during the swing. As a result, your left arm comes off your chest during your swing, your backswing becomes upright, and your swing plane too steep. Fat shots, deep divots, and pulls and slices are symptoms of a steep plane.

If a player leans too far back at address, the more erect spine angle causes the shoulders to flatten during the swing. As a result, your left arm squeezes too tightly against your chest, your backswing becomes flatter, and your swing plane too shallow. Hitting behind the ball, thin shots, and loss of power are symptoms of a shallow plane.

Keep in mind that a taller player has a naturally steeper swing plane than a shorter person does, and a shorter player has a naturally flatter swing plane than a taller person does.

While your shoulder turn and arm swing are related, a good backswing requires a left arm swing that’s on a slightly higher plane than your shoulders. This arm angle allows your shoulders to have more of a free passage to the ball on the downswing. If your left arm swing is off, you’ll automatically be on the wrong plane with your swing will be off.

Here’s a test I use in my golf lessons to tell if a player is on plane with his/her swing. Take a club, assume your normal posture, and swing to the top. Hold that position for a second. Now, loosen your grip and let the shaft fall.

If the shaft hits you on the top of the right shoulder, your swing is on plane. If it hits you on the head or neck, your swing plane is too steep. Conversely, if it falls behind your back without hitting your body, your swing plane is too shallow.

Employing a simple move at the top of your backswing ensures that you’re taking the right swing plane as you start into the downswing. As you begin your downswing shift your weight onto your left foot while, at the same time, bringing your right elbow back down to your body. Remember to retain the angle of your wrist as you complete this move. It’s the seat of power and the key to maximum distance.

As the weight shifts to the left and the elbow drops down, the club falls automatically into the right slot for the correct swing plane. This movement flattens the swing ever so slightly. It’s the ideal position from which to swing the club down at the ball, delivering the clubhead squarely to the ball.

In essence you’re actually employing two swing planes to hit the ball correctly, one slightly different than the other. The first comes from executing the correct take away. The second from dropping down your right elbow just before the downswing.

That slightly different swing plane is crucial. It runs right through the correct angle of your spine, the natural axis around which your shoulders should turn, enabling you to deliver a clean crisp blow to the ball with a square clubhead and good power. And that’s the goal of all golf instruction on swing plane.

I hope this article clears up the confusion about swing planes. If you work on taking the club back on the right plane and on dropping your right elbow down during your swing, you’ll see results. That, in turn, will help you lower both your individual golf scores and your golf handicap.

Here is a golf workout tip that you can afford to ignore at your own peril.

Even as more and more golfers get into golf-exercises and physical training programs, many do not realize how important warming up is.

A valuable golf workout tip to take note of is the fact that it is imperative to warm up before exercises or getting to the course to start taking swings at the golf ball.

What this golf workout tip does for you is to ensure that you do not start straining your muscles when they are cold. There are two things that can happen to anybody who ignores this golf workout tip.

Firstly it is easy to pick up an injury that will hinder your progress in the game for a long time to come. One of the most dreaded injuries in golf is the golfer elbow.

The second inevitable result is that even if you are lucky to escape injury despite not warming up, you will find yourself performing well below par. Your muscles will tend to be still very stiff and even performing a good golf swing will be very difficult indeed.

Yet performing warm exercises and thus fulfilling this golf workout tip need not be so difficult. There are wide ranges of different warm up exercises you can perform that will hardly take up any time.

For example you can walk briskly from your car to the course and if the distant is rather short, you can quickly walk back to your car and then back to the course again. Make sure that you exert as much effort as possible into your brisk walk.

You can then do some brief stretch exercises before you start swinging at the golf ball.

This is a golf workout tip that should help any golfer tremendously in efforts to improve their game.

Golf fitness equipment can be a variety of pieces; but what truly is golf fitness equipment?

You’d be surprised to find out it is not expensive; and is not necessarily in a gym or health club either.

Yes…there are golf “machines” for stretching and strength building that are well over one thousand dollars, but are definitely not needed.

When you think of the golf swing, it’s a dynamic movement completed in space with your ‘whole’ body. So any kind of training or golf fitness equipment should be able to accommodate this.

I’ve designed all my programs, dvds and books to utilize the below equipment for one reason. Convenience. Which will save you time to do what you really want to do. Play golf!

For starters, a pair of hand weights (dumbbells) are inexpensive, portable and can be used for dozens of golf-specific exercises. They don’t have to be heavy or cumbersome. You’d be surprised what a 5 to 8 pound pair of dumbbells can accomplish with the right golf exercises.

Next on the list of golf fitness equipment is tubing. You may have seen it in articles, on the television or in a catalog. Exercise tubing is extremely portable, very inexpensive and also can be used to mimic many phases of the golf swing, but with resistance.

I personally use exercise tubing in all of my programs, with all of my personal clients and in my own golf workouts. It can give you one heck of a workout if you have the right resistance. These bands come in varying tensions from light to extra heavy.

Another piece of golf fitness equipment is a stability ball. It’s the big ‘beach ball’ looking thing that is used in offices to sit on, in many exercise classes, at most health clubs and all of the physical therapy clinics.

Why? Because again it’s portable, inexpensive and very versatile. Doing golf exercises on the ball incorporate core stabilization, balance and stability. All important factors in a mechanically sound golf swing.

And the last piece of golf fitness equipment is a weighted medicine ball is the . You might remember them from several decades ago as the big leather balls that the old fitness fanatics used to improve strength and power.

Well now they’re back! They are used in every sport-specific strength program in existence. You can do so many sport-like movements with them and they weigh as much as 20 pounds, so you can imagine the benefit from a power standpoint.

I have a couple of my ‘bread-and-butter’ exercises I use in all my programs that incorporate the weighted medicine ball and they are very effective.

So there you have it! Three or four pieces of inexpensive and portable golf fitness equipment.

Developing consistency isn’t easy. It’s especially difficult for golfers whose practice time is limited by their work and/or their families. But there are some things that these golfers can do to help themselves develop consistency, even when they’re unable to get to a range or are on the road traveling. One is practicing their pre-shot routine– something my golf tips often discuss.

Unfortunately, many golfers don’t have a pre-shot routine. If they do have a routine, they don’t always use it. And when they use it, it’s disorganized. Their method of ball alignment is haphazard; they spend too much time over the ball; and/or they line up off-target, among other things. If they’re interrupted, they look up to see what caused the noise–then hit away, as if nothing happened.

Using a pre-shot routine is helpful, whether on the tee or in the fairway. It encourages consistency, guarantees correct alignment, and helps you make the transition to the right frame of mind. It also helps you focus on the job at hand, which my golf tips constantly advocate. In short, a good pre-shot routine prepares you both physically and mentally for a shot.

My golf lessons review the individual components of a good routine. Of course, everyone’s routine will differ to a degree, but most will be pretty consistent in terms of their key components. If you’re striving for a lower golf handicap, work these components into your routine.

Here’s what I recommend…

Components of a Pre-shot Routine

o Stand behind ball/visualize shot

o Position yourself parallel to target line

o Place clubhead behind the ball, square to target

o Look at target/visualize shot

o Relax arms/waggle club

o Look at target again, sense shot, exhale

o Pull trigger and swing

First, stand a few yards behind the ball facing the target. While behind the ball, pick out a target, and picture the shot, a technique we often emphasize in my golf instruction sessions. Also, visualize the ball’s flight.

Next, walk to the ball. Position yourself approximately parallel to the target line with your feet close together.

Next, place the clubhead behind the ball so that it looks squarely at the target. Adjust your body so that it is parallel to target line. Move your back foot back, then your front foot forward until you’re in a comfortable but stable stance. This sequence eliminates the need to worry about where the ball is positioned. It will be in the correct position every time.

Once you’re set up, look at the target. Visualize the shot once more. Gently shuffle your feet, then waggle the club a few times. Constant movement primes you for the swing, as our golf lessons teach.

Then, relax your arms and your hands. Waggle the club a few times more.

Next, take another look at the target. Exhale. Sense the shot.

And finally, pull the trigger. Swing smoothly and easily.

That’s it. Use this routine as a guide to developing your own or adapt it as you see fit. Work on the routine until you have something you’re comfortable with, then use it. If you watch professional golfers you’ll see that they all have a slightly different pre-shot routine; but they all have one and they all use it time and time again.

Sergio Garcia used to waggle the club countless times before he pulled the trigger. He no longer does that. Now, he waggles the club a couple of times, then pulls the trigger. He uses the routine every time he hits a ball from the tee or the fairway. Other players have their own pre-shot routines, with their own idiosyncrasies. But they do the same thing again and again–every time they hit.

There’s, nothing mysterious about a good pre-shout routine. In fact, it’s rather simple. Each component is designed to help you with the mechanical or the mental phase of the swing. And some of these components can be modified to suit your needs, so you have your own version.

What’s critical, though, is that you use the same routine every time you take a shot. Repetition develops consistency, and consistency lowers golf handicaps. If something interrupts your shot, step away from the ball and start the routine all over again. Doing so assures you that you are focused squarely on hitting the ball.

Repeat this routine on the course or at home, with and without a ball. Practice it until it becomes instinctive. If you make adjustments, practice the new routine until the adjustment becomes instinctive. Use the routine every time you take a swing–even when taking golf lessons.

Next time you can’t get to the range or you’re on the road, work on your pre-shot routine. Then use it when you’re on the course. You might be surprised just how much a good pre-shot routine helps your golf handicap.

If you deal with golf course management and it is your responsibility to ensure that your greens, fairways and roughs are always in the perfect condition, then you need the right tools for the job. Toro makes excellent golf course management mowers and other vehicles, but a lot of heavy users consider their small engines to be a little light for their requirements. After a few years small engines like these also start to show wear and tear, and most golf course managers consider replacing the entire vehicle to be the only solution.

Toro golf course management equipment in the 300 range generally comes standard with a Kohler K321S 60407 or 60295 engine. While these engines are perfectly serviceable, they have a few minor drawbacks that make them unsuitable for heavy or long term use. For example, they do not have full pressure lubrication, overhead valves or hydraulic valve lifters, and these components not only contribute to greater power in small engines, but greater fuel efficiency and durability as well.

Small engine rebuild kits are available for the K series Kohler engine that are easy to install, lightweight and far more powerful than the original engine. These kits come with simple, step-by-step instructions so even if you have little technical background you can replace your Kohler engine yourself.

Of course, one of the main reasons so many golf course management professionals are turning to small engine rebuild kits is that it is far more cost-effective than replacing a Toro golf course management mower or cart. Not only is it far cheaper than replacing the vehicle, but the Triad/OHC engine is far more fuel efficient than the standard Kohler engine. Kohler Triad Repower Kit are always the cheapest way to bring new life to an ageing Toro GM-3, or any other Toro green management vehicle.

Your golf course is unlikely to be vacant at any time during the day, so having Toro golf course management equipment that can do its job without anyone noticing it is a necessity. If you were worried that installing a more powerful motor will make your Toro vehicle louder, it doesn’t have to. Small engine rebuild kits can also include a brand new muffler kit – ask your rebuild kit retailer about what is included or what can be added to ensure your rebuild vehicle meets your specific requirements.

No other precision small engine can deliver this much low end torque. The Kohler engine might be the standard, but this engine was built with perfection as the goal and no other small engine turns so little fuel into so much power.

With a slightly more powerful and refined engine comes the extended lifespan you would expect. Because these engines have low emissions and are expertly constructed to withstand the beating they will be receiving you will get many more years out of your Kohler engine replacement kit than you did out of the original engine.

Take advantage of the opportunity and ease that you can get from rebuilding your Toro golf maintenance mower with a Kohler small engine rebuild kit.

~Ben Anton, 2007

Every golfer is different; the stance, posture, size and swing characteristics will vary from player to player and because of this a standard driver might suit one player, but it may be too short or too long for another. The majority of drivers that you can purchase can be customised to accommodate the individual differences between golfers.

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