How to establish a putting grip that maximizes feel and minimizes misses

There is a saying: "You will never find a good golfer with a bad grip, but you might find a bad golfer with a good grip." Although that is very true, I don’t think the “type of grip” is all that important in putting. I have observed too many different types of successful putting grips on the PGA Tour to think that one is better than the rest. For instance: we have the popular reverse overlap grip, the overlap, the cross-handed, the praying hands, the claw, and a few more that I'm not even sure have a name yet.

The only two things important in putting are to control the 1. Direction (line) and 2. Distance (speed) you hit the ball. In other words, to hit the ball where you THINK you are aiming with the correct speed. A good grip will significantly enhance your chances to achieve these goals.

For most amateurs, I recommend the standard putting grip. It's simple and easy to learn.

The key to the standard grip is getting the putter into the palms of your hands--not the fingers, like you would in a full-swing grip.

And that means, on your left hand, instead of the grip coming at a slight downward angle across the bottom of your fingers and the heel pad resting on top of the club, the grip comes almost straight up and down through your palm, with your THUMB pad on top of the putter.

See how that works?

That's the first basic of more effective putting--getting the grip in the palm of your hand as opposed to your fingers to maximize your feel and minimize your misses.

The second basic is the actual grip itself. While you may prefer to use a ten-finger, overlap, or interlock grip in your full swing, using these grips for your putting stroke can lead to overactive hands, inconsistent results and poor play.

That's why I recommend the "reverse overlap" to most of my students. In the "reverse overlap," the index finger of your left hand overlaps your right hand and rests comfortably between the ring and pinkie finger of your right hand.

Now, when you grip the putter with both hands, the putter grip should run comfortably through both palms with your left thumb sitting on top or slightly right of the putter and fitting snugly into the lifeline of your right hand.

This position helps to keep the hands quiet, while also combining them as one unit to give you maximum control over your club.

So how do you know if you have a good putting grip or not?

Easy....

* For right-handed putters, take a hold of your putter with your left hand like I outlined above, with the grip intersecting the palm and your thumb pad on top.

* Now simply remove the pinkie, ring, and middle fingers, with only your thumb and trigger fingers on the club.

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5 Keys To A Successful Golf Swing

Do you feel that no matter how much effort you put on your swing, the ball just doesn't go as far as you hope it would? One belief that had always been corrected is that golfers think the distance the ball travels is relative to the power of the swing. In some way, yes. But in most, not really.

1. The secret to a successful swing is your stance. If your standing posture is relaxed but firm and proper, then there is balance thus triggering a very detailed and composed driving force once you swing your club.

Stand tall and have your heels flat on the ground. Your shoulder must be wide apart. Bend forward and keep your back straight. Let your behind stick out a bit. Hang your arms like a monkey. Keep your chin up. Concentrate on the ball. Right handed golfers let their right side tilt lower than the left. Support your weight by the balls of both your feet.

Just relax and keep the knees slightly apart. Do not let yourself be in a sitting position. A great swing is attained once the perfect stance is mastered. Just like how tennis players serve, the proper stance is achieved from practicing over and over again. Stand in front of a mirror so you know what you are doing wrong.

2. The proper club is also a factor. Sometimes you have to trust the club to do some of the work for you. One club is specifically designed to accomplish a particular feat. A golfer knows which club to use when he is on a specific kind of terrain.

3. So there's stance. Then there's club. The third factor is your swing. This is the launching pad of your game. Your swing is affected by your stance. Make sure that you are standing properly.

When you do the Golf Back Swing, drop your arms. Focus on how you swing your golf club. Turn your back from the target as you conduct your swing. It is as if you are merely putting the club on your back.

When you do the Golf Down Swing, relax. Just do it. Do not think too much about it. This swing is at its best when it is done at its most natural.

4. In hitting the ball, you must come in contact with it by making sure that your hands are in proper position, depending on the stance you have grown accustomed in.

6 Tips To Create A Meditation Space

We all need a special place that we can escape to and connect with our own higher power. It helps recharge our energy and keeps us balanced. 

I have created a beautiful meditation room on the loft balcony of my Sydney Terrace home. Each time I walk past my sacred space it soothes my soul.

I love to do my daily chants, yoga and meditations in my own sacred space. 

However you can do whatever you want in your space: you can read, sleep, sing, knit, read angel cards and the list goes on.

You will be taking a courageous step in your spiritual development by creating a beautiful energy-space in your home.  

It will be a safe haven to listen to your soul and get the answers to your questions... Sacred spaces can be created anywhere, even if it is just a tiny corner in your bedroom. There are no rules to creating your own meditation room or sacred space. Follow your heart and put in everything that you love. The space should feel like bliss, it should be a place where you can just be alone and relaxed.

Follow your bliss and let’s get started. Here are some ideas to create a beautiful sacred space.

1. Choose a room or space that makes you feel good. 

Take into consideration the lighting, the quietness and how many people walk through it. Will it be a place of solace? If you don't have a whole room to dedicate to your sacred space then choose a corner of a room, or somewhere in your garden. You may even like to put up a bamboo screen to create the feeling of a separate space.

2. Keep the room simple and uncluttered. 

Choose a few items that find bring you peace and serenity. Some basics would be a meditation pillow, a small table, a mat and maybe a nice throw rug.

3. Add a touch of nature. 

Mediation is all about connecting with nature and your surrounds. By adding an element of nature, you space becomes infused with balance and harmony. You can place your favourite plant, a vase of flowers, a jar of shells, a small water feature or whatever else it is that you find beautiful in nature.

4. Soothe your soul with music. 

7 balanced keys of successful living

What does success mean to you?

I know that every single person dreams of some sort of success. Is it success in business? Is it success in family? Is it success in health? Or is it success in being a good person and making a difference in this world?

All of these definitions are right but I think it is even more important to live a balanced life of success. Successful living is more than just having a certain amount in your bank account or reaching a certain career height. Successful living in the broadest sense is

• a life that is full of opportunities that you are not afraid to try,
• a life full of fun and meaningful work,
• a life where you can spend plenty of time with the people you care about,
• a life that you live without regrets.

Doesn't this life sound wonderful?

There are no secrets to living a successful life, but there are a few keys that we sometimes overlook. First take a look at the 9-step guide to finding success in life and when you are done let’s sprinkle a little bit of balance on them.

1. slow down.

The reason why we sometimes overlook success in life is because we are always in a hurry. We are in a hurry to get somewhere (without thinking whether we really need to be there or not.) We are in a hurry to reach a goal without thinking whether that goal is what we want or not.

Allow yourself to slow down, relax, breathe and ponder on what success truly is for you. Let yourself break free from the expectations of others and the norms that our society dictates to us. Set your own rules that are meaningful and important to you.

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Home Social Meditation Bootcamp

I witnessed my first seasonal road rage yesterday. 2 cars. Much swearing and many hand gestures. Nothing seemed to be resolved and everyone drove off steaming and unhappy

How did I know it was seasonal road rage, not just the garden variety kind?

One of the cars (and believe me I wish I was making this up) had an enormous Christmas tree strapped to its roof racks.

Last week, school bells rang out around the country for the last time in 2012. Desperate parents have started to scour internet lists forcheap ways to entertain kids that don’t involve killing animated characters or dancing like Madonna on an off day.

Shopping centres have started to fill up and have taken on a slightly desperate feel as if someone was pumping some kind of chemical though the air conditioners.

People are wandering around muttering things like “haven’t even started my Christmas shopping yet…” and “please God, don’t make me spend Christmas Day again with Great Uncle Joe. ….”

None of it’s new and, despite what Great Uncle Joe says, it’s probably not much worse than it was in 1956.

This year, though, I am bringing with me a new tool to my festive season.

Mindfulness.

“Really?” I can hear you say. “Not gin?”

Mindfulness is an ancient, non religious form of meditation that had its beginnings in the teachings of the Buddha more than 2000 years ago (but don’t let that put you off).

It just means making a decision to bring awareness to right now. The here and now.  Or as someone once described it to me “being here on purpose.”

Wouldn't that be the best possible use of your time?

It means focusing only on what you are doing right now. Whether it be the feel of the warm soapy water on your hands as you wash up the dishes or the taste of the piece of chocolate as you slowly eat it. It doesn’t mean pretending everything is perfect but accepting “what is” with kindness and non-judgement.

Why Golf Shouldn't Be in the Olympics

Golf has not been an Olympic sport since the 1904 games in St. Louis, where George Lyon of Canada took the gold medal.

Although the 2009 International Olympic Committee decision to add golf to the Olympic program has been greeted with much fanfare, the decision is ultimately not a good one for professional golf as a whole, regardless of any potential benefit to the Olympics.

To paraphrase one of the fundamental principles of conservative political thought: Unless it is necessary to change, it is necessary not to change.

Applying this maxim to the matter in question, beyond the veneration of the almighty dollar and the fetish for spectacle, what possible need is there for professional golf in the Olympics? The players don’t care, and the top players’ schedules are already chock-full of international competitions.

The process thus far has been a mess.

From the lamentable saga of “Who will Rory play for?” to the IOC telling Gil Hanse to hurry up, and the reclamation of protected land in order to build the course to much bickering about format and who will compete—nothing has gone smoothly.

More about the mess...

Olympic Golf Will “Dilute the Majors”

Last week, newly-ordained Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson said that he felt Olympic Golf will “dilute” the four major championships. This is both as a function where the Olympics fall on the calendar—between the Open Championship and the PGA—and the fact that professional golf already has four “pinnacle” events during the same relative period of time. Jamming another “significant” event into top professionals' already-overburdened summer schedules adversely influences the majors.


Michael Cohen/Getty Images


An Olympic Triumph Should Be the Summit of an Olympic Athlete’s Career

Tiger Woods and other top professionals have toed the line and offered lukewarm support for golf in the Olympics. However, as Dave Whitley writes, regarding a potential Tiger Woods gold medal, “For Woods, it might outrank winning the 1999 National Car Rental Classic. I doubt it, though, since he picked up $540,000 for that weekend's work.”

Where would a gold medal really rank for Woods, who is already a decorated professional golfer? The Olympic games ought to be a competition amongst amateur athletes, for whom the gold medal is the absolute pinnacle of their careers, not simply another item in the trophy case.

A Business Mind, a Zen Spirit

“To trust in the force that moves the universe is faith,” Marianne Williamson writes in A Return To Love. “Faith isn’t blind, it’s visionary.”

I believe this. I live this. And I am ever drawn to others who get it because it turns the notion of “blind faith” on its head.

Rich Tola falls in the category of those who get it.

“It is visionary,” he said. “And it takes courage. Whatever it’s supposed to be, it’ll come. It sounds like mumbo jumbo, but it’s not.”

Last December I wrote a Game Plan column about Tola -- a product of a Wharton and Kellogg education -- moving from the Wall Street scene to the Hollywood hills to pursue acting and yoga. And because he sees what has been put in front of him and has faith in his vision, he is now entrenched in forming a meaningful foundation called The Boulevard Zen Foundation.

It is, according to its Web site, “a nonprofit organization that provides yoga classes and lifestyle education to women and children in domestic violence shelters.” The idea is to pay excellent yoga teachers at the top of the scale, make it a free service at the shelters, and really build a company that will expand nationally and internationally.

“The money is coming from me right now,” Tola said. “Basically I took a sabbatical from my life to create the foundation. I want to put the company in a position to grow if a million dollars walks in the door.”

MORE:

How to Meditate your way to Happiness and Success

The time is Now to learn how to meditate. The following is a very simple technique that you can use to rapidly expand your awareness and get in touch with your own inner peace, happiness and outer success. It’s only one of many techniques, but it’s easy, takes very little time, and is thoroughly enjoyable.

It’s best to commit to a regular practice up front. Meditation needs to be experienced, and you need to develop over a period of months to really experience what it’s all about because it doesn’t happen overnight. So decide your level of commitment now. I suggest you map out five minutes every single day to begin with, moving up to ten, then 20 minutes a day after a few months. Start slow, but make the pledge.

Find a quiet spot to sit where you will not be disturbed. This requires as little distraction as possible. If you have kids, arrange for them not to interrupt. You might think it’s impossible, but millions of people meditate around the world and make it work.

Most westerners don’t find sitting in a lotus position very comfortable (myself included ~ not enough yoga lately), so instead, find a comfortable chair that you can sit upright in. The important thing when learning how to meditate is to keep the spine erect and make sure the only thing supporting your head is your neck (so you don’t fall asleep).

Close your eyes and take in three full breaths, breathing in and out through the nose. Now, relax. Notice your breathing. Is your belly expanding and contracting with each breath? Or is it your chest? Make sure you breathe into the abdomen during your meditation. This expands the diaphragm and stimulates the relaxation response.

If you have never meditated before,

Preparing for Meditation: Sitting Still

If you examine the meditation poses depicted in the world's great spiritual traditions, you'll find that they all have one thing in common — the unshakable stability of a mountain or tree. Look at the kneeling pharaohs in the Egyptian pyramids, for example, or the cross-legged Buddhas in Indian caves or Japanese temples. They sit on a broad base that appears to be deeply rooted in the earth, and they have a grounded presence that says, "I can't be budged. I'm here to stay."

When you sit up straight like a mountain or a tree, your body acts as a link between heaven and earth — and by analogy, connects your physical, embodied existence with the sacred or spiritual dimension of being. In addition to the spiritual aspect, you might consider that sitting up straight confers some practical benefits as well. By aligning the spine and opening the channels that run through the center of the body, upright sitting encourages an unimpeded circulation of energy, which, in turn, contributes to wakefulness on all levels — physical, mental, and spiritual. Besides, it's a lot easier to sit still for extended periods of time when your vertebrae are stacked like a pile of bricks, one on top of the other. Otherwise, over time, gravity has this irritating habit of pulling your body down toward the ground — and in the process, causing the aches and pains so typical of a body at war with the forces of nature. So, the most comfortable way to sit in the long run is straight, which puts you in harmony with nature.

Of course, you can always lean against the wall — or so you may think. But your body tends to slouch when it leans, even subtly, in any direction; and the point of doing meditation is to rely on your direct experience, rather than to depend on some outside support to "back you up." When you sit like a mountain or a tree, you're making a statement: "I'm deeply rooted in the earth, yet open to the higher powers of the cosmos — independent, yet inextricably connected to all of life."

Take your position

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Build A Confident On Plane Golf Swing

Golf is a great game made up of rules and standards. It’s more than that however! Golf is a wonderful challenge requiring participants to possess a strong  mindset and a heap of self-confidence…..

If you are confident enough in your own ability to swing a golf club, then you will have no fear of sending that golf ball where ever you want it to go. Confidence is trusting in yourself and your golf swing mechanics and simply knowing that the golf ball will fly towards its intended target.

But why does the game bring out the very opposite of self confidence in most golfers? Fear. Depending on the individual, fear manifests itself in a number of ways. Be it fear of embarrassment, fear of failure or fear of the losing results or any number of other “illusions”, when the golfer focuses on the negatives that’s usually what he/she will get..

Determining before even hitting the golf ball that the consequences will be bad,  is certainly a shot to one’s self-confidence. Fear anxiety of hitting your golf ball errantly, takes you out of the moment at hand. How can a golfer “be present” if his /her mind is fixated on the poor result to follow? It’s a wonder that many golfers can even swing the club back and through, with all the cautions ,and don’ts ,  shouting in their heads.  The guru said what you focus on expands, and this in the game of golf, is underscored a hundred times.

Most professional golfers have one shape of golf shot that they like to hit more or less religiously, whether it be a fade, draw, or straight. However, often during the course of a game they are required to work the ball in a different shape and even trajectory from their “go to shot”. 

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3 Keys To An Awesome Life

When a baby smiles it transforms the whole room. Even the most cranky of souls is swept up in a wave of love and joy that flows through the space. It’s amazing.

When YOU smile major internal and external shifts happen. On an internal level smiling relieves stress and makes you feel good. When you smile you send a message to your body saying, “Everything’s good and life is beautiful.”

And smiling has the added benenfit of making you more attractive as well. I read a study recently that compared women wearing makeup to women who didn’t wear makeup but were smiling. The vast majority of people agreed that the smiling ladies were way more beautiful.

Breathe

Buddha’s cousin Ananda once asked him, “Oh wise and venerable Buddha, is there one particular quality one should cultivate that would best bring one to full awakening?”

And the Buddha answered him saying, “Be mindful of your breathing.”

The Buddha then shared this story, “There is the case where a monk, having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building, sits down folding his legs crosswise, holding his body erect, and setting mindfulness to the fore. Always mindful, he breathes in; mindful he breathes out.”

Sounds pretty easy to me. Like anyone can do it.

And in case you missed it the Buddha said that this simple technique can lead to Awakening. Wow.

As it turns out, deep breathing is not only relaxing, it’s been proven to affect the heart, the brain, digestion, the immune system — and maybe even the expression of genes.

Go Slowly

On Saturday night I went out to a Persian lounge in the west end of Toronto. While I was there my beautiful and amazing friend Sara talked me into having some Persian tea. I’m so glad that she did.

Keep Reading..

8 Ways To Use Meditation to Improve Your Business

Mention meditation and many people would associate it with monks chanting in temples or ascetics who have given up all luxuries for a lifetime of deep contemplation in the mountains.

That may be true in the past, but today, meditation is practiced by people from all walks of life. Men and women, spiritual or otherwise, are learning meditation to improve their responses to life’s challenges. And believe it or not, meditation can even help you to improve your business!

Meditation as a business tool? Let me explain.

The ever changing landscape of business often leaves many of us shocked, confused or disillusioned. Responding out of these non-productive states of mind usually result in mindless reactions that not only fail to meet long-term business goals, but may even jeopardize the life span of a company.

Meditation – by helping you to stay more focus and present — can help you to see through the clutters in the market and enable you to make better business decisions. Working by improving your inner landscape, meditation helps you to respond to external events with more awareness and clarity, and hence, change the business results that you deliver over time. As Albert Einstein had once said:

“You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.”

When we slide into panic mode trying to stop falling sales or to regain market share, what we can only see is the problems that we’re confronting, and not the potentials that have been lying outside the boundaries of our mind all along. It’s no wonder then that the results that we produced out of such self-limiting states are uncreative, mediocre and unsatisfactory. And the saddest part is, many people are not aware of their limiting mental states and go on to reproduce the same mediocre results again and again. Needless to say, a lot of unnecessary frustrations and unhappiness are generated.

But, you do not have to stay in a closed and victimized state. Here is one meditation technique you can practice to shift yourself to a more open and empowering state. This meditation will take about twenty minutes.

1. Choose a quiet place. Settle down comfortably in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for the duration of this meditation. You may choose to sit down on a chair or lie down on a flat surface.

2. Breathe naturally.

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