To Improve Your Short Game You Have to Be Able to Make Putts

Almost anyone can learn to drive a golf ball with a little practice. Being long off of the tee is not what gets the average golfer in trouble. It is not what gets the pros in trouble either. To really improve your score you have to improve your short game and this means being able to putt.

Here are few tips to lower your score by improving your putting.

1. Putting is all about feel. When you feel good about your grip you will have control over your putter. What you want is to lightly place your hands on the club so it is easy for you to swing the clubhead squarely toward the target. The index finger on your left hand overlaps the little finger of your right hand. Many golfers prefer the index finger to overlap more than one finger.

2. Keep your thumbs straight down the front of the shaft. Do not grip to low. Grip as close to the top of your putter as is comfortable. Keep your feet shoulder width apart. Slightly bend your knees and elbows. Keep your eyes on the ball and stand close to it with your arms close to your body.

3. You want a relaxed swing moving your arms and hands together through the ball. Stroke the ball with the middle of the putter. Keep your eyes on the ball and do not lift your head to look until you have totally completed your swing.

4. For longer putts you will have a longer swing. A shorter swing for short putts. This is all that changes and is based on how far you have to putt. The mechanics of putting stay the same no matter how far your putt is.

5. When it comes to reading a green you can see the layout of the green from 100 yards and in as you approach it.

Read more

10 tips ... that will improve your golf game

Five local professionals and PGA-certified instructors tell you how to become a better player

Not every player gets to practice before every round with his teacher hovering behind him, watching his swing, checking for malfunctions, making sure everything is working just right. Just those on the PGA Tour.

And not every player has the luxury of going for a lesson or visiting an instructor on a periodic basis, usually because the cost can be prohibitive.

So, how do you become a better player? What is it that you need to know to improve your game and lower your scores, which is the desire of every player who has ever teed a ball, hoisted a club and tried like heck to make the ball go high, straight and, yes, especially long?

Well, short of having a certified PGA teaching professional on your payroll, or taking one to the golf course every time you play, the Post-Gazette has asked five local professionals and PGA-certified instructors to provide a list of the top 10 tips a player should know and work on to become a better player.

Consider it the PG's version of Harvey Penick's "Little Red Book," a compilation of teachings, lessons and musings designed to help players understand the work, preparation and execution that is required to lower scores and make golf a more enjoyable game. Or just less frustrating.

The participating professionals are John Aber, head professional at Allegheny Country Club; Eric Johnson, director of instruction at Oakmont Country Club; Kevin Shields, teaching professional at Rolling Hills CC; Sean Parees, teaching professional at Quicksilver GC and Robert Morris University Island Sports Center; and Jim Cichra, director of instruction at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center.

The tips are designed for players of all skill level, but primarily are geared toward the average player. And, with the average score in this country over 100, there are plenty of players in search of lessons to improve their game. 

Read more

How to Repair Ball Marks

Why It's Important to Repair Your Ball Marks on the Green.

Ball marks - also called pitch marks - are the bane of smooth-putting and healthy greens on golf courses all over the world. They're the little depressions, or craters, sometimes made when a golf ball descends from the sky and impacts the putting surface.

Repairing those little depressions is very important. Equally important is doing it the right way. Because while many golfers fail to repair ball marks - and shame on you if you are one of them - there are also many well-meaning golfers who do "repair" the pitch marks, only to do so incorrectly.

A ball mark can cause the grass in the depression to die, leaving not just a scar but also a pit in the putting surface that can knock well-struck putts offline. Repairing a ball mark restores a smooth surface and helps keep the grass healthy. But "repairing" a ball mark incorrectly can actually cause more damage than not attempting to repair it at all, according to a study done at Kansas State University.

The KSU researchers, whose conclusions were reported on Cybergolf.com, found that incorrectly "repaired" ball marks take up to twice as long to heal as those that are properly repaired.

So golfers, lets all start fixing our ball marks, and doing it the right way. And if you have a moment - if there isn't another group of golfers behind you waiting for you to clear the green - fix one or two other ball marks, too, if you find more of them on the green.

Repairing ball marks isn't just important for the health of the greens, and for smooth-rolling putts. It isn't just a matter of golf etiquette. It is our obligation to help take care of the golf courses we play. And repairing ball marks is a big part of that obligation to the game.

Continue reading

Meditation Techniques for Concentration

Meditation is mainly done for the purpose of relaxation of mind and for gaining good concentration as well. Your level of concentration is sure to be improved if meditation is done on a regular basis.

In the beginning you may feel distracted. But it is very necessary that you have a good focus so that you improve. There are many meditation techniques for concentration that can be implemented.

Focusing on a particular object is very essential to develop concentration. This has to be done for a certain time. Depending on this the techniques for concentration can be mainly divided into 3 types. They are Zazen, which is mainly breathing concentration, Vipassana, which is also known as concentrate to sensations and Tratak, which is also known as concentrate to candle flame.

Zazen

This is a very renowned Buddhist practice of developing concentration and an effective meditation technique.

This technique of meditation is known to be the best for beginners. This helps in focusing on breathing while you count.

The seating posture for this purpose should be such that your spine is erect when you do this form of meditation.

Vipassana

This technique of meditation is also the best for beginners. The physical sensations of body are focus when you do this.

It is known to have enlightened many people when compared to any other technique of meditation. It helps in keeping your mind very cool and you can also control your mind in a very easily.

Tratak

This is known to be a wonderful technique of meditation that helps in providing you with the desired results. It helps you to keeping your mind focused and also greatly assists in enhancing memory as well.

In this technique, candle flame is focused and concentrated. It helps you to come out of distractive thoughts. 

Read more

Golf tip: Pitching and chipping

The golf tip applies to both pitch- and chip shots. Pitching shots are typically from 10-70 metres from the green, where the ball stays in the air for longer, while chipping shots are the more delicate shots played from just off the green.

Different instructors use different figures for the weight distribution during chipping and pitching, but as a general golf tip, try to keep your weight 60-70 percent on the left leg (for right-handers) and 30-40 percent on the right throughout the shot. Position the ball slightly forward of centre and, importantly, since these chipping and pitching shots are not full swings, you need to limit your backswing and follow through accordingly.

Avoid the golf tip #1: Chipping or pitching with too much weight on the right

The reason this golf tip came about in the first place was to ensure that the golfer keeps his or her weight on the left foot at impact. Many amateurs, especially high handicappers, try to lean back and scoop the ball up into the air.

The perception on this golf tip is that to chip or pitch the ball up quickly, the weight should be on the back foot so that you can get under the ball and lift it. Then the ground tends to get in the way before the ball does!

The problem with setting up with the weight favouring the right and allowing the weight to be too much on the right side in the backswing is that, at impact, your low point will be on the back foot – behind the ball. This golf tip leads to either hitting your chipping and pitching shots fat, or topping it!

Avoid the golf tip #2: Chipping or pitching with too much weight on the left

If you overdo it by putting too much weight on the left side, you’ll end up having your head in front of the ball and your right side too high.

Read more

Meditation and Breathing Exercises to Reduce Stress

How you react to stress determines how it will affect you. Too much stress can be bad for your heart. Learn how to manage your stress with deep breathing and meditation exercises.

Stress can be hard to avoid, but don’t worry if you can’t avoid stress completely—you don’t have to.stress is a normal physical and psychological to both positive and negative situations. Stress itself isn’t necessarily unhealthy—but your reaction to it can be.

How Does Stress Affect Your Heart?

When stress becomes constant and chronic, it can cause an increase in heart rate and blood pressure that may damage the artery walls, the American Heart Association (AHA) reports. Stress that’s left unchecked may contribute to high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

In particular, research has shown that those with “Type A” traits—such as often feeling rushed, irritated, impatient, or angry—have an increased likelihood of developing heart disease. Emotions like anger and hostility cause your body to release stress hormones into your blood. This causes an increase in your heart rate and blood pressure, which makes your heart work harder.

Managing Your Stress Levels

Although the exact link between heart disease and stress is unclear, it’s smart to take steps now to get your stress levels under control. It may be tempting to ask your doctor for medicine to manage stress, but lifestyle changes such as stress management techniques are a much better long-term strategy to lower your stress level.

One of the best ways to help you relax and manage stress is through deep breathing exercises, including meditation. It takes a little practice to make a habit of breathing exercises, but anyone can learn them. You can use them at home or in the office—or anywhere that you need some relief. Try these exercises, recommended by the AHA and Mayo Clinic, to help reduce stress:

Deep Breathing

The Anatomy of a Zen Habit

This post, The Anatomy of a Zen Habit will explain why we have made Zen Habits, (the website) part of our lives and the whys and hows of habit breaking and making.

Through his website and books, Leo Babauta has shown us that a regular person can do extraordinary things. As a husband and father of 6, Babauta quit smoking, lost weight, ran a marathon, adopted a vegetarian diet, turned his blog into a business, tripled his income and quit his job, and through all of that taught us how to do it too.

Zen Habits has more than 210,000 subscribers and even more readers. There is no doubt that Leo worked hard, especially at first to grow his blog. He worked a full time job, while writing morning, noon and night and then some. Even so, there is more to the success of Zen Habits than luck and hard work.

Top 5 Reasons (in my opinion) for Leo Babauta’s Success

1. Leo is relatable.

2. He writes good stuff.

3. He keeps learning and sharing his secrets.

4. The information he provides is helpful & honest.

5. He’s a good guy.

In order to really break down the anatomy of a Zen habit, I went straight to the source. Leo was kind enough to answer a few questions to help break down the importance of Zen, habits and procrastination.

What does Zen even mean?

Leo: It means different things to every person. For me it is simply a way to learn to be present, to live in the moment. That’s a very simple thing, but it turns out it changes everything.

Why are we so attracted to developing better habits?

Leo: There is an optimist in most of us, who despite evidence of failed attempts throughout our lives, believes we can become better. This optimist wants us to be the best version of ourselves that we can possibly become. 

Read more

The Four Pillars of a Fit Mind: Mental golf tips

Go ahead. Pump iron. Do pilates. Just remember: A million crunches can't make up for a fragile mind. Call it mental fitness, a soundness of the psyche that's as vital to low scores as a flexible physique and solid fundamentals.

PILLAR NO. 1: STRENGTH

Nicklaus and Tiger are famous for it. Mental toughness: performing when it matters most. "It's having the strength to stand up to pressure," Parent says, and being comfortable in that spotlight.

EXERCISE: Don't give yourself gimmes

To get acclimated to pressure, embrace it. Put yourself under it. For starters, Parent recommends putting every short putt, even if someone is waiting behind you. "Act like the shot matters, and you'll be more ready to hit it when it really does."

PILLAR NO. 2: FLEXIBILITY

Your mind needs to be as limber as your body. The most successful players adapt to different courses and conditions. They think creatively and accept things as they come. When Vijay Singh was asked if an Augusta downpour bothered him, he replied, "Only if it's just raining on me."

EXERCISE: Reconsider your clubs

Mental flexibility means keeping your mind open. Or as Parent puts it, "Just because you're in the bunker doesn't mean it's a sand wedge." To cultivate creative thinking, take one club and work around the practice green, hitting many kinds of shots: high, low, soft, hard. The next time around, choose just one shot and practice hitting it with every club in your bag.

PILLAR NO. 3: BALANCE

One shot at a time. Stay in the moment. They're clichés for a reason: They work. "Not getting too excited, not getting too depressed," Parent says. "That's what mental balance is all about."

EXERCISE: Take stock of your thoughts

During your round, count how many times you find yourself dwelling on the past or pondering the future. Are you still simmering over that three-putt? 

Continue Reading..

What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate (And How it Benefits You)

What is Meditation?

There are different ways to meditate, and since it’s such a personal practice there are probably more than any of us know about. There are a couple that are usually focused on heavily in scientific research, though. These are focused-attention, or mindful meditation, which is where you focus on one specific thing—it could be your breathing, a sensation in your body or a particular object outside of you. The point of this type of meditation is to focus strongly on one point and continually bring your attention back to that focal point when it wanders.

The other type of meditation that’s often used in research is open-monitoring meditation. This is where you pay attention to all of the things happening around you—you simply notice everything without reacting.

What Happens in Your Brain When You Meditate

This is where things get really interesting. Using modern technology like fMRI scans, scientists have developed a more thorough understanding of what’s taking place in our brains when we meditate. The overall difference is that our brains stop processing information as actively as they normally would. We start to show a decrease in beta waves, which indicate that our brains are processing information, even after a single 20-minute meditation session if we’ve never tried it before.

In the image below you can see how the beta waves (shown in bright colors on the left) are dramatically reduced during meditation (on the right).

Below is the best explanation I found of what happens in each part of the brain during meditation:

Frontal lobe

This is the most highly evolved part of the brain, responsible for reasoning, planning, emotions and self-conscious awareness. During meditation, the frontal cortex tends to go offline.

Parietal lobe

This part of the brain processes sensory information about the surrounding world, orienting you in time and space. During meditation, activity in the parietal lobe slows down.

Read More

Simple Safety Guidelines for Golfers

Golf is a very safe sport - as long as a few basic, common-sense rules of safety are followed. When those rules are ignored, injuries can occur.

Golf involves the swinging of metal clubs, which propel golf balls at high speeds. If you're in the way of either the clubs or the balls, you're in danger. You could be placing yourself in danger, too, if you do not respect the power of the sun, the danger of lightning, or your body's need for the right kind of fluids on warm days.

Keep Track of Those Around You

When a golf club is in your hands and you are preparing to swing, it is your responsibility to make sure your playing partners are a safe distance away from you. It's not too difficult, after all, to keep track of where everyone is when your group is likely just four or fewer golfers.

Never swing a golf club when another golfer is close to you. That's the most important thing to remember. And be a little extra cautious on practice swings, when it's easy for golfers to let their guard down. Extra vigilance is also needed when younger golfers are part of your group.

Also, look ahead of you, and to the left and right of the area where you are aiming your shot. Don't hit your ball until you are confident that any golfers up ahead are out of your range.

Heads Up

While it's the responsibility of every golfer to be sure it is safe for them to take their stroke, you can't always rely on every golfer to do just that. So even when it's not your turn to hit, stay aware of your surroundings.

Be especially careful if you have to venture into an adjoining fairway to retrieve or play an errant shot, or if you are close to an adjoining fairway and golfers on that hole are hitting toward you.

Read More

How to Make the Most of Your Life: 50 Wise Tips

Life is precious.

But how to make the most of your life?

Here are fifty wise tips by readers on how to make the most of your time on earth.

1. It starts with being present and in the moment. Really appreciating the ‘small’ things in life – the smell of the morning, the feel of flannelette sheets, the warmth of a hug, the gift of a smile. And gratitude.

2. Follow your passion and you can create a life you can be proud of. The formula is really simple: find what makes you useful and happy.

3. Speak for those who have no voice. Make a difference in someone else’s life.

4. Help others, love fully, judge less, and take care of your body and your mind

5. Help your family and make sure they are okay.

6. Heal, if you need to be healed, forgive if you need to forgive, learn to love if that is your lesson.

7. Strive for a healthier, more purposeful life to get to the bones of existence.

8. Listen, breathe, and seek for the answers to who you are and what you are meant to do, as they are unique to all of us.

9. Face and accept pain and hurt, and to act in spite of fear.

10. Discover who we truly are – and live that life.

11. Use your own sense of self to look at others without judgment, see them with clear eyes and exercise compassion.

12. Remember to be present in each moment, see what beautiful thing is here now, no matter how small.

13. Take the time to really look carefully and contemplate.

14. Stay in the present and know we are where we aresupposed to be.

Read more