Golf Accessories

Archive for June, 2009

Golf lovers looking for a conversation to have while consuming a beer will often discuss the most incredible golf stars of their respective times. The game of golf changes in every epoch. The golf players have gotten stronger, and even more importantly, the gear has gotten much better. Today, <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.dhgate.com/wholesale+golf+clubs.html”>wholesale golf clubs</a> are works of craftsmanship, adding distance and marksmanship to anyone’s match.

Our selection for the 1st era is Bobby Jones, the most incredible amateur player to ever swing the sticks. In 1930, Jones won the Grand Slam overcoming all amateurs and professionals. Ponder thatfeat. In the U.K., he won both the British Amateur Championship and the British Open. Golf’s Grand Gentleman conquered thirteen majors and quit competitive golf attwenty-eight. Others like the tremendous competitor Byron Nelson were splendid during this era, but we’d put our wager on Hogan in an 18-hole playoff any time.

Our selection for the second time frame is amazing ball-striker Ben Hogan. He won an bodacious sixty-three tournaments from the late 30’s to late 50’s, despite losing time to WWII and a near-fatal accident. A unyielding competitor, Hogan epitomized endurance and his capability to hit perfect shots from anywhere on the tees. He spent decades analyzing the golf swing, and created one of the superior swings ever found on the fairways! Golf clubs wholesalers have been vending sticks designed by Hogan for years.

Arnold Palmer heads the list for the 3rd incredible player. The man at the front of Arnie’s Army used his strange swing to conquere large numbers of hardware, and the hearts of the ordinary golf player in the process. Golf stars headed out to buy wholesale golf clubs and learn the game after watching Palmer play. In one of golf’s greatest comebacks, Palmer emergedfrom seven strokes back in the last round to win the 1960 U.S. Open. The crowd cheered him to victory. He won 7 majors among his 60 tour victories, earning the golf nickname “the King.” Palmer bests Nicklaus in our list, but we admit it’s a controversial pick.

The Master of the current game is a tough selection. Actually, it’s not. Only a fool would not pick Tiger Woods. He is on pace to destroy all the golf records, and now his clubs are hot items with golf club wholesalers, too. We hope they’ll help us play like him!

Golfers like Tiger Woods are envied for their skill in the execution of the proper golf swing. The pure joy of watching them swing their clubs and sending the ball soaring up into the air and away over the fairway, knows no bounds. The proper golf swing can be called the Holy Grail of Golf. It is the proper golf swing that separates the chaff from the grain; the rookie from the veteran and the true golfer from the pseudo.

The popularity of golf throughout the world has spawned a number of books, golf swing instructions and DVDs aimed at improving the swinging ability of the golfer. Some people find these materials effective some do not. The principal reason behind the failure of most of these guides is the difference in the anatomy of every individual golfer. No two golfers are the same, neither are two golf swings. Some of the techniques in golf swing instruction guides simply will not work on some people because of their anatomy. And guides cannot be expected to address all anatomical differences.

For instance, the flexibility and agility of a slender golfer cannot be normally matched by the powerful swing of a stocky person and vice versa. The stocky golfer uses his broad shoulders to create the power to strike the ball to a far distance and this is matched by the legerity and the suppleness of the slender golfer to take his back swing far behind his back and thus give a longer downswing, which translates into the power required for hitting the ball.

The distance travel by the ball may be the same for each golfer, but the technique is as different as chalk and cheese. The techniques are different because the body structures are different.

A little bit of mathematics and physics could help you perceive the differences in the proper golf swing of each individual, the stocky and the slender golfer. Most professional golfer can attain a club head speed of about a hundred miles per hour (mph) – Tiger Woods is known to have hit 125 mph. – at the moment the clubface makes contact with the ball.

Tiger Woods is able to achieve this golf swing speed because he pivots far behind his back than most golfers can. The effect of the angular motion and the torque force on the club at the moment of impact has been studied in detail by physicists. They have found that velocity also has a telling effect on your proper golf swing. Practically all golf club heads have the same weight and to achieve distance the golfer has to hit the ball with the maximum force and this can be created only if the club head reaches the maximum velocity.

One of the most common mistakes that a novice at golf makes is to snap the wrist just before impact. It usually happens if the golfer is standing too close to the ball. This actually slows down the speed of the club, hence the force and translates into a lesser travel distance of the ball.

It is important to be “in the now” in order to be fully aware of what we should be aware of whilst on the golf course. Perception involves all the ways of becoming aware of things, people, happenings, or ideas. Once a person has perceived something they will make sense of that “reality” in their own way – they will make a judgment, come to their own conclusion about the “reality” of the situation. Judgment involves all the ways of coming to conclusions about what has been perceived. If people differ systematically in what they perceive and in how they reach conclusions, then it follows that they will differ in levels of motivation, acquisition of skills and in their reactions to situations.

There are many ways in which people differ. On a physical scale, we differ in height, shape, weight, fitness, flexibility, and so on. And our golf swing will differ from one individual to another because of these obvious physical differences. Golf is played from the platform of you, the person, and you are unique, and thus you will have your own unique swing. And yet so many golfers try to imitate someone else’s swing which they perceive as perfect; and it probably is perfect…for that other person – it suits their individual characteristics, both physically and psychologically.

On the psychological side, some of us are more relaxed and easy going whilst others are more easily excitable. Some of us do things slowly and deliberately, whilst others do things at great speed. Some of us are very controlled, others not. Again, our golf will reflect such individual characteristics.

Awareness is the first step on the journey to mastery of anything in life. If you are aware of your individual methods of perception and the judgments that ensue, then you can change your reaction to situations, you can change your levels of motivation and also your ability to acquire skills. And golf is a game of reactions, motivation and skill.

If you are aware of reacting as “Mr. Angry”, for example, you can do a little work on this and learn to respond in a different way. I can hear you saying “but this is how I am, I always get angry because I care” and so on. But the fact is you don’t HAVE to get angry, you CAN learn to react in a different way, and you CAN take control, so long as you WANT to. And so, with a little effort on your part, and maybe a little help from a hypnotherapist or golf psychologist, you can change your reactions to all sorts of situations on the golf course. Wouldn’t that be useful?

Not only can you change your reactions, you can raise your levels of motivation, overcome negative thoughts and feelings and take a more direct route along the road to mastery. Once you are aware of your own unique characteristics, you know what skills come naturally to you and what skills require a little attention, and as you attend to these mental skills you will find that you can acquire them in a relatively short space of time. Let’s face it; if you are good at your long game but not so good at chipping, you know that if you work on the chipping it will get better. Taking the same approach to your mental skills will work just as effectively. They simply require a little attention on your part.

One particular aspect of personality, however, will always remain pretty constant and unchanged, and to fight this aspect would be a complete waste of time and effort. There is an individual tempo of the personality. There is a natural tempo with which we all perform any deliberately willed action. And if there is one thing which is vital in golf is to have a good rhythm, a good tempo.

This does NOT mean that you have to have the same tempo as Tiger, or Ernie or Phil. Your best rhythm, your best tempo, is your OWN natural, instinctive tempo or rhythm. You don’t have to slow your golf swing down or speed it up; simply become AWARE of your natural tendencies and swing the club accordingly.

Ask yourself these two simple questions and you will easily work out your own best golfing tempo: Do you speak quickly or slowly? Do you walk quickly or slowly? Next time you swing your golf club, become aware of what tempo feels best to you. As Gary Player says “There is a definite “feeling” and this feeling is to be developed and looked for”. Instead of trying to swing at the speed you think you should, allow yourself to become aware of the feel of your golf swing and discover for yourself what feels best, and you will find that your own most comfortable swing speed, your most comfortable rhythm and tempo, will in fact simply reflect your personality type. By swinging your golf club with the rhythm and tempo of your own personality you will produce your best results on the golf course.

You will never become a master of someone else’s golf game, but you can become a master of your own game. To quote Pia Nilsson, “Trust your swing; it is your signature”.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis downloads.

The most important thing that a golfer should acquire is a proper golf swing that is near perfect. It should be the endless effort of both veterans of the game and the novice to get a better swing at the next eighteen holes. The number of books on golf and the instructional videos available could confuse a beginner and no matter how many times or how many books you read or the DVDs you watch, they will be of no avail if the basics of the game, that remain the same for every golfer, is not properly understood and assimilated thoroughly.

The Set-Up

One of the things that makes a golf swing go off tangent is not the swing in itself but the set-up of the golfer. When we say set-up, we could refer to the golfer’s club, his accessories and clothes etc. It is the opinion of some golfers that a good set-up can offset a bad swing, which, of course, is patently incorrect. It does not matter if you have designer clubs, accessories and swank clothes or just off-the-rack clubs. It is the proper golf swing that is ultimately going to win you the game.

Spending too much time on set-up than on a game is a common mistake beginners tend to commit. Some golfers think that if they know all the technical names and terms of the game, they can just go about hitting the ball however they want. It may work for a film star in a film but it will not work for the average golfer and his bad swing.

But it is essential for you to keep in mind that when we talk about set-up we should mean the game and not the clubs, the accessories and the clothes of the golfer. It should pertain to the set-up of the golfer’s position, stance, balance etc. prior to the proper golf swing.

Bad Posture Can Destroy The Proper Golf Swing

If you are the kind of golfer that is not paying attention to the posture you adopt during a swing, then you should seriously think of chucking the game and taking up another. Golf is just not the game for you. You should know a good posture from a bad one and avoid the bad one. The key factor of a proper golf swing is the proper alignment of your head and your neck. This is the factor that is going to dictate the development of the force that will drive the ball and its flight. If you hunch over the ball, you will either hit it to the side or it will far short of the green than it should. It does not matter how hard you hit it.

Next comes balance. Not that it is in anyway inferior to posture. A good balance is required to deliver the required thrust to your swing. If you are unbalanced, you cannot hit the ball with the force that it should be struck with. If you have not perfected your stance, you will feel uneasy during play and the uneasiness will be obvious in your shot. Keep your footing on solid ground and keep it firm but not tensed up and heavy. Proper balance and posture can be cultivated by constant practice. It should become so ingrained into yourself that you should be taking up the correct position the moment you step up to tee off.

Chicken Wings

When we say chicken wings we do not mean the kind that we eat and relish. This variety can best be left at home or reserved for a victory dinner. It is the act of letting your arm and your wrist go limp when putting a ball that is known as a chicken wing. It is a bad habit and should be overcome by strict discipline and practice. If this limp action is allowed then your arm will fly up and all the power developed will get dissipated.

Golfers who do not pay the necessary attention to their swing tend to commit this so called chicken wings. Chopping or slicing will be the result of losing power and executing a chicken wing.

Learn the good aspects of the game and practice them to perfection. Learn the bad things about golf and strive to avoid them.

Fear holds us back in life and fear in golf is reflected in the way in which the golf ball travels, or doesn’t. You can learn mental skills to help you let go of fear whether you are just beginning to play golf or even if you are a professional.
Golfers experience fear in many different situations, be it when you are standing on the first tee, or holing out on the eighteenth green, or when you are thinking about driving the golf ball inside a line of trees or pitching a ball over water. The golfer’s fears can relate to what other people think, or a lack of belief in your own golfing ability. Some of us find that the putter or the wedge takes on the feel of a snake or an octopus in our hands. Some of us freeze; some sweat and some move more quickly…Some stop playing golf.

Golfing fears range from global to specific. You play golf, or any sport, from the platform of you the person. You play your golf within the constraints of your physical body, your mind and your emotions. Mind works on body and body works on mind. How many times have you thought, or said out loud, “I have a mental block with…”? A negative thought creates a blockage in your physiology – this is FACT. Every thought you have has energy, and the neurotransmitters in your brain take the thought information to every cell in your body.

It has been shown that to repress anger for twenty minutes will suppress your immune system for up to eight hours. EIGHT HOURS. So when you are standing over the golf ball, it is worth remembering that just thinking “I’m going to duff this one” actually has the power to trigger off a PHYSIOLOGICAL response, whereby the neurotransmitters in your brain transport that information to your cells…and you know the outcome. It is inevitable – you have programmed your body to duff that shot. And saying “don’t” doesn’t work either. By this I mean “Don’t duff this one” or “don’t go in the bunker”. In such a case the words are saying “don’t go there” but the emotional energy is going DIRECTLY there.

Where there is a conflict between your will power and your imagination your imagination wins. Your mind is exquisitely talented. You can be standing on the tee with four hundred yards of fairway stretching in front of you, with a bunker that’s just two by two, and actually manage to get the ball into that bunker just by THINKING “don’t go there”. Every thought has energy. The level of energy depends on the emotional value attached to the thought. The more intensely you experience the emotion, the more pronounced the result. Your thoughts create your emotions and direct your actions.

Everything starts with a thought. And you can choose your thoughts, although you may not have realized this. It always amazes me how many people acknowledge that they have a MENTAL block with putting, or chipping or their driver, and yet proceed to tackle the problem from a physical perspective – either buying a new club, consulting a different coach, or just standing hitting ball after ball on the practice range – rather than asking themselves how they could change their thinking. And as Einstein pointed out, if you keep on doing the same things over and over again, you can hardly expect the results to change. The fact is, if you have a mental block all you have to do is to explore your thoughts and choose to change them.

What I suggest to successful golfers, and what works for them, is to develop as many mental skills as you have shots. In your mind now, count the number of clubs in your golf bag and the different types of shot you can hit with each one…just make a quick calculation and you will realize how many mental skills in golf there are that you can choose to learn. As you practice your mental golf skills you get better at them.

If you are building strength in the gym, the number of repetitions and the weights you use will determine the result. If you are learning a new shot in golf the number of times you practice it will determine its effectiveness and consistency. The same applies with the acquisition of mental skills for golf. To go to a hypnotherapist or golf psychologist and then not practice the skills decided upon is like having your golf lesson and never practicing. And I’m sure you have met as many people as me who say “that didn’t work”, when the reality is they didn’t give it a chance to work. The teacher can only ever be as good as the student. The teacher can only guide, the student learns.

So many people simply say “but I can’t do it”, or some equivalent negative. And if you think you can’t, you can’t. You don’t even get past go. But if you are willing to approach the situation from a different perspective…a whole new golf game can emerge for you.

It is well known that children “have minds like sponges”, that they find it easier to learn and that it gets increasingly more difficult to learn as you get older. This is because up until the age of 7, during the imprinting period of development, the subconscious mind is completely open to suggestion. And from then to the age of 12, the modeling period, the conscious mind is forming, and after that the conscious mind filters everything before it is assimilated into the subconscious.

Whatever beliefs you have, they are just beliefs, nothing more. There is no need to be held back by limiting beliefs. You can choose to change beliefs no matter how deep rooted they are. Just as you go for a mechanical lesson from your golf professional, you may need a little help or direction from a golf psychologist, but all beliefs can be changed.

You have a body and a mind that has a similar physiology and neurology as the best golfers in the world. Athletic literature is full of examples of athletes who have excelled because of their internal desire, rather than the physical attributes such as size, strength, power or speed. There are tall golfers and short golfers, male and female golfers, young and old golfers. It is not age or body shape that prescribes ability. It is your MIND that makes the difference. What the mind can perceive, the mind can believe and the mind can achieve.

You have the ability to play golf well. How good you get will depend on what you want to get out of the game. It is your choice – you can be as good as you want to be. The most important thing is to set your own goals, and enjoy your golf – it’s a game and should be fun. Unfortunately many people overlook this fact, and allow worries and fears to get in their way.

Fear is something which we learn through experience. Fear of embarrassment and fear of failure result in many adults not even attempting to learn a new task. Returning to the subject of children, we are not born with fear. Think about when a baby learns to walk. How many times does that baby teeter along and then fall, and then try again, and fall over again and try again, until eventually they can walk? If that child was worried about embarrassing him or herself, would they have learnt to walk? A baby will persevere time and time again, and has absolute trust that they will be able to learn that skill – otherwise they would not learn that skill.

The most important factor to grasp here is that what other people think doesn’t matter…but what you think does. What the mind can perceive, the mind can believe and the mind can achieve.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis cds and hypnosis mp3 downloads.