Golf Practice Blog

By Sean Cochran
From PGATOUR.com

As we continue with our series on golf fitness exercises to improve your game it is time to discuss clubhead speed. Over the past couple of weeks we have been discussing tee shots and the benefits of golf fitness training for this aspect of your game.

An integral component of tee shots, especially those hit with your driver, is clubhead speed. Clubhead speed is essentially the rate of speed at which the club impacts the golf ball. The higher the rate of speed, the farther the golf ball will travel. So it only makes sense when hitting driver that clubhead speed becomes an integral component of the game.

Read the rest of Sean Cochran’s article about increasing clubhead speed at PGATOUR.com.

Click here to view the full line of golf fitness products at PracticeRange.com.

Far Hills, N.J. - A proposed amendment to the 2008 Rules of Golf regarding additional forms of club adjustability has been approved by the USGA. Any such adjustment(s), however, cannot be made during a stipulated round. All new forms of iron and wood adjustability must be approved in advance by the USGA.

The Rules of Golf currently state that woods and irons must not be designed to be adjustable, except for weight. In March 2005, the USGA first indicated an interest in allowing more types of adjustable features on woods and irons and on Feb. 27, 2007, the USGA published a proposed Rule change.

The USGA decided to adopt the proposal after consideration of comments from manufacturers and other interested parties. The USGA believes the changes regarding adjustability can help many golfers obtain clubs that are well suited to their needs. There is no change to the Rules regarding putters, which already allow weight and other forms of adjustment.

“We believe that helping average golfers without taking away from the challenge of the game is a good thing for golf,” said Dick Rugge, USGA senior technical director.

“PGA Tour players have long had the opportunity to have their clubs adjusted or modified quickly and often. This has allowed them to fit their clubs to their swings as they feel the need to do so. By relaxing the rules to permit club adjustability, average golfers can enjoy similar fitting benefits.”

Any questions regarding the change to the rules governing adjustability of clubs should be sent to the USGA, attention Dick Rugge, P.O. Box 708, Far Hills, NJ 07931, Fax 908-234-0138, e-mail: drugge@usga.org.

Click here to order your copy of USGA Golf Rules Illustrated.

By RICK MARTINO
Scripps Howard News Service
Tuesday, September 04, 2007

One of the true learned skills of playing golf is the ability to read greens. Even for experienced players, this skill varies from course to course because there are many different types of grasses used on various green surfaces, and many outside factors that have an effect on the roll of the ball.

– 3. The line chosen for the putt.

Read the rest of this artice by Rick Martino at ScrippsNews.com.

For the best golf training aids to help you line up putts and read greens, visit PracticeRange.com!

By Mel Callender
San Marcos Daily Record Columnist

When should golf begin?

I believe a parent should introduce a child to all sports, allowing that child to play in a lot of different sports to see which game they enjoy the most. Should your child take an interest in golf, then there are various organizations that have programs that are geared to your child’s age. These programs can offer instruction, opportunities to play and compete with other players of their skill and age level.

Read the rest of this article by Mel Callender at The San Marcos Daily Record.

For the best golf training aids for your junior golf beginner, please visit PracticeRange.com!

LONGWOOD, Fla. - Five men including the winner of the record-setting seven-man playoff at the Boeing Classic use the I GOTCHA Ready Warm-Up System to safely stretch and relax their body before taking on the competition. The seven golfers made history Sunday competing in the largest playoff in Champions Tour history.

The I GOTCHA Ready is so popular that more than 70 players on the Champions Tour use it including seven of the top 15 money leaders.

“The three-step process of the I GOTCHA Ready Warm-Up System starts with helping establish a smooth tempo and powerful release while effectively increasing flexibility and warming up the golf muscles,” said Jim Light, president and founder of Pro Line Sports, Inc. “It’s like having three products in one. The warm-up routine only takes a minute and will have golfers loose while building distance and flexibility.”

Whether you are a Tour player or an avid golfer, the quick & easy twist-n-lock design of the I GOTCHA Ready allows golfers to safely stretch their body helping to prevent possible injury.

The I GOTCHA Ready Warm-Up System comes in three weights and is available at PracticeRange.com for $28.95 plus $6.30 shipping and handling.

Yes, I know it’s August, but we’ve decided that as we get closer to the end of summer, you may be looking to fix that one last hang-up with your golf game.

To that end, we have generated a Top-10 list of our best sellers from PracticeRange.com for the month of July, and hope to produce a list like this every month.

PracticeRange.com best sellers (in order of popularity):

1. 2Thumb Putter Grip
2. Swingyde
3. Impact Bag
4. Range Practice Ball
5. Plane EZ
6. Tac-Tic Wrist
7. Plane Stick
8. 1×2 Commercial Golf Mat
9. Swing Builder Fan
10. The 3-Club Tour with Hank Haney - DVD

Hopefully something on this list will help you iron out that last kink that has kept your game from reaching the next level this season.

Shop thousands of the world’s best golf training aids, golf books and golf DVDs at PracticeRange.com and feel free to email us to request a printed catalog of our featured products.

For our loyal and dedicated customers who check regularly to see what new and interesting golf insights we have on our Golf Practice Blog, we issue a hearty and much-belated… FORE!

Our goal is to bring you a post at least once a day, whether it be from our top-notch consulting golf professionals, from our highly-trained staff of golf retail specialists or from the world’s most up-to-date golf news.

Over the past several months, we have been upgrading and updating PracticeRange.com, and our blog site, golfpracticeblog.com, in order to serve you better. These efforts include moving our sites to a faster, more dedicated web server, establishing a unique domain for the blog, creating a print catalog, and adding some of the most sought-after golf training aids, golf books and golf DVDs to our product line.

If you are a returning customer and have placed new orders over the past several weeks, you’ll notice that our checkout system moves much faster. For our new customers, please take note: our e-commerce website is one of the most secure and trusted you will find on the web. We subscribe to the ScanAlert Hacker Safe system, we maintain a GoDaddy Secured Site certificate and we are memebers in good standing of the Better Business Bureau.

Welcome back to the Golf Practice Blog fellow golfers, we’re glad you’re here and we welcome your comments on any of our posts.

Shop thousands of the world’s best golf training aids, golf books and golf DVDs at PracticeRange.com and feel free to email us to request a printed catalog of our featured products.

Lately it seems as though a lot of schools are re-tooling their physical education programs to make them more inclusive for children of all body-types and skill levels… cutting competitive sports play and incorporating more static and low-impact excercises and stretching.  However, with America’s childhood obesity on the rise (more than doubling since the 1970s), instead of stretching and walking with no purpose, golf should be the activity that “chips in” to fill the void.

Though golf can be as competitive of a sport as any other, at a young age it may just be better to teach children that golf can perhaps be best enjoyed when you focus on surpassing your own personal best.  Taking this line of reasoning, golf could very well be the best physical education class subject that a school could adopt.  The benefits of golf for young people are too numerous to list here, a good start at the top three being walking, weight training and hand-eye coordination.  Couple this with the fact that golf is practically a life-time activity and you get a school program that has the greatest return on any investment a school can put into it.

Leave it to the birthplace of golf to make the first solid move…a primary school in the United Kingdom has figured out the benefits of organized golf instruction at all levels. By partnering with several UK golf foundations and associations, the Midlothian Public School in Scotland is in the process of implementing it… and is going the extra mile at that.

Read the following article from MidlothianToday.co.uk to learn more.

The American golf training aid industry is already answering the call for bolstering junior golf.  The PracticeRange.com top three training aids for the first quarter of 2007 include The Swing Builder (available in three levels of resistance), the Junior Impact Ball and the Izzo Chip Pocket Golf Net.  Additionally we have seen a dramatic increase in the amount of school purchase orders in this first quarter.  Hopefully this is a good sign that solid golf instruction in American schools’ physical education classes is on the horizon and getting closer.

At the 2007 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, I spoke with a consulting golf professional for one of the big golf companies regarding the recent surge in the Square Head Driver design.  He said, confidently, that with the advent of the square club-head design, that golf club technology has reached a pinnacle that will be hard to surpass.

Click here to read a full article by Bob Warters regarding Callaway’s Fusion FT-i and FT-i Tour square-headed drivers.

As we ring in the New Year, many of us will be putting weight loss right next to improving the golf game at the top of our list of resolutions.  In weight loss, as in golf, it would be ideal to take a pill before bed and a couple swings with the latest trainer then wake up a few pounds lighter and a few strokes under.

Unfortunately nothing is that simple… weight loss (like golf) takes training.  Golf training aids that improve the golf game as well as the physique are becoming more prevalent.  Products such as the Powerswing Trainer from Golf Gym and Gyro Excersise Balls from Dynaflex are leading the way in helping golfers multi-task their training and build the golf-specific muscles that will help them shave strokes off the golf game and finish a round feeling better than before.

Weight loss powders and pills may tout “instant and easy” weight loss but few, if any, produce any real results except making you feel lighter in the wallet.  Read this short article from the Central Texas Better Business Bureau regarding diet aids, then visit PracticeRange.com for training tools and exercise programs that really will help you shave off those unwanted pounds and strokes.