Category: Sport

Golf is a very popular sport for seniors for many reasons. One of the main reasons is that it is one of the few sports they can still play at their age. So to help out the senior golfers, I have put together a few golf tips for seniors to help them get the most out of the game of golf.

Golf Tips For Seniors

Tip #1: Improve Strength And Flexibility

Senior golfers don’t have the bodies and health that they used to in their youth. Preventing injuries is very important if they want to play more than one or two rounds of golf per year. This is why exercises and stretching that are specifically designed for injury prevention are critical for senior golfers. Here are a few important examples

#1: Torso Rotations –

Sit upright in a stationary chair with your back against the back of the chair. Hold the back of the chair and rotate your body to one side as far as you can and hold yourself in that position for at least 20 seconds (do not over-strain).

Repeat the same process on the other side. Do 10 reps on each side. You should feel a good stretch in your back and other torso muscles which are the same muscles used when swinging a golf club.

This is a great stretch to perform daily to increase your flexibility, but it is also a great stretch to use just before going out golfing to get you loosened up.

#2: Side-Lying Leg Circles –

Hips are a very important joint to take care of as you age and golf can be very rough on your hips. For this reason seniors really need to build muscle and increase their flexibility in their hips.

To perform side-lying leg circles, lie on one side with your bottom arm bent under your head for support. Your top arm should be in front of you with your hand on the ground to support your body and for better balance.

Slowly lift your top leg upward as far as you can while still maintaining pelvic stability. Move that leg in small circles 10 times one way, and then 10 times the other way. Switch legs and repeat. Do a couple sets with each leg.

Make sure your core is tight throughout the exercise to help stabilize your core and to keep tension off of your shoulders and neck.

#3: Use A Training Aid –

The best training aid for all ages that I have found is the Orange Whip Swing Trainer. This aid is designed for improved strength and flexibility, among other things. It’s patented counterweight system increases your flexibility and strengthens the exact muscles you need to swing your golf club. This all improves your range of motion which in turn will help prevent injuries.

Other benefits you will get out of the Orange Whip Swing Trainer are improved balance, rhythm and tempo. So not only will it improve your strength and flexibility to prevent injuries, it will actually help improve your overall swing.

Like stretching, it is a good idea to use this training aid every day to get the benefits from it, but it is also a great tool to use just before you swing your actual clubs on the course. Like a baseball player swinging a heavy bat while on deck, this aid can be used to loosen up the exact muscles needed when swinging your club, and can increase your club speed.

Tip 2: Learn “Senior” Swing Techniques

As we get older and our muscles start to lessen, seniors must learn to swing the golf club differently. They can’t just rely on the same muscles and mobility that they had in their youth.

Some of the best training seniors can receive is training developed specifically for seniors. One of the best programs out there that is designed for seniors came from Alex Fortey of The Eagle Golf Group and is called The Simple Senior Swing System.

With this system, age does not affect your swing and claims that it can add up to 70 yards of “straight as an arrow” distance off of the tee. Your swing will be so relaxed, limber and pain free that you will feel just as good after 18 holes as you did when you woke up that morning.

The great part about this system is that you do not have to rebuild your swing, spend money on new equipment, and works even if you are lacking in strength, flexibility and are plagued by pain and ailments.

The system is only $39, downloads right to your computer so you don’t have to wait for it and comes with a 60 day risk free guarantee so there really is nothing to lose. For more information click here: The Simple Senior Swing System.

Tip 3: Change Out Some Equipment

Many golfers get attached to their favorite equipment and don’t even want to think about changing as they age. Unfortunately for them, equipment that is optimal for younger golfers might not bethe best equipment for older golfers.

Equipment companies specifically design equipment to taylor them to specific skill sets, meaning that there are golf clubs and balls designed specifically for seniors. Examples of the differences are:

-Drivers, like the Cobra F9 Speedback Driver, have less drag and larger sweet spots making them more forgiving

-Increased (larger) grip on clubs, giving the senior a better feel for the club and allowing his grip to loosen a bit so it is not as hard on the fingers. It also helps absorb the shock of impact better, which means less stress for golfers with weaker hands.

-Light weight clubs make them easier for seniors to swing with more velocity

-Irons with deep cavities for increased accuracy

Change With The Times

The hardest thing for a senior to admit is that he or she is a senior. Once you can come to terms with that, change is inevitable. You just can’t play golf the same way you used to and still be effective.

You need to continually be working on your strength and flexibility in order for you to play well and prevent injuries, learn a “senior” swing so you can still hit the ball far without as much effort, and it really helps to get equipment that is specifically designed for seniors.

If you’re a senior and are really serious about and love the game of golf, implement these tips and you will have a very long and productive golf game.

Playing golf is not as easy as it looks. You can’t just pick up some clubs and go out on the course without any practice or training or you are going to be in for a world of embarrassment. And even if you have gone to the driving range a few times, it is a lot different when you are out on the golf course ready to hit your ball, all by yourself, with everyone watching you. If you hit the ball at all you should consider yourself lucky.

It doesn’t help that every club you pick up out of your bag has to be swung differently. Are you teeing off, driving the ball for distance, chipping high and far, chipping short, or putting? All of these have different stances, ways to hold the club, swings, etc. So to help out all of you “newbies”, I’m going to teach you about driving a golf ball for beginners and how to do it consistently so at least you can get out of the tee box.

Driving the ball off of the tee is a crucial part of your game. If you do not hit a good tee shot to begin the hole, then your score will start shooting up faster than you can yell, “FORE!” So read on and master this part of the game before anything else.

Without A Good Stance, You Are Doomed From The Start

Before you can have that amazing feeling that hitting a long shot straight down the fairway can give you, you must start with the basics. And the most basic part of driving the ball is your stance. For a good stance you must start with aligning yourself based on where you want the ball to land.

Start with setting your feet about shoulder-length apart with your body weight on the balls of your feet, evenly distributed over both feet and your knees slightly bent. Position your body so you are aligned with a target down the fairway where you want your ball to land. The ball should be lined up with the heel of your left foot for right-handed golfers and the heel of your right foot for left-handed golfers. Imagine an invisible line between the ball and your front heel.

The next important part of the stance is your upper body positioning. Your back should be in a straight line and you should bend at the hips. If doing this correctly, your butt should be sticking out slightly (just picture doing the hokey pokey). As for your arms, they should form a “V” shape and the butt of your club should angle slightly toward your front hip. This is all going to feel awkward at first, but the more you do it the more natural it will feel.

Proper Grip – Don’t Strangle The Club

The way you grip the club is also very important. Many people feel that the harder they squeeze the club, the farther your shot will go. In fact, it is just the opposite. You should hold it with a very relaxed grip at the end of the club so the club will turn over easily in your hand.

To help the club turn over easily, grip the club with your left-hand first (for righties, opposite for lefties) with your thumb on top. Do the same with your other hand, thumb on top of the club, and place your left pinkie finger between your index finger and middle finger of the left-hand (again, opposite for lefties).

Baby’s Got Back Swing

When you start your back swing, shift your weight back along with it. This will help build momentum and create more power on your swing.

Take your time on your back swing, the faster your back swing the more it will take you out of alignment. Proper alignment is more important than power!

In a sweeping arc motion, bring the club back until it is behind your head. Your front arm should remain straight throughout the entire process.

At this point take a slight pause at the top of your back swing before you start your downswing.

The Downswing – Where The Magic Happens

Even if every other part of the swing is perfect up to this point, if you lose your concentration now you could still end up in the woods or the bottom of the pond. This is the part of the swing where you make contact with the ball so this is the most exciting part, but also the easiest part to speed through.

Start your downswing calmly and speed up the club as it approaches the ball. Best case scenario is that the club is still accelerating when it hits the ball. This should be done in one fluid movement utilizing your entire body which will give you the power you need.

One More Tip For The Perfect Drive

The last tip to remember seems like the most simple, but can easily be forgotten. It is the same tip that can be heard in a lot of other sports like baseball, football, basketball, etc. And that tip is to always keep your eye on the ball. During the entire process you must keep your head down and your eye on the ball. Now, you can look up at your target while you are getting in your stance and preparing to swing, but once you are ready to swing your head MUST stay down. You can’t hit what you can’t see.

When you take a great swing you are going to be in a hurry to see how far and how straight the ball is going. This makes it easy to pull your head up early. Make sure you tell yourself before each and every swing to keep your head down all the way through the swing.

Time To Celebrate

If this whole process is followed perfectly, then you will be looking at a great tee shot straight down the fairway and will be ready and willing to start bragging to your golf partners. Unfortunately it is not that easy. Those are a lot of steps to remember each and every time, which is what makes golf such a difficult sport.

So as a beginner do not get discouraged when you are not hitting the ball very well. Go to the driving range as much as you can and continually practice your swing over and over again until your muscle memory takes over. At that point you won’t have to think so much. Instead you can just enjoy the game of golf like it was intended.

The golfing public knows the Augusta National Golf Club has the reputation of being a stodgy, behind-the-times country club among the non-golfing public. That may be due to the club being ran by business-like old gentlemen, but it’s certainly getting further and further from the truth, at least with respect to technology.

Tech Shots

At least part of this year’s broadcast will be in 3-D. High-Def and 3-D together could be nice, but that remains to be seen. Immediately provable, at least for iPhone owners, is The Masters Tournament iPhone app.

At the moment, as the tournament is still a few weeks away, only last year’s tournament is available, but there’s enough to demonstrate the most of the Masters application’s functions.

Live Video

Historically, the Masters limited viewers to watching play on limited holes. That has changed in recent years, but working fans still can’t squeeze in much of the live tournament during working hours. Live video through the Masters app can change that, quite possibly to the dismay of many employers.

Fans will be able to see live coverage of Amen Corner (holes 11, 12 and 13), featured group pairings, and holes 15 and 16. Potentially best of all Master app users, what is called “Masters Extra,” an extra hour of additional Masters coverage not available anywhere else. It isn’t known what type of coverage that will be, whether tournament play, player interviews or something else, but any coverage will be a nice bonus.

Live Radio?

Yes, live radio. iPhone app users can plug in the headphones and listen to a live broadcast of the Masters. The radio broadcast begins at 2:00 p.m. Eastern each day of the tournament and remains on air until the conclusion of the day’s play.

Leader Board, News and Photos

With the possible exception of having an updated leader board at the fingertips, finding each of these is, well, it would be hard not to find them. Masters news and photos can be found everywhere from Ask.com to Yahoo! and all points in between. Having all three together, though, is certainly a positive.

Pre-tournament news is already being updated with some regularity, but the photos are limited to stock photos related to news, last years tournament, and popular photos from years gone by. Again, that will most certainly change in the days leading up to April 8-11.

The Course

The Masters iPhone app displays a table containing hole numbers, an artists rendering of each hole that rivals photo quality, par for each hole, and hole yardages. Touch a cell within the table and to see a detailed description of the selected hole. Touch “Watch the Flyover Video” and see a short video flyover of the hole.

Other Pros and Cons

Fans of the Masters know the feeling. The one that comes back every year when television commercials begin promoting and sports channels start talking about the tournament, accompanied by images from the beautiful old course. The Masters app has captured that same essence. Open the app and from the easily navigable home page it feels like the Masters time of year.

Some of the functions, such as course flyovers and course map, have episodes where they’re not useable. In nearly three weeks of review, those problems have only lately arisen, and it isn’t known whether they are related to the application or to some other technical glitch. Since the Masters is getting closer, the problems could be related to updates in preparation for peak usage.

The only consistent negative has been the quality of the video in hole flyovers. The videos appeared grainy, especially when compared to the quality of the rest of the application.

The Masters Golf Tournament iPhone application, available free for both iPhone and iPod Touch, should be a great competitor for the large sports applications. It surpasses in design and functionality most of the others. It simply gives off that Masters vibe, which means a lot.

How sport can teach someone to deal with life’s ups and downs by developing a winning mentality and a more positive frame of mind.

Very rarely in life is everything simple. Just as things are going great, life has a cruel way of dashing hopes and upsetting carefully formed plans. Whether it is to do with family life, job security, illness or simply ruining a good score on the golf course, sometimes things go wrong.

At that point it is being able to adopt a positive attitude that can make the difference between defeat and victory. For many it is not natural to relish the challenge of fighting back, but it is definitely a form of behaviour that can be learned. The seed of success in many champions has been sewed at the time of maximum dejection. Tell Gary Player he was four down with five to play and the adrenaline would immediately start to flow.

Body Language When the Going Gets Tough

Some people naturally want to fight their way out of trouble, others have to learn a winning frame of mind. For those who struggle the first thing to do is control body language. Irrespective of whether it’s to do with golf, or life in general, when things go wrong it can drain a person of energy.

Look at the body language of a second class sportsman taking a beating – shoulders slump, the head drops, we can almost see the negative thoughts swamping the brain. To start the comeback these physical signs have to be controlled.

• Keep the head up
• Straighten the shoulders
• Walk tall
• Take deep breaths (and try to smile)

How to Make a Come Back

When things start going wrong there has to be a ‘timeout’ when problems can be accurately analysed. It may not be your fault that the going has got tough, luck cruelly plays its part sometimes. But as the great Bobby Jones once said, “you have to learn to play the ball as it lies”. Whatever situation you find yourself in it’s probably your fault and you have a responsibility to make the best of a bad job and turn things around.

It is the acceptance that problems do exist, and the commitment to positively do something about them, that is the second step to forming a winning plan. Most golfers fail at this point blaming conditions, injury, or their last lesson. The list is endless. But rather than deliberating on the past, a winning frame of mind embraces the effort to follow a positive plan: there must be a way out of this trouble — what can I do to make the situation better?

Advice, Planning and Golf Lessons

No matter what situation someone faces — the thickest rough on the course, bankruptcy, job loss, illness – there are two ways of devising a plan to get out of trouble. The plan can be your own or you can rely on an expert or trusted friend. It is not generosity alone that makes PGA pros pay their caddies so much money — they earn it with advice when things go wrong.

A golf professional or good caddie can certainly help sort out a golf swing. A financial adviser can possibly help out with the family budget. A doctor can obviously advise on health matters. Find an expert you trust and follow their advice. It may not be what you want to hear but it is probably what is right for you to do. Effort sometimes requires pain. Always remember to carry out a plan with positive body language. Keep that head up!

Positive Frame of Mind and Patience

The initial effort to continue with a positive frame of mind is often the hardest, but without immediate results it is then easy to capitulate and throw in the towel. To turn a situation around it often takes time. In golfing terms it is unlikely a golfer will birdie the next hole after dropping two shots on the previous. Patience at this point is vital.

Whatever your new plan is, whether it is to eat more healthy food, swing the club better, look for a new job; good results do not happen overnight. The courage to keep going when things are difficult is perhaps the single most important characteristic of a winner. It is very true that the tough do get going when the going gets tough.