Try Developing Your Own Golf Style
Try Developing Your Own Golf Style
Some golf beginners think that all they have to do is copy Ernie Els, Tiger Woods or whoever their favorite golfer might be and bam, immediate golf success!I am sorry to say, it is just not that easy. If it were then everybody would be a lot better. This, as we see every time out on the course is not so much the case.In reality, no two people ever really swing the same way. Since each of us has a unique body build, some more unique than others, we need to develop our own individual set of muscles. A golf swing method used by one golfer who has a different build and has developed his or her set of golf muscles, is probably not of much value to you. Golf is an individual sport. So, find a method of playing that produces results for you, and then go with it. You will enjoy your time out on the links much more.While it is often a waste of time to try and copy someone else, coaching by a pro can help you find your swing by getting suggestions and tips on how to improve. Just make sure you hire someone who will work with what feels comfortable for you and your natural swing.If you hire a pro, make sure he is a superior player. You also want someone that is not going to just stand there and watch you swing. You want a pro that will actually show you how to get out of the sand and some less obvious shots you may come across in a round of golf. Make sure you are getting your money's worth!When you're ready to play golf, and you're faced with a shot, just make your decision on how you're going to do things and stick with it. If you have a bad day of golf, don't be inclined to change what you are doing. If you start changing things every time you have a bad game you will never get any better. But don't be so hardheaded that you never try anything new either. We are looking for a middle ground. If after a few rounds something just isn't working for you, then you need to change it. Just that. Keep the good and toss out the bad. Something about a baby and bathwater comes to mind.Certain techniques are fundamental to the game and you should try to follow them. But don't get too bogged down in these. It is almost impossible to make a good shot, when the whole time you are thinking of seven or eight things you need to be doing. When you are playing just play and when you are practicing then you can think about things like your grip, where your feet are, where the ball is, to keep your eye on the ball, to follow through, keep your head straight, etc. Hopefully the things practiced will just become natural for you when you get out on the course. This is the goal anyway.Take your time and develop your own golf swing, one that works for you. When you're playing at the top of your game, give those trying to imitate you the advice above!About the Author: Jason Griffin loves playing golf and trying to help other golfers get more enjoyment out of the game. He is the guide behind the Guide to Golf Equipment - Your Information Source for Equipment Used for Golf. Get a little help finding the right golf equipment for you at http://www.guidetogolfequipment.com
Natural Horsemanship Patientis: The 4th Of 6 Keys To Developing A Partnership With Your Horse
Natural Horsemanship Patientis: The 4th Of 6 Keys To Developing A Partnership With Your Horse
The 4th Of 6 Keys To Building A Life Long Partnership With Your
Horse.In Natural Horsemanship, being patient/tolerant means taking
the time do it right so you won't have to go back and do it
again and again.Why do I call the fourth key patients when we are really
talking about time, because, if we loose patients we will
not spend the time it takes to get our horse through the
stages necessary for building a life long partnership.
Being patient is very important because it's going to
take time to build that partnership.Let's talk a little about your horse and the time it's going
to take to get him from where he is at now to being a green
broke horse. Let's assume your horse has never been ridden
or ridden very little in terms of proper training or natural
horsemanship.For a horse to feel comfortable having a person on his back
will take approximately 300 hours of riding. If you rode
your horse 1 hour a day five days a week then it would take
a little over a year to get 300 hours of riding time or a
little over a year for your horse to feel comfortable
having you on his back.Let's say your not consistent with your riding time, maybe
you rode your horse 20 hours and then for what ever reason
you turned him out, then 6 months later you rode him 40
hours and turned him out again for another six months, then
started riding him again and put another 75 hours on him and
this continues until you have 300 hours, how old would he
be? If you started him as a 2 year old, he may be 4 or 5
years old or older before you had the 300 hours. The point
here is that the quicker you put the 300 hours on him the
quicker he will feel comfortable with you on his back. Being
patient is important and being persistent and consistent
will shorten the time it takes to accomplish your goals.To take your horse from being a green broke horse to the
next level, and by that, I mean getting your horse from the
green broke phase to being a solid, safe and dependable
partner requires that you gain the necessary skills by going
through the different phases of natural horsemanship.The time it takes to get your horse from the green broke
stage to being a solid, safe and dependable partner is
around 1,100 hours. I want you to keep in mind that you
will never really finish your horse because you will
continue to refine your horse for a lifetime.We have talked about how long it takes a horse to go through
the different phases now we need to spend a little time on
the individual horseman.So, how long does it take a person to be considered a good
rider? We will approach this question form the thought that
the rider is a green novice. It generally takes a green
novice about 1000 hours before being comfortable in a
saddle. You need to remember it's going to take time
for the rider to get used to the horse and how he moves,
thinks, acts and feels. The only way to get the feel of a
horse is through riding experience. The more riding a
novice does the better rider they will become.Have you ever wondered how much time you should spend
working with your horse (Instead of working with your horse
why not think in terms of playing with your horse)?
Consider this, when it stops being fun for you or your
horse you're not playing anymore, it's become work and
probably time to stop. When you're playing with your horse,
you should think of it as working on yourself and playing
with your horse.One other top I would like to discuss with you is timing. We
spent a few minutes discussing playing with your horse and
when it's time to quit, equally important is your timing
when playing with your horse. Timing will probably be most
important to your horse. In your relationship with your
horse, it's very important to know when you should quit
doing what you are doing. It's not what you do with your
horse that counts; it's when you quit doing something that
counts.An example, lets say you have asked your hose to do
something through a cue you have given him and he gives you
the slightest try, you should instantly quit giving him the
cue. You need to recognize that the horse tried no matter
how slight. It's your responsibility to have perfect timing
and stop what your doing when your horse tries.When you are learning this skill, remember it's going to
take time to get perfect timing and you shouldn't get
discouraged, you will learn. At first, it will be
difficult, but as you learn to read your horse's body
language you will begin to perfect this skill. Natural
Horsemanship is about learning this skill, to be able to
recognize if your horse is trying to do what it is you are
asking him to do. Be careful not to reward the wrong
response or reward the horse for doing it with an attitude.
If your horse is attempting to do it correctly with the
right attitude and you are slow in rewarding him he will be
confused because he thought he tried. If your horse gets
no reward (relief) after trying, soon he will quit trying.How long you do something with your horse is not as
important as to know when to quit doing it. Know when to
take away the pressure (to quit) is as important to the
technique as the technique itself.Have fun with your horse(s)!MikeThis article is brought to you by Perfect Horse GiftsIf you like this article and would like to learn more
or would like to send it to a friend, please feel free
to do so. You can subscribe at Perfect Horse
Gifts or The
RoundupIn the next article, we will discuss Creativeness?
Creating challenges for you and your horse. Learning what
the two of you can accomplish together. Why settle for
mediocrity?Copyright
Poised for Success: How Developing Self-Awareness Can Improve Your Presentations – Public-Speaking
Poised for Success: How Developing Self-Awareness Can Improve Your Presentations
There are a number of factors that determine how your audience will judge you and subsequently your message, one of the most visible being your posture. Posture is a reflection of your attitude and may at times betray your misgivings or uncertainties in difficult situations like an important presentation. You would normally not consider revealing your inner most thoughts to your audience about exactly how you feel about your new product or service; but your body language may be doing just that. A substantial part of communication is based on non-verbal aspects such as body language. When preparing a presentation much thought is given to its content yet there is far more to it than just words. Some of the best-prepared presentations can be badly let down by how you look and behave during the delivery. When Richard Nixon spoke to the American public of his involvement in the Watergate scandal his performance was received more favourably by radio audiences than those who saw a worried, hunched and perspiring president on the television. How you hold yourself, the movements you make and the gestures you use all contribute to how well your presentation is received.Our innate ability to read much about someone from his or her posture, or body language, has elevated its importance in society. From an early age parents and teachers will probably have told you not to slump but instead to stand or sit up straight. In some schools, books are still placed on top of the head to encourage the pupil into the right sort of position commonly known as 'good posture'. If you do not look good people will get the wrong impression, slumping is associated with laziness whilst an upright person is interpreted as reliable, dependable and basically good. It is no coincidence that many words used to describe character are related to what we see, for example, from 'balanced' and 'centred' to the opposite extreme of 'spineless'.Posture and PerformanceIt is widely accepted that many health problems can arise from poor posture. However, attempts to attain a good posture can also have a detrimental effect on health and consequently how you perform. Sustained periods of fixed postures can be a contributory factor in many conditions such as neck, shoulder or back pain, headaches, tiredness and poor circulation. So not only does your posture influence your position and reputation in a community it also has implications on your health.The conventional concept of posture has caused it to become associated with effort, stiffness, discomfort and something you have to remember to do from time to time when it is necessary to create a good impression. The common response to the thought of correcting posture is to adopt a military style stance and throw the shoulders back, the chest forward and hollow the lower back. However, these actions increase muscular tension and distort the body to the point where functions such as breathing, circulation and even voice production are impeded.A good voice adds weight to a presentation. The quality of your voice is dependent on resonance and breathing, both are reliant on a good posture. If your attempt to stand up straight results in inappropriate tension the movement of your ribcage will be restricted and other parts have to compensate in order to get air into the lungs resulting in further unnecessary effort. This tension held in the body also affects the body's ability to resonate making it harder to project the voice. A sore throat is a symptom of a poorly balanced speaker who misuses the muscles of the throat and thorax in an attempt to increase volume.There are few speakers who do not at some stage suffer from performance stress. In addition to the obvious signs of stress such as increased heart rate and breathing there is also a more physical reaction as the muscles of the neck and shoulders contract. This response, known as the strauss startle pattern, pulls the head back and down causing the larynx to become constricted thus reducing the space for expelled air to pass over the vocal cords. This lowers the volume of the voice and leaves the speaker, oblivious of the tension in the neck, no choice but to try to speak louder by using more misapplied effort. This becomes a viscous circle as more effort leads to further difficulties such as loss of confidence and even embarrassment; neither is conducive to good presentations. This response is both visible and audible to the group as your voice may begin to tremble and your posture is interpreted as a person who is uneasy with what they have to say.So here is a dilemma. If good posture can determine your status in the minds of others it requires attention, yet if attempts to directly improve it can lead to excessive effort and distortion there is a conflict. The solution is rather than trying to make your posture look right you should focus on what it is you may be doing to make it look wrong.Changing Postural Habits
If you have ever seen a video of yourself presenting, or even at a family wedding, you may at first have difficulty recognising yourself. There will be many actions you perform that look odd simply because you are unaware of doing them. These may include constantly shifting your weight from one leg to the other, putting hands in pockets or rounding your shoulders and are known as conditioned reflexes ? a response performed over and over again until it has become a subconscious habit. It is these habits that need to be addressed to help promote the easiest way to an effortless upright stance.You stand the way you do because it is a habit and once a habit is learnt it cannot be unlearnt simply by trying harder. It would be counterproductive to try to stand up straight to create the right impression because from the physiological aspect it is not the shape that is important but how it is maintained. The human body has a number of systems to maintain posture namely, the postural and balance mechanisms that activate the appropriate muscles in response to changes in position. When we attempt to 'stand up straight' the conscious mind overrides the body's innate systems that know what is best for balance. A company whose managing director sweeps the factory floor would not be considered the most efficient of organisations! The balance mechanisms work at a subconscious level and should therefore be left to their own devices to perform their function. The best way to allow this to happen is actually quite simple. By having an awareness of the floor beneath your feet can help to promote effortless standing and movement. Gravity gets a lot of negative press and is often blamed for many ills we suffer such as backache and tiredness. The human body has developed ways over millions of years to 'defeat' gravity so you can stand up and move around the Earth's surface. Newton's third law of motion states that 'for every action there is an equal opposite reaction'. Rather then being pulled down by gravity the body uses it for support. In response to your weight going into the floor (support force), there is an equal force that 'pushes' you back up (ground reaction force). This force is a constant and can be used to help ground or centre you during a presentation. If when standing you can think of letting your heels drop to the floor and simultaneously think of growing up away from them this will help activate the postural reflexes and release unnecessary tension.Through self-awareness it is possible to maintain the sensation of support from the floor and determine whether you are using unnecessary effort whilst delivering your presentation. To improve self-awareness it is necessary to develop the ability to 'be in the moment' allowing both external and internal events to be observed. The very public, and often vulnerable, act of delivering a presentation can divert attention away from the physical body and reduce awareness of the self to the point were you can become inept at performing the most basic functions. This is evident in a large percentage of presenters who become clumsy and struggle to change a video, maintain balance or even operate a computer mouse. Again all these actions are interpreted by your audience and do not give an impression of confidence and ability.So what is meant by self-awareness? This is simply being aware that 'this is me in this moment' and can help to calm you down making it easier to think and be more conscious of your actions. There are many ways to practice self-awareness skills including meditation, yoga, mindful sports activities or even taking a few minutes to just sit at your desk and observe how you do it, are you fixed, slumped or are you allowing the chair to push you up. With practice these experiences will help you to become more attentive to how you act even in stressful moments when the pressure is on you to perform.The ability to allow your body to 'just stand' helps to promote poise. When you are poised, inappropriate muscular actions are not a problem leaving you in a better-balanced state, both physically and mentally. Breathing and speaking become easier allowing you to focus on the presentation with the knowledge that you body will not let you down. When you perceive things are going well confidence improves along with your posture as this reflects your attitude. In the absence of annoying habits, your audience will be able to listen consciously to your words whilst subconsciously picking up the right impression from your poised attitude.In the late 1890s an Australian actor called F.M. Alexander developed a radical approach to tackle a career-limiting problem with his voice. His method evolved into what is now known as The Alexander Technique and is widely used by people in sport, education, business and the performing arts. It is a valuable tool for developing the level of self-awareness necessary for addressing habits that may be limiting your potential.Roy Palmer MSTAT
Member of The Society of Teachers of The Alexander Technique
ECB Level 1 Cricket Coach
http://www.artofperformance.co.uk