Golf Product

Archive for May, 2009

Playing golf on your Costa Blanca holidays: Don Cayo Golf

Lots of people that rent an Altea holiday villa or an Altea holiday apartment do so because of the privaleged golfcourse of Don Cayo.

The Don Cayo Golf Club was founded in 1974 by Luis Campomanes Asumendi within the “El Aramo” Urban Development Project on the skirts of the Sierra de Altea mountains. It has a beautifull view to the sea from the main building and from a great part of the course. The course sits within the municipal area of Altea, a Mediterranean town standing out for the beauty of its historic town centre and its special sunny atmosphere. This has made it one of the favourite Mediterranean hideaways for artists, who come to work and live here from many parts of the world. Thanks to its special charm, Altea was chosen as the site for the Fine Arts Campus of the Miguel Hernandez University of Alicante, and it has a new Fine Arts Palace and a UNESCO Music venue as well.

A privileged enclave

The course nestles between the Sierra Bernia and the Mediterranean Sea – an idyllic spot in which to enjoy the beauties of nature. But apart from picturesque surroundings, it boasts an incredibly attractive design, making it a superb place for a great game of golf.

The course is owned by the Don Cayo Golf Club and its members, set up as a non-profit sports association. The Club is therefore semiprivate, and its members share the fairways and facilities with fee-paying golfers who come to visit.

Course improvements

Over the last two years, the club has become one of finest in the province, thanks to improvements in maintenance, upkeep and even course design. Special attention has been paid to the fairways, the slopes, the surrounding pine trees and landscaping, and new marble sand bunkers have been introduced along the course.

These initiatives were completed by a remodelling of the itineraries, so the course opened last spring with 18 new tee-offs, packing two completely different rounds into one 9-hole course. The two options are marked in different colours on the course cards and the greens.

With its revamped design, Don Cayo now enjoys a new lease on life. Players never have to repeat a single hole, making the game much more fun. Among the most significant novelties are par changes at 4 holes, hole 5 was reduced by 100 metres, the fairway at hole 1 has been modified with 4 new bunkers flanking its right side, making the dog-ieg more challenging despite the removal of a bunker formerly located right on the fairway.

Future reforms

All these improvements have been made under the new management team, with Alexis Garcia-Valdes as manager and Rosa Sastre as greenkeeper, giving golfers the best they could possibly devise. And another new stage will be completed over the next 3 years, with the renovation of the irrigation system and the future installation of a new water purifier that will enable a large lake to be created within the layout.

Once all this work has been carried out, there are also plans to renovate some of the greens.

Whatever you are planning to do on your costa blanca holiday, if you are a golf fan you can´t miss out on Don Cayo!

Tjeerd Geerts lives in Altea and is an expert on Costa Blanca Holidays

Playing golf on your Costa Blanca holidays: Don Cayo Golf / Author: Tjeerd Geerts
    
Tjeerd Geerts is living in Altea and is an expert on Costa Blanca Holidays
http://www.12rent.net

Ping Hybrid Golf Clubs

There are two product lines in the Ping hybrid golf clubs lineup. These are called the Rapture hybrids and the G5 hybrids. The Rapture is the newer of the lines, and as you will surmise from the discussion below, Ping club designers were working to obtain a center of gravity (CG) that is lower and farther back in the club face to make the ball easier to get up into the air.

Rapture Hybrid Golf Clubs
Three different materials are welded together to make the Rapture club head. The body of the head is made of 17-4 stainless steel. A tungsten nickel sole plate is welded onto the bottom of the club head adding weight to the sole and lowering the CG while also forcing the CG farther back from the club face. This is a design goal for every make of hybrid club and helps provide a higher launch angle. The face plate is made from what is called 475 super steel, and this is said to produce a “hot responsive hitting area”. The appearance of the Ping hybrids is pleasing with a sloped crown. This feature also helps to produce a CG that is low and back in the club face. The club head itself is fairly large and forgiving of off-center hits. The Rapture line offers 3 clubs, 2-4H. There is a good selection of standard graphite shafts, and of course steel shafts are also available. All 3 Rapture clubs are available for lefties. The MSRP for the Rapture is $225 with graphite and $195 with steel shafts. This club does not have a ladies version, but the G5 line, to be discussed next, does.

G5 Hybrid Gold Clubs
The G5 hybrids were the precursors of the Rapture line, and they look similar, since both sport the pleasing sloped crown look. The main difference in the two clubs is that the Rapture has the tungsten nickel sole plate and the G5 does not. Another difference is price. The MSRP for the G5 is $175 in graphite and $150 with steel shafts. The face plate of the G5 hybrid is machined from 455 stainless steel, which is used in most of the hybrids in the industry at this point. The club head is compact and a bit smaller than the Rapture. There are four versions of the G5, 2-5H. Once again there are a number of graphite standard shaft choices, and steel shafts can also be used. All the clubs are available in left-handed versions. For the ladies a 5H and 6H are available.

As is the case with most of the name brand club makers, Ping is recognizing the trend and the need for custom club fitting. There are so many hybrid golf clubs to choose from that one should invest $50-$150 or so in a custom club fitting session, preferably with a certified professional club maker who has all the needed equipment to provide a top notch fitting experience. After all, if you are going to purchase a new set of clubs, you can easily spend $1,500 or more, and you might as well have clubs that fit and will allow you to get the most out of your game. Once you have a proper club fitting and know the technical characteristics of the clubs that would be best for your particular swing, you can make an informed choice about whether to choose Ping hybrid golf clubs or some other brand. To get started with this and get a feel for what a proper club fitting entails, you can fill out the web fitting form on the Ping web site. I also strongly recommend that anyone planning to buy new clubs should read the excellent book by Tom Wishon, “The Search for the Perfect Golf Club”.

Walt Ballenberger is a life-long golfer and founder of Hybrid Golf Clubs, a resource site for golfers. For a Free Report entitled “How to Find the “Sweet Spot” on Your Golf Clubs in 10 Minutes” visit Hybrid Golf Clubs

Ping Hybrid Golf Clubs / Author: Walter Ballenberger
    
Occupation: Web Master
Walt Ballenberger is web master for Hand Painted Silk Scarf owned and founded by his wife, Linda Ballenberger. For a $10 discount on your first purchase, visit Hand Painted Silk Scarf. Each silk scarf is unique and all are hand painted by Linda, an accomplished artist.
http://www.hand-painted-silk-scarf.com

Golf Swing Sequencing – The Hidden Secret For Effortless Power

The sequencing of your golf swing has a large effect on the potential distance you can hit the golf ball. And if you get it wrong you’ll be costing yourself a lot of distance. So if you’re like almost every golfer that has ever lived, you want to hit the golf ball as long as possible. But to do this you need to understand golf swing sequencing.

So let’s get started by looking at what should be happening in the backswing and in what sequence.

When you start your backswing you should do so with the big muscles e.g. your back and shoulders. You should not start your backswing with your hands e.g. picking the club up.

Now as you’re starting the backswing by turning your shoulders and back you also need to shift your weight to your right foot. And you should continue to move your weight to your right foot (for a right hander) all throughout the turning of your backswing so that when you reach the top of the backswing position you have about 90% of your weight on your right foot.

So you can sum up the backswing as a shift and turn.

Now at what part of the golf swing does the most power come from?

It’s the transition. Now the transition in the golf swing is the time when you change directions from taking the club back to bringing it down.

If what I’ve just said wasn’t true then you’d have golfers simply picking up the club and putting it into the perfect top of the backswing position and then swinging from that position. But that doesn’t happen and never will because it’s the change of directions from moving the club back to bringing it down where the real power in the golf swing comes from. And that’s the key place in the golf swing where most amateur golfers lose a heck of a lot of distance. This is through a lack of the correct golf swing sequencing. Let me explain.

Imagine you’ve reached the top of your backswing position. What should start the downswing?

The correct answers is: The weight shift should!

To start the downswing you need to first move your weight back to your left foot. Then you need to move your left knee towards the target, then the left hip needs to move towards the target, followed by the left shoulder and finally your hands should move.

The sad thing is that most golfers start their downswing with their hands and that’s a killer as far as creating distance is concerned. You’ve got to start the downswing with the weight shift and then the left knee.

So go out and try this now�.

To do this I want you to swing slowly back to the very top of your backswing. Then when you’ve almost reached the top of your backswing position I then want you to move your weight back to your left foot and then move your left knee towards the target. Once you’ve got the feeling of doing this then speed up the swing.

Now personally I just like thinking about moving my left knee towards the target to start the downswing. And I suggest you try that golf swing trigger as well.

If you get this sequencing correct from the backswing to downswing you’ll gain a lot of distance and the golf swing will be a lot easier for you. Try it�you’ll love the results!

Nick Bayley is a professional golfer who has discovered just one golf swing fault that could be stopping you from ball striking consistency and success. But luckily for you, now you can take a simple 2 minute golf swing test to see if you have this swing fault or not. So don’t delay! Go here to take The Golf Swing Test now: www.yourgolfswingtest.com

Golf Swing Sequencing – The Hidden Secret For Effortless Power / Author: Nick Bayley