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The alignment is an absolutely crucial and vital part to any golfer’s game. You swing round your body, therefore if your body is offline, your swing in turn will be off line and out of sync, resulting in a poor swing and a poor shot, usually ending up deep in the rough.

When setting up to the ball, firstly ensure the clubface is square to the ‘ball to pin line’ (the line between the ball and the pin), and ensure that your shoulders, hips and feet are all parallel to the ‘ball to pin line’, if these 3 are not aligned and one is out, a good body turn is ruined with a poor swing resulting.

When training, on the driving range or wherever you can practise, a useful technique for lining up is to place a club on the floor and check that you’re your feet, hips and shoulders line up with each other, the shoulder alignment is particularly crucial because your body turn starts with your shoulders.

Ideally, you should be lining your body up slightly to the left of the target (slightly to the right for left hand players), as opposed to trying to line your body up with the target itself.

On the course a simple test to see if this is the case, is to look at the target, if you can see your left shoulder, then you are lined up to too far to the right (visa versa for lefthanders), your shoulder should be just out of sight.

Poor Alignment can have several affects, these are all negative. Aligning too far to the left most commonly leads to the slicing of the ball, this occurs because you are not parallel to the line running from ball to pin. As a result the backswing is limited so an ‘out to in’ swing results. As a consequence the club face is slightly open on impact which generates side spin on the ball. This leads to the common problem which is the slice which I will explain in another article.

If you align too far to the right, the opposite will take place and a hook will occur due to the ‘in to out’ swing of the club, although quite common with beginners and inexperienced players.

Often they will subconsciously become aware of this and try to adjust mid-swing, over adjusting by opening up the clubface as impact approaches. This again results in the slicing of the ball, which is very difficult to control and usually leads to ‘the rough’.

Alignment is an often overlooked and crucial part to any golfer’s game and therefore must be addressed for you to succeed at any level of golf. For as long as you’re alignment is out, you will never be able to consistently hit straight accurate shots and will increasingly find yourself hooking or slicing into the rough, turning those pars into bogies and taking your round from a 75 to 85.

So get that alignment sorted and go shoot some birdies.

Discover amazing free golf tips and secrets to help you take your game to the next level and shave a minimum of five shots off your best round. Visit: http://golf-tipsandsecrets.blogspot.com

You probably just take them for granted when you play golf, and never think about their origin. I’m talking about golf carts, those miniature vehicles dotting every golf course. However, golf cart production is a multi-million dollar industry and different models abound. They are treated as small cars, and golf-cart companies provide leasing and financing options just as the big car companies do.

Golf originates from a medieval game played on the coast of Scotland during the 15th century. Golfers would hit a pebble instead on a ball around the sand dunes using a stick or club. As time passed, stones were exchanged for man-made balls, the earliest of which were thin leather bags stuffed with feathers. The gutta-percha ball was not invented until 1848 and could be hit a maximum distance of 225 yards. In 1899 rubber balls were invented that could reach distances of 430 yards. Golf sticks evolved into carefully weighted golf clubs, and in the 1880’s golf club bags first became fashionable. The caddie, a servant who carted all the player’s gear aound the golf course, had his burden lessened by the invention of the golf car in the early 1950’s.

The first golf car manufacturers were E-Z-Go, Pargo, Harley Davidson and Cushman. The price was astoundingly high for this era, $1200, but as more manufacturers entered the field it dropped to $600, still high in terms of inflation. E-Z-Go still manufacturs golf cars today. There are hundreds or golf car manufacturers listed on the internet, and most of these companies specialize in these small vehicles, and do not make larger cars.

The first golf cars were gas-powered, but recently the market has shifted to more battery-powered models. Golf carts can be customized just like cars, and lift kits and ATV wheels are sold to golfers who want to stand out on the course. There are companies which specialize in creating entire custom golf cars, or miniaturized versions of full sized cars, such as the Humdinger (Humvee), mini Jeep, Rolls-Royce, Cadillac or Mercedes-Benz.

Golf carts come in 3 forms: manual push/pull carts, electric motorized carts, and electric or gas golf cars that hold passengers as well as gear. Push/pull carts have 2 or 3 wheels and a vertical support for a golf bag. They are basically manual dollies with clips and holders especially adapted for golf gear, and sell for $50 to $100. Moving up a level in sophistication, motorized golf caddies cost approximately $500 all the way up to $1000. Golf cars, which resemble dune buggies in size, start at about $1800 for a small basic model.

Ebay has a large selection of both new and used golf carts at low prices but service can be a problem with small vendors.

Manufacturers are also expanding their sales by renaming carts “Electric Utility Vehicles” and suggesting alternate uses for them, such as hauling lawn equipment and travelling around rural properties.

Please see our website http://golf-carts-2006.info

Frank Vanderlugt
http://www.golf-carts-2006.info

Golf workout program…with the exploding number of so-called golf experts these days it becomes very confusing and it is easy for a golfer to be misled and end up in a program that will hardly have the desired objective of improving their game.

In fact the wrong golf workout program can end up making a golfer’s game deteriorate rather than improve.

It is therefore very useful to know what constitutes a good golf workout program.

A complete golf workout program will tend to have the following attributes;

a) Golf specific stretch exercises

Stretch exercises are a very important part of any genuine golf workout program. Stretches help improve the golf swing and correct many common mistakes and weaknesses in this area. They sometime help alleviate or even eliminate nagging back problems in some golfers. Many stretch exercises can be done in the comfort of the office or home.

b) Golf specific weight (strength) training

Strength training is also a key area in any good golf workout program. Strength training usually has a dramatic effect on the quality of the game of any golfer. Dumbbells are usually used and the program for building strength for golf is usually very different from a body building program because the idea here is not to build muscles.

c) Should be able to focus on certain common player weaknesses

A good golf workout program should also be able to focus on certain common weaknesses amongst most amateur golfers with the aim of helping to improve and deal with those weaknesses. This at times may involve the use of certain golf aid equipment. However it should be very clear what particular aspects of the game are being developed by what golfing aids.

A complete golf workout program should help any golfer improve their game dramatically and feel much more confident every time they set foot on the course.

About The Author: Mike Pedersen is one of the top golf fitness experts in the country, author of the Ultimate Golf Fitness Guide, and founder of several cutting-edge online golf fitness sites. Take a look at his just released golf fitness dvds at his golf fitness training site – Perform Better Golf.

If you are trying to get ahead in you career today, you will know that the computer skills you have under your belt are what will make the difference between you moving up the ladder or down. When it comes to trying to prove your computer competency in using office applications there is no other certification path that stands out like the Microsoft Office Specialist program. With over 3 million exams now undertaken and well over 2 million Microsoft Office Specialist Certificates issued, this certification has become the one to get to prove your skills in using Microsoft Office.

One thing I have found though is that many people fail these exams first time around and there really is no reason for it. The way the Microsoft Office Specialist exam works is that you will be taken into a room and sat at a computer. On this computer you will be asked by the computer to carry out a series of tasks. Each set of tasks is designed to represent tasks you would be expected to do on a day-to-day basis.

These exams really are a good representation of what people would be expected to do on a day-to-day basis. I should say I am a little bias since I am a Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor and my company is a Microsoft Office Specialist Authorised Testing Centre but having trained about 4,000 to 5,000 students through my training centre in Townsville, Australia the certification exams really do represent the skills you would be expected to perform in your workplace.

There are in fact seven exams in the Microsoft Office Specialist Program and they are the Microsoft Word Core and Expert Exams, Microsoft Excel Core and Expert Exams, Microsoft Outlook Core Exam, Microsoft PowerPoint Core Exam and the Microsoft Access Core Exam. If you were a Secretary or Personal Assistant, I would expect at a minimum you would have passed the Microsoft Word Core Exam and the Microsoft Excel Core Exam. If you hold the position of a salesman, I would expect you to have the same certifications as the Personal Assistant or secretary plus the Microsoft PowerPoint Core certification and maybe the Microsoft Excel Expert Certification and Microsoft Access Core Certification.

Ok, so how do we prepare for these exams.

First of all, you need to choose how you want to study for these exams. In terms of passing these exams it doesn’t matter whether you want to do a course at a training centre, buy a self paced training program or doing the training on the Internet. Use the form of training that you feel most comfortable with. Me personally, I prefer to use self-paced training where as many of my students prefer classroom based training. Each training method has its own advantages and disadvantages. One thing to note, if you are going to go to a training centre, make sure at the very least they are a Microsoft Office Specialist Testing Centre and that they will give you a training manual and exercise disk to take home with you to keep. If the training centre doesn’t give you a manual then don’t waste your time with the course even if they might be the cheapest. In computer training, cheapest definitely does not mean the best.

Step 1. Once you have done the course or studied the Self-Paced material make sure you redo all the material within 7-days!

One mistake many people make, is thinking that they can do a two-day computer training course then walk away as an expect. If that’s what you think, than it is totally fanciful. Computer Training is like a sport, if you want to be a professional then you must train as a professional. The first step you need to do in any training regime is to go back through all the material you did in the computer training course in the first 7 days after you the finish of the course.

Studies have shown over the years, that each 7 days you don’t review your material, you will loose 50% of the material. Each week you don’t review the material you loose another 50% which means in 6 weeks or so, you will remember nothing from your course. All in all you may as well, not have done the course in the first place.

Step 2. Write a brief statement in your own words, the key terms used during your course.

The next thing you must DO! Is to write a brief statement in your own words about all the key terms you learnt during the course or in your self-paced material. One of the challenges you will have in the exam is deciphering what they are asking you to do. Sometimes, I have found the language is very difficult to understand because it is written in American English (no offence intended to my American colleagues). In one of my Microsoft Outlook Core Exams, I was certain I was going to fail the exam. The only reason I passed was by identifying the key terms in the text that related to the application and by knowing those I worked out in each question what exactly they were asking me to do.

Step 3. Practice, Practice, Practice – Get lots of Practice Exercises

The next thing you must do is to get as much practice as possible. Most training schools will have structured their material so that at the end of each topic you will have some questions to answer and also some sort of homework exercise to do that will put all the tasks together into one exercise. The key here is to practice as much as possible. Check out the internet for places where you can get lots of practical exercises or make up some of your own.

Step 4 – Do a Pre-Assessment Exam to see if you are ready.

One thing I have learnt from doing these professional exams is that they are absolutely nothing like the exams you would have undertaken at school, college or at University. My recommendation that I would make to anyone sitting computer certification exams is to purchase a pre-assessment exam for the exam you want to take. What the pre-assessment exams do is to test your skills prior to sitting the real exams. Most of the pre-assessment exams I have seen are pretty good and pretty close to the real exams. I personally recommend either the pre-assessment exams from Certiport, Transcender or Self-Test Software.

When you do the pre-assessment exam, you should score 80% or above on the first go. If you don’t, do not do what I have seen many people do, and that is to just keep doing the exam till you get all the questions right. What will happen if you do this is you will build up a memory of the questions and you end up knowing the requirements of the question without truly being able to interpret what the question is asking you to do.

Once you have done the exam once; DO NOT under any circumstances re-do that exam for 7 days. This will help stop the memory build up, of the questions.

What you MUST do once you have completed the pre-assessment exam and got a result is to look at the results of the test and find out which questions you got wrong and go back and study those areas more thoroughly. Then, after you have reviewed the material and waited 7 days, then try the pre-assessment test again.

You should in the second attempt score 90% or better. If you do achieve this then you are ready to sit the real exam. If you don’t, then you need to follow the same process again for the next 7-days.

After the third time using the same Pre-Assessment exam, I recommend people try a different pre-assessment exam before being 100% sure they will pass the exam. The more you use the same exam, the bigger risk you face in retaining that memory of questions.

Most pre-assessment exams usually come with 2 or 3 different exams to try. If after three attempts of each pre-assessment exam and you still find that you can’t pass at 80% or better, I would strongly recommend finding a mentor and also checking to make sure the training material you have purchased is covering the required material.

Step 5 – Pass the Microsoft Office Specialist Certification Exam!

Obviously once you have done this much training and practice and you have passed your pre-assessment exams you are now ready to sit the real exam. One thing to remember, Microsoft Office Specialist Exams are commercial exams and because of this, if you fail the exam, you have to pay to resit the exam. The cost to resit these exams can vary from as low as $80 US to $135 US, in many cases the prices are set by the Microsoft Office Specialist Testing Centre.

The good news is that if you have followed the steps I have outlined, I will be very surprised if you didn’t pass on your first attempt.

Step 6 – You Are Finally A Microsoft Office Specialist

The Author Chris Le Roy is a Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor and trains over 2000 students per year to become Microsoft Office Specialists. His company One-on-One Personal Computer Training has a range of training kits to help you prepare for the Microsoft Office Specialist Certification Exam. Chris also has a range of pre-assessment exams available for sale as well at his website at http://www.1-on-1.biz

Fight or Flight
The fight or flight instinct is still a powerful force in the modern homo sapien and chooks alike. It is part of the most basic animal instinct, the survival instinct. But having studied and contemplated this subject for some time now, I am still none the wiser how this affects the performance of the committed squash player.

This was highlighted recently in a match I witnessed between two aged squash warriors. The question presently sitting in the forefront of my mind is this.

Do these instincts mean, that when placed in a life or death situation, do we use our wits and cunning to fight and/or escape our peril, or do we use all the physical capabilities at our disposal to survive – literally survival of the fittest?

These two sportsmen are both gentle souls, polite, generous, in short, gentlemen. Why then would they be battling each other in a fight to the proverbial death on a Squash court?

The Animal Within
In my experience, civility and manners provide a relatively thin veneer on the surface of “civilisation”. The average chook would only take a few scratches to expose the animal within. This can be seen every day in news brodcasts, and in every day life in wars, careers, politics and dare I say it, religion.

Squash is one of those things which scratches the surface and allows us to peek into ourselves to see the animal within.

I saw two competitors, each wanting to survive, throwing themselves headlong into a physical confrontation, each man, on the wrong side of fifty, still very fit, running for all they were worth. It did not matter to anyone but the two players, who won this contest. It was their very own struggle for survival.

But did it have to be like that? Did they have to run so hard they did not have time to think? Operating purely on adrenaline, were they oblivious to all but the most rudimentary of tactics?

It seems so. If they were chooks, they would have been headless!!

Brain or Brawn
From the gallery, it seemed a drop shot here, a change of pace there, would have made a great difference to this rampant running, this mad movement. Was it that they were both in such a fearful and desparate state, that there only thought was of survival?

My meditation has made me realise that it takes great courage to use your brains, to stay calm and use cunning in place of clout. It also takes practice. A great deal of practice. To achieve this, these thoughts should be in the forefront of your mind whenever playing practice games, doing drills or practicing patterns.

The thought process required to be able to make brave decisions about tactics when under great pressure only come to very few naturally. For the rest of us, it is a skill honed over time. It may well be, that instinct is honed by the repeated exposure to the “edge”.

So while our instincts play an important part in this game, it does not mean we should not try to develop our primal urges with the use of our highly deveoped brain, as we do in other aspects of life.

The beauty of this beautiful game is that civilised people can play the game using some of our most primal instincts. The game ends, we shake hands. No one has been hurt and we are both the better for it. That is as beautiful as a chook and the importance of the original question is lost.

The Squash Courtier takes an off center but authorititive look at the world of Squash in his articles at Squashgame.info. Whilst many of his articles delve into aspects of Squash technique he feels are important, his main thrust is the philosphical approach to sport and life in general and Squash in particular. You can enter a Forum on any of his articles at the Squashgame.info site. Check it out now and have your say!

True scientific research and honest and ethical collection of data is a must for the forward progression of both science and mankind. Recently such a topic came up in an online think tank in discussing a particular research project and one of the leading researchers said;

“While I am definitely open to new concepts as a result of an experiment, I do prefer to conclude one experiment to satisfy the need. I think we always face the risks of loosing focus over the appeal of new discoveries, and so this is one of those things, which calls on interpersonal and professional discipline to remain successful.”

Another think tanker in abstract thought made another flipside of the coin comment and stated: “I have often heard of this comment by humans, I wonder why they use this so often, I have always found that encircling a problem is the best way to conquer it. Sure with a steady hand and a good eye, some practice and shear will you can hit the bulls eye. But I always like to walk up to the target and look at it up close and personal, see what is behind it. Because killing two birds with one stone is preferable. But lining up 50 in a row and shooting down the line means you solve fifty problems with only one shot fired.”

Still there are issues with peer review and even if the experimental data is scientifically gathered and documented and the subject matter has been completely encircled that does not mean it will be accepted. And to this point another think tanker mentioned:

“The case and point where a result is blindly rejected. I would like to add that scientific data rejections are a common place in the community and that this probably poses a greater challenge for researchers than the discord met throughout the research phases.”

Indeed and even worse the funding of projects too often dictate what the outcome better be if they want continued funding. Lots of examples of this in Big Pharma, Corporate Sponsored Research and ones which touch on religious ideology. But as long as the researcher knows this going in, they can remain un-compromised if they choose which projects they wish to do, resolve to do them ethically and simply skip the ones that cross the lines of their level of comfort.

I assume as per these comments that they are inline with the ethics needed to carry out this experiment or any for that matter on topics of importance to humanity. Good stuff so far. I hope you will consider all this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Texas Insurance Coverage Requirements by State Law

• Bodily Injury Liability (one person): $25,000 Limit
• Bodily Injury Liability (all people involved):$50,000 Limit
• Property Damage Liability: $25,000 Limit

*As of 4/1/08,these increased requirements became into effect

When you’re involved in an accident in the state of Texas, their auto insurance laws state that one person must always be found to be blameworthy. The auto insurance firm and the person blameable are then held responsible to compensate for costs. This abides by the laws of the tort system – a system that has deviating regulations depending on the state.

Motorists in the state of Texas can get supplemental optional coverage such as underinsured driver or No-Fault insurance. Underinsured driver coverage is nonmandatory insurance coverage that financially covers you against persons who do not have insurance. If you’re involved in an accident with them, you can help pay for expenses with your own insurance company. No fault auto insurance covers you irrespective of who’s found to be at fault in the accident.The state does not command these additional insurance coverage choices by law, but many Texans do decide to add them to their Texas insurance policy.

Texas residents are paying more on insurance than the average In 2003, the national average was $914 while the average resident paid a bit above $900. The state of Texas does not entirely moderate auto insurance rate quotes even though some residents are under the wrong premiss that there is one set cost for insurance. While there is a little regulation, there are still ways you can get cheaper quotes. Drivers are able to take a defensive driving class to getting a insurance discount based on your employment or degree you can get less expensive Texas auto insurance.

Employing the world wide web can allow you to see if you’re paying too much for your insurance policy.Websites like these get pricing instantly, giving people the ability to compare them along side each other. Many also have insurance guides with information on getting the cheapest insurance rates.

2007 had the first drop-off in rates since 1999. There was a .5% to 1% drop-off in insurance premiums from 2006 expenses! 2008 followed in the first half, but then insurance expenses began to follow their normal cycle and grow slightly. This has been forcing consumers to shop reliable sites to find better premiums. Utilizing technology, these sites have made it simpler to shop for and compare costs.

As time goes by the insurance premiums also change and by brushing off the rate changes in Texas, you might be paying more than you need to. In 2003, average auto insurance rates were $932. Just one year earlier, the average auto insurance costs in 2002 was about $882, that’s an get more expensive of about 5.67% in just one year! Stop paying so much for auto insurance. Compare current premiums using auto insurance quote comparison websites.

Procuring the right fishing gear is a very crucial thing to consider when your are pondering your forthcoming fishing trip. You must let yourself the finest gear to get into the “atmosphere” and get the optimal benefits of fishing. Acquiring the correct items will help you in different ways. As you may well be aware, the more supplies you acquire the more enjoyable the fishing will become. One of the fundamental things you need to ask yourself is, do you have all that you require prior to you heading out on your fishing expedition? To be successful you would be wise to make certain that your fishing trip commences with acquiring the correct fishing tools. There are several sorts of fishing gear & it chiefly depends on kind of location you will be fishing in, what type of fish you are hunting for and the breed of fishing that you long for. Find great offers on exercise bikes online today.

There are various manufactures & styles of fishing reels that have an array of price tags. If you are seeking to join in commercial fishing you ought to make sure that your fishing items is designed for that kind of purpose. Professional fishing needs lots more durable gear. Since commercial fishing gear has 2 to three times the use they wear down much quicker. This absolutely makes it much more shrewd to pay put the extra straight up. There are an array of items so that you can make a choice based on requests in addition to what you can pay for.

The specific type of fishing rod is also another crucial part of the tackle that you will require. You might well want to consider what sort of rod that you need for your fishing trip. Just as there are an array of reels there is a mixture of fishing rods as well. Base your verdict on the type of fish that you are preparing to get.

In a nutshell, an optometrist is a health care professional who provides spectacle lenses dependent on your prescription prescribed by an optometrist or ophthalmologist. Corrective lenses may come in the form of either contacts or spectacles. The purpose of the optician is to convert the prescription into a custom-designed opthalmic lens.

This definition may be plain however the real conversion takes an enormous amount of thought, skill and craft. An ophthalmic optician will confer with patients to design eyewear that best meet their demands by gathering information about the patient on the role of the specs, their level of physical activity, the necessity of protection and the configuration of facial features and the eye.

Opticians use a smorgasbord of instruments ranging from simple measuring gadgets to more complex examination devices. This allows the ophthalmic optician to produce a custom design, fitting and dispensing of the eyewear to fit the particular needs of individual patients.

Using the prescription from an optometrist or ophthalmologist, the ophthalmic optician, they use a number of strategies and equipment that will give the necessary correction to an individual’s eyesight. Ophthalmic opticians also design and fit special lenses to correct cosmetic, traumatic or anatomical defects. Successful corrective eyewear hinges greatly on the skill and the craft of Ophthalmic opticians to ensure comfort, taste preferences, functionality and design.

Ophthalmic opticians may work in a range of areas such as independent or joint practice, hospitals, eye care centers or retail stores. Nonetheless, registered Optometrists must work hard to meet standards of practice and training, commit to ongoing education, hold professional liability insurance and are held to these standards by their respective regulating bodies.

The most advantageous arena is to locate Optometrists who provide services within an eye care center and work along side other eye care professionals such as optometrists, ophthalmologists and technicians. These services are provided within the context of larger eye care centers and also known as “on-site optical” units.

The advantages of an “on-site optical” department is that the optometrist has easy accessibility to other eye care professionals and co-workers, allowing the ophthalmic optician to troubleshoot any problems or obstacles that might arise from patients.

The use of special coloured ink and printer cartridges is quite common in custom colour printing services. Custom colour printing is very popular for the creation of unique documents and brochures for promotional and presentation purposes.

Custom Colour Printing: The New Trend

We all want to have a unique document with different colours and combinations that suit his/her needs. This is possible through specialised and inkjet ink that enable printers to provide custom printing services, such as poster printing, brochure printing, business cards, catalogues, banners and labels. Full colour pictures and printouts are much in demand for their beautiful and lively presentation. Coloured inkjet print cartirdges are generally used for printing graphics and other specialised products.

Until now, colour printing was largely dependent on inkjet printing. Some companies, such as Samsung, have however, recently introduced laser printers that include toners that are kept in bottle shaped cylinders that slide into colour coded ports in the print engine.

Features Of Good Colour

The quality of printing depends on the quality of the being used and the continuous supply of ink. Superior printing and perfect images are crucialfor providing high quality custom colour printing services. Inkjet cartridges that are resistant to smudging provide clear and crisp printouts. Another essential feature of quality ink is that it dries quickly and captures the true colour and even the smallest detail of the graphic and photo image.