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professional golfers know how important golf stretching exercises are to improving their game. A fitness routine gaining popularity within the professional sport of golf; Pilate's now can help the average golfer improve their handicap simply by doing some gentle lower back stretches.

Pilate's emphasizes building strength, flexibility, posture, balance, and coordination. These are all strengths that any golfer requires in order to increase his level of golfing success, plus Pilate's golf stretching exercises add energy and stamina. Stretching exercises are the key.

Injuries are part of the game and a professional golfer needs to be physically fit to keep up with the competition. Most golfers at one time or another experience lower back pain and stiffness due to the amount of force they need to make a full swing with their club. Golf stretching exercises are the key to avoiding lower back pain injuries especially if you are a weekend golfer and may be a little de-conditioned.

Next time you tee up to play golf, Pilate's simple golf stretching exercises may be the answer. Take 10 minutes before that practice swing. These stretches work the hamstrings, spine rotation, waist, ribcage and legs and are all good lower back stretches as well.

Try these Free Golf Stretching Exercises

Wall Roll Down: stand with your lower back firmly against a wall, your feet a foot away from the wall, knees slightly bent. Inhale to prepare, exhale to drop your chin towards your chest and roll your spine off the wall one vertebrae at a time until your arms and head are hanging down over your hips and you have reached a point of resistance.

Inhale to stay, exhale to roll back up the wall making sure each part of your spine makes contact with the wall. Use your abdominals! Repeat three times. Good for stretching hamstrings and spine.

The Saw: Find a bench. Sit with your legs extended in front of you, just wider than hips width apart. Arms are lifted shoulder height to the side. Inhale and twist your body to the right keeping your bottom squarely on the bench.

Exhale and round forward reaching the back of your left hand past the pinky toe of your right foot. Inhale rollback up, exhale and return center. Repeat to the left and then repeat three more sets. Warms up hamstrings and spinal rotation.

Mermaid Stretch: Find a bench and sit on the front edge with your feet firmly on the ground and hips width apart. Inhale raise your right arm straight up to the sky, exhale and bend to the left, reaching out of the fingertips. Inhale to stay, exhale return to center. Make sure to keep your bottom squarely on the chair and your spine upright. Repeat both sides three times through. Stretches the sides of your waist and ribcage.

Golf Swing Stretch: stand with your feet in a wide stance. Lean forward and with straight arms place your hands together in a prayer position, fingertips facing the ground. Inhale to swing the arms up and to the right as if you were going to hit the ball, exhale and swing them all the way up and to the left. Keep your gaze down at the imaginary golf ball and keep your feet planted. Repeat three times starting with the inhale to the right, and three times starting with the inhale to the left. Warms up spinal rotation and legs.

Club Rotation: stand with your golf club resting over across the back of your shoulders and your hands holding either end. Repeat the Golf Swing Stretch listed above.

So next weekend when you're out on the course playing you're 18 holes of golf, Pilate's golf stretching exercises just might be the perfect match play.

Susannah Marchese is a certified Pilate's fitness instructor and a senior contributing writer to http://www.everything-about-pilates.com/golf-stretching-exercises.html

Susannah Marchese - http://www.everything-about-pilates.com

posted by 55208  # 11:42 AM 0 comments

If you are an avid golfer you may want to consider purchasing customized golf balls. Golf balls with your name or business on them are a very nice accessory that will make your game more enjoyable. In addition when you are looking for your ball in the rough there will be no question if that Titleist pro V is yours because your name or logo is right there to see. It will also tell your playing partners that you are really there to play the game of golf. More often than not they will want to see your customized golf balls and will they will know that you are committed to the game of golf.

Customized golf balls can be produced using just about any golf ball on the market today. However if you are spending the money for a customized golf ball then you should consider using only the best golf balls available. Customized golf balls are made from the top brands in golf including Titleist, Calloway, Nike and pinnacle. Choosing a quality ball will also improve your game performance as well. A long and straight drive that is 20 or more yards further than your playing partners is a great statement that you can play the game. Your top end customized golf balls will not let you down.

When you are playing your customized golf balls you tend to play better knowing that the ball is the best and it has your name on it. This psychological effect will give you confidence and self esteem that will make you play better. If you have been around golf for very long you already know that golf is as much a mental game as it is physical. Professional golfers all know that the proper mental attitude will allow you to play the game of golf much better. A good mental approach also allows you to relax and focus on the fun of the game of golf. Playing the game with your customized golf balls can make the game more enjoyable.

Many people spend a lot of time considering what to put on their customized golf balls. They spend hours and sometimes weeks trying to decide a logo design and even how the letters of their name will appear on the golf ball. Most customized golf ball manufactures will gladly assist you in your decision. If you go to their websites you will be able to view many design options. Your design must be able to be fit the golf ball and it must not be so intricate that it will not convey your message correctly. You may even want to copyright your golf ball logo design. Again your dealer or manufacture can assist you in this process. In the end you will have a unique golf ball that you will be proud of. There is nothing better than playing with your own customized golf balls.

James Kesel, MS, is the publisher of Good Golf Swing website. Providing information on golf swing tips, putting tips, golf training aids, golf instruction and the latest and best golf ebooks.

posted by 55208  # 1:36 AM 0 comments

That is Spanish Fly as in ‘fly on the wall’, not Spanish Fly as in ‘aphrodisiac.’ The casual approach to life in Spain still astounds me on a daily basis. I should be accustomed by now to seeing someone eat their lunchtime sandwiches while parked on a busy roundabout, on a moped.

A crane swinging several hundredweight of bricks in a cradle from one side of the road to the other, via the airspace directly above my convertible should no longer fill me with panic, but it does.

Driving through the centre of the sleepy town where I live in the Northern Costa Blanca, just this morning, I encountered a fellow motorist swinging into a U-turn, across the dual carriageway. Well why not you may ask? Well, perhaps it would surprise you to learn he was also negotiating his U-turn between two bollards, spaced approximately an inch each side of his car, over a pedestrian crossing marked with red stripes, located over a speed bump, complete with pedestrian trying to cross.

Passing drivers were so impressed that they stopped to get a better view. I brought up the queue of cars behind this intrepid flouter of all traffic laws and hoped to get a better look at him when we got to the traffic lights, and I would have, had he stopped at the red light, but he just kept going..

In a certain part of the Old Town, just a few hundred yards from the spot I just mentioned, there are a set of traffic lights which show green in both directions, including the pedestrian crossing light. There is a street café not far down the street where you can drink your morning coffee, read the newspaper, and watch the near miss road accidents at the lights.

The question of garbage has been addressed with some seriousness in our town. It was decreed some time ago that in order to maintain a green and healthy planet, it was necessary to have a recycling policy. So the Town Council set about appointing councilors to be in change of implementing recycling policies and educating local citizens to separate newspapers, cartons, glass, plastic packaging etc. All of the containers were then collected by the garbage trucks and emptied into one landfill site. Hmm. Spot the flaw in this program..

In bad weather, and by bad weather I mean torrential rain and winds, the streets in our little town flood very quickly, so much so that it is impossible to see the road beneath the muddy water. As soon as the heavy rain begins to puddle, the local police remove all the manhole covers in the road, to assist the drainage. Yes, the manhole covers are actually in the road, so it is quite possible you will drive into one and wreck your car. When I complained to a Spanish gentleman about the wisdom of uncovering huge holes in the road, he suggested the responsibility fell upon the driver to have a car so scarred with dents and scratches that driving into a manhole could incur no further damage. I must say I had not considered this option.

During fiestas, everybody turns out to watch the fireworks and have a party. The fireworks invariably manage to start a serious fire in somebody’s roof and the insurance bills run to many thousands of euros.

During the height of the celebrations groups of young men run through the streets throwing fire crackers underneath skirts and up trouser legs, it is all very exciting and if you object to such behavior you are considered to be a bit of a bad sport.

I am no longer surprised or alarmed when the garage attendant continues to smoke his cigarette whilst filling my tank with petrol. After all, I have been here for six years and I have not been involved in an explosion, have I? Not yet anyway..

Jan Gamm writes reflections on life with an emphasis on world travel. She has lived in many countries and traveled extensively in the Far East, the Middle East, America, South America and throughout the South Pacific. She writes for fun and for money whenever she can manage it.

posted by 55208  # 1:13 AM 0 comments