I purchased my Confidence 2 in 1 Elliptical about a month ago and have been very impressed. I was not sure how I would like using an elliptical, and how much I would actually exercise, so I was very price conscious with this purchase. I have dealt with Confidence golf equipment and have been very pleased with the quality and amazed at the low prices. So I felt I could trust this purchase.

I am once again amazed by the quality of the product and the low price. Now I am not going to try and convince you that this is as good as what you would find in a gym. But if you are looking for a sturdy, effective, quality machine that provides a really good workout, then you will like the Confidence 2 in 1 Elliptical. I really like the fact that it is also a stationary bike. I use the seat and warm up for two or three minutes before I stand up to use it as an elliptical. This machine performs just as it should and gives me a good workout. I look forward to continued workouts. My goal is to get under 200 pounds for the first time in 15 years. I have lost 15 so far and am on my way.

If you are looking for an affordable elliptical that is good quality, you can't beat the Confidence 2 in 1 elliptical cross trainer and exercise bike. I also got free shipping. See how.

         

Over the winter our golf games and bodies get rusty. To be ready for the upcoming season you can knock the rust off by following these five tips; perfect your grip, sharpen your posture, swing something heavy, improve your putting mechanics, and increase your flexibility and strength. All of these can be done at home and all will make you a better player. 
 

Perfect Your Grip: Learning a correct grip is one of the easiest things in golf. All you have to do is put your hands on the club correctly. No big deal! However, people resist change in their grip because it feels funny. Overcome that feeling before you start to play this season by gripping the club correctly at home, without swinging the club, over and over until it feels comfortable. You can do this while you watch television. The more times you put your hands on the club correctly, the faster it will feel normal. If your grip is correct you should hit better quality shots.

Sharpen Your Posture and Setup: This is another task you can perform at home without hitting any golf balls. Get yourself in front of a mirror and make your setup picture perfect. Make sure bend at the waist correctly, with your rear end sticking out, and your back flat. Tilt your spine away from the target by setting your front hip higher than your back hip. Having great posture will let your body turn correctly, again making it easier to hit quality golf shots.
 

Swing Something Heavy: This is a great way to develop a good rhythmic golf swing. Try swinging a broom, the Orange Whip , or the PowerChute . These three things will help you loosen your up your golf muscles and actually improve the sequence of your golf swing. Focus on swinging with rhythm and not speed. Make twenty five to forty swings a day.
 

Improve Your Putting Stroke: If you own a putting mirror , great. If you don’t, get one. Using a putting mirror  is one of the best ways to improve your putting stroke. You can use it on the carpet or one of those little putting mats. The first thing you should do is make sure your setup is correct. Your eyes should be over the back of the ball, and your shoulders hips and feet should be parallel to the target line. Next use it to learn the correct path to the stroke. The mirror should have lines on it to use as a stroke guide. Practice several times a week.

Improve Your Strength and Flexibility:  Start a simple stretching and strength program. If you make slight improvements in this area you will see good results in your game. A couple of products that I use are the GolfGym Power Swing Trainer and the BodyLastics Home Gym . These are two of the best products and easiest to use. They are great for your home training. Work on your shoulders and core rotation. This is a good place to start.  

If you follow these tips you will be ready at the beginning of the season and see great improvement in your game.
 

     

    


 

 Hireko  has entered the forged club market with their new Dynacraft Prophet Tour Forged  irons. This is a beautiful, traditional looking blade with a CNC milled shallow cavity to add forgiveness. I will be attending the 2011 PGA Merchandise Show later this month and this club will be on my list of things to see. I will give a full report when I return, but for now, read what Hireko says about this club.

The original cast Dynacraft Prophet Tour iron was such a success, there was a call for a forged iron with a similar design. But instead of just using any old forging, we invested in a completely new tooling featuring advanced technology. If you are looking for the ultimate in irons, the Dynacraft Prophet Tour CNC Forged iron is it. Meticulously crafted from a raw block of ultrasoft carbon steel, the Prophet Tour CNC iron incorporates technology previously not available. CNC milling is used to create a shallow cavity and a undercut stability slot to add forgiveness to a traditional blade.
  
                  

What is on your Christmas gift list year? Do you need new clubs, or are you looking to improve your game? I tend to focus my golf gifts on items that will help improve my game. Yes, the new driver or set of irons are shiny and exciting, but will they really make you a better golfer?

In this post, I am going to give you my list of golf gifts that will improve your golf game. Whether you are looking to improve your golf swing, short game, or golf fitness, these gift ideas will get the job done. The gifts will range from high end to very affordable, but all are very effective.

The gift that tops my high end list this year is a home putting green from Tour Links. I think this would be the coolest gift you could give the golfer on your list. These greens range from $300 up to thousands of dollars, and can fit in a room, basement, or garage, or can be custom designed for your back yard. What a great way to improve your putting than to be able to practice at home.

When you talk about improving your game, you need to talk about training aids. Here is my training aid wish list for 2010:

• Impact Solutions For Golf:  learn to hit down on the ball like a tour player, and develop proper impact positions in the full swing, pitch shots, and putting stroke.
• The Putting T-Bar:   a new training aid that is awesome. Use the coupon code "brisbane" and get a $10 discount.
• The Powerchute:  increase your club head speed and fix your swing, promo code "mb10" gets free shipping.
• The Orange Whip : develop a smooth swing with tour player tempo. Promo code "brisbane" receives a $10 discount.
• Golf Gym Fitness Equipment:  Get your body and golf swing in shape.
• Eyeline Golf Putting Mirror:  a putting mirror should be a part of every serious golfer's equipment, and Eyeline Golf has the one used by tour players.
• Visit Professional Golf Shopper  for more great gift ideas.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a safe Holiday Season.


       

 
     

The most common problem for golfers is the slice, and how to stop slicing the golf ball. As a PGA Golf Instructor, I face this question every week. To solve this problem you must first understand why you slice the golf ball, before you can stop slicing. The slice is caused by a club path that is to much out to in, or over the top, and a clubface that is open. These two components create side spin on the golf ball ,making it curve to the right, for the right handed golfer.

So why do golfers perform these two components at the same time? The answer lies in our subconscious. Our subconscious is very active in golf and it is always trying to solve problems. However, it never gets to the cause of the problem, it always adds another flaw to compensate for the original problem. So it becomes the story of the chicken or the egg. Which came first, the over the top swing path, or the open club face? It could be either one, and the subconscious added the second component to try and solve the problem. But this is a slippery slope that will always cause you headaches and frustration in your game.

To stop slicing the ball you must address both problems. You must swing the club on the correct path and learn to square the club face. If you fix one without the other, you will hit either pulls or pushes. This is very difficult to do on your own. So I created a training/practice aid to help my students accomplish this task. I began thinking, if I could eliminate one of the flaws for you, then your subconscious would help you fix the other problem. That is why I invented Impact Solutions For Golf . This swing training guide will not let you come over the top. If you do you will hit the guide with your club. The first few swings will be awkward, but you will quickly figure out how not to hit the guides. Then if you deliver your club face to the ball open, with a on plane shaft, you will hit push slices, which you won't like. But this is where the subconscious comes into play. It will want to fix the shot hit to the right, but it will know it can't come over the top, so it will square the club face. It is the only option it has.

My experience using the Impact Solutions For Golf with my students is that by the 5th swing, they hit a solid, straight shot. They stop slicing the golf ball. The secret then becomes using the Impact Solutions For Golf as a practice aid. Every time you practice, hit balls next to the guides. This will cause you to create a new habit, an on plane swing, with a square club face.

The impact solutions For Golf also will help you hit down on the ball, stop hitting shanks, and hit your pitch shots and putts more solid. This is an incredible training aid. If you want to stop hitting a slice, you need to try Impact Solutions For Golf .

Michael Brisbane, PGA
Director of Instruction
Azalea City GC

   

If you want to be a good ball stiker you must learn to swing down on the golf ball. In a properly hit golf shot you must hit the ball first then the ground. The shaft of the club must be leaned forward, and the club head lags behind your hands. The divot occurs in front of the ball. This action imparts back spin on the ball, which allows you to control the ball when it lands on the green.

This description of impact is one of the most difficult things to learn. I think it is difficult because it goes against logic. Logic tells us that we need to get the club under the ball to lift it off of the ground. However, the action of lifting causes topped shots, fat shots, or shots hit without power and spin.

There are many drills and training aids that can be used to learn the correct impact position, and I have tried most of them. Nothing is a s good as the new training aid that I have invented, Impact Solutions For Golf . I feel like it is the easiest to use, and most efficient training/practice aid, I have ever seen. It is a guide that forces you to swing the club to impact correctly. You will discover the correct feelings of proper impact. You will feel the sensation of taking a divot in the correct place, and launching the ball upward with spin. The Impact Solutions For Golf  is pictured below. You must swing your club over the piece behind the ball which creates a descending blow on the ball. You also must swing inside the piece outside the ball, which forces your club to swing on plane. It can be used for your full swing, pitch and chip shots, as well  as putting. The Impact Solutions For Golf  is made out of laminated, corrugated cardboard, so it will not hurt your equipment if you strike it. But using it as a practice aid gives you instant feed back if you make an incorrect swing. Visit Impact Solutions For Golf's website  to view videos and get more information. 


     

As a PGA golf instructor, I always recommend drills and exercises for my students to perform at home, away from the ball. Working on your swing mechanics at home can be the most effective form of practice for fixing your swing motion. Students who commit to correct home practice tend to change their swing faster and have long lasting change.

In order to learn a motion, or motor skill, we must perform a certain number of correct repetitions. When you work on your swing at home, and away from the ball, you focus 100% on the motion instead of the shot. The more correct repetitions you perform, the faster you will learn the motion, and commit it to habit.

Let me use an example to help explain. Let's say that student "a" is working on their back swing pivot. They are trying to turn their left shoulder behind the ball instead of making a reverse pivot. They go to the driving range and hit 100 balls. Out of that 100 balls, how many correct back swings would they perform? From my experience, at the beginning of the learning process, they would make less than 20% of their swings correctly. So let's say they made 20 correct back swings. Well that means that they made 80 incorrect back swings. So my question is which one did they get better at performing? They answer is they got better at the incorrect swing.  

Now, let's take the same student and have them work on their back swing pivot at home and in front of a mirror. They will perform 100 back swing pivot drills looking in the mirror. How many of the 100 repetitions will they perform correctly? The answer should be 100, because they are watching themselves. This type of practice is the fastest way to learn a motor skill. Once the skill is learned then it is very easy to apply it to the ball.  

Their are many practice aids for use at home. The most important one for me is a mirror . You can work on all parts of your game in front of a mirror. The PowerChute  and Orange Whip  are very effective swing training aids that can be used at home. A heavy ball or heavy club can also be effective if used correctly. I also like the GolfGym Power Swing Trainer  for home use. It not only helps with swing mechanics, but also on your fitness. The point here is to dedicate a portion of your practice time to home. Focus on your motion and build a sound swing.

Dynacraft  has entered the adjustable hosel driver and fairway wood market, with the ICT and Prophet ICT models. I am very impressed with the quality, playability, and ease of adjustment. The 8 position hosel allows for differing lie and face angles to suit your swing tendencies. The Dynacraft  line of clubs is manufactured by Hireko Golf . The attention to detail and quality is on par with the top line manufacturers.

As a PGA golf instructor I have recommended clubs from Hireko  to my students and have not been disappointed. If you have been wanting top try an adjustable hosel driver now is the time. The Dynacraft ICT and Prophet ICT come assembled for Just $119. Or if you are a club maker you can buy the components separately. Give this driver a try, I know you will be impressed.

 

Club head speed is a result of proper swing technique and sequencing, combined with strength and flexibility. If you want to increase your club head speed you will need to look at these two areas.

I would first look at your swing sequence. The swing sequence is the manner in which the components of your swing wind up or coil,  and then the order in which they unwind. Simply, the golf swing must unwind from the bottom up. It begins with a change of pressure in your feet, then the lower body begins to unwind towards the target. The lower body pulls on the upper body which starts to turn. The upper body pulls on the left arm which pulls on the left wrist which pulls on the shaft of the club which pulls on the club head. If your down swing uses this sequence, you will be generating maximum power. However, most golfers do not have this type of sequence. There are many ways to screw up the sequence. I suppose the most popular flaw is starting the down swing with the shoulders, throwing the arms and club over the top.

I have been introduced to a great new training aid that is designed to increase your club head speed. It is called the PowerChute . The great thing about this product is that by creating resistance in the down swing, it automatically causes the correct swing sequence. I have tried the PowerChute  on golfers with terrible swing sequences, and slow club head speed and it has improved everyone.

The second component of club head speed is strength and flexibility. If you suffer or lack in these areas you can not generate fast club head speed. There are great products that I recommend to my students that will help improve these areas. GolfGym  is a company that specializes in golf fitness equipment. I am a personal fan of the PowerSwing Trainer  and the Power Bandz . Both products can be used at home, and come with demonstration dvds. If you are really serious about getting into golf shape, you should look at Joey Ds book, "Fix Your Body, Fix Your Swing" . It is the best golf fitness book I have ever seen.