Too many greens to play, too many beautiful community golf courses whispering their names to you in that salty wind coming in from the sea. And there is only one you. With a wife that is adamant to have her say in the unfolding need for more than just the one golf course in one lifetime.

As that wise old German psychologist mentioned in quiet desperation, women are different. They are most likely aliens from a far off galaxy where there are no open green, gated golf course communities that are synonymous with heavenly pleasures. In that galaxy the rule has been laid down that a specimen from the female species will always have the need to have an own home where the specimen can indulge in home making. A serious golfer, in his advanced cosmic state, knows that it is not about the house, it is all about the green course. She will not let go. She will not understand. She will want her own home to beautify. She will want a verandah where she and her friends from that far off galaxy can sit down and drink tea while watching whales in the sea, or buffalos grazing, or soft green hills against pure blue heavens. That is what she wants, and you can just as well go and drown yourself with your beloved golf bag in that water hole at the 16th. She will not budge.

But then, to your relief, you remember that phrase of the great Chinese writer, or it could be an Australian, and you know that it is likely that you are making a mistake about this great man&’s background, but what he said was something like ‘it is in the play that I’ll catch the conscience of the queen’…

Careful planning, my golfing mate, is what will save the day. Those were the words of those great and advanced guys that roamed the great plains of ancient courses long long ago. Give the specimen a house overlooking the greens. There she can buy curtains to her liking, plant flowers in clay pots, read JM Coetzee or Ian McEwan whilst listening to Mozart. And the little wifey with her specimen friends can sit on the verandah, laughing and spilling tea while they watch your approach to do something to that little white ball that once again moved for only a few inches (the English), or centimeters (the rest of the world).

The plain truth is that this ancient wisdom of golfers now swinging clubs in the pinkish clouds at days end, only provides a partial answer to the greater issue. You know that if you can’t get the swing right on this open green, there are surely so many other beautiful retirement community golf courses. Courses that will appreciate your next swing, which will be the one that Ernie Els aspires to.

The thing is, your specimen has now settled into her golf course community house overlooking the 18th hole. Since buying that piece of golf real estate for her, she happily opens the front door at your disheveled return from the game, and she always displays those bright twinkling eyes, shining with mischievousness. Now you know that she found something so great or amusing in that house overlooking the 18th hole that she will not even consider moving to a different, more lenient course.

Now, this is the moment that I will come to your rescue. I have given that game up because I do not yet want to play it in the day end pinkish clouds before it really is time to do so, on account of heart attacking golfing seizures. So I would rather sell you and your specimen a house at a gated, retirement golf community estate of her liking. At the same time I would suggest that you get your specimen&’s best friend to maneuver her golfing husband to one of the other beautiful courses. Doing so, you can explain, they can visit each other, go to art galleries, coffee shops, mesmerizing shopping centers and they can even sit on the verandah overlooking the very first hole, laughing their buds and their butts off, …so long as you and your golfing friend can have another go at another course where nobody can possibly know your real handicap.

Just don’t turn your eyes towards all the verandahs of all the other houses in the gated golf community, with all the other specimens rolling and reeling in laughter over their little cups of tea.

It will only prolong that fight of dwarfing inches towards the shrinking little black hole of redemption.

No golfer is complete without an odd and eccentric arrangement of strange accessories to help him get through the day. Golfers certainly have a lot to choose from, since it is one of the most accessorized sports out there. If you are looking for some nice golfing accessories, either for yourself or as a gift for a golfing loved one, you will have no problem finding something that will tickle your fancy. Here I will discuss some of the most practical golf accessories. There are many more than the ones that will be discussed here, but most of them are hardly able to be classified as useful. If you are looking for more of a gag gift, you may want to look elsewhere. However, if your needs include a useful golf accessory, read on.

Motorized golf caddies are devices that will carry the golfer&’s clubs alongside him as he walks. Rather than straining himself by carrying the clubs manually, he can simply enjoy a stroll through the scenic golf course while the motorized caddy does most of the hard work. Before you buy one of these, you should be sure that the recipient will have a need for it. Some golfers prefer to leave their clubs in their golf cart, or to simply hire a human caddy. Find out about the golfer&’s habits, and decide for yourself whether you think he would find a motorized caddy useful or not. The prices can run fairly high, so you want to make sure that the enjoyment is worth the money.

Home training equipment is also very popular in the golfing community. There are many different devices that are meant to teach golfers to swing with better technique in the comfort of their own homes. These are known as golf swing trainers, and are generally more on the expensive side than any other golf gift. There are quite a few different choices, from the basic home putting green to more advanced accelerometer-enhanced clubs that will detect your swinging angles and speed. Again, this is not the kind of gift that you should buy out of nowhere. Discuss it with the person you would like to give it to, and make sure that it would be put to good use.

Overall, you should know that golfers are a fairly easy crowd to please. Anyone who is happy just hitting balls with sticks all day will have no problem entertaining themselves with any of the gimmicky or novelty gifts that you can come up with. Therefore if you are trying to find one of the top golf accessories for yourself or a golfing friends or family member, you shouldn&’t worry too much about finding the perfect thing. As long as they have decent clubs, they should be set. Golf clubs are by far the most expensive part of a golfer&’s arsenal of items, and the most important part as well. If you want to buy golf clubs for someone, you would probably do better to give them a gift certificate or coupon so that they can choose them on their own.

Another gift that is great for golfers is some sort of trip to a golf course that they would really enjoy going to. Sometimes an avid golfer doesn&’t have the time (or doesn&’t give himself enough of a break) to visit some of the nicer or more exotic golfing locations. If you really want to surprise and delight a golfer, you should plan a golfing vacation to one of the nicer locations in the world. Maybe a place where you can golf for most of the day, then swim in the ocean for a few hours before heading to your deluxe hotel. Usually if you plan it right you can keep the cost from being too insanely high, but most of the time it is better to indulge yourself and spend what it takes to have a great time.

Even when it is rather obvious that leading names in the game like the legendary Tiger Woods heavily rely on staying in good shape for the game by having personal trainers and by being involved in golf specific exercises.

By far the main reason why most still fear and avoid exercise for golfers is the belief that they will develop muscles. Actually lifting weights are a very effective way of toning the golf-specific muscles for the game, by strengthening them. Strength training using weights will never increase the size of your muscles.

Nobody would loathe building big muscles more than most lady golfers. Yet many of them have dramatically improved their games by increasing their strength through golf-specific weight training.

Actually you need to be in the gym several hours a day lifting very heavy weights to develop a weight-lifters&’ muscles. The weight-lifting exercise regime for golf involves lifting lighter weights many more times over a very short period of time compared to a weightlifter looking for muscles with heavier weights lifted fewer times at a time but for longer hours daily.

The fact that many lady golfers have been able to dramatically improve their game by getting involved in exercises for a golfers, but have not build heavy stiff muscles, should be encouragement enough for many amateurs to seriously consider exercise for a golfer programs.

Apart from weights, most of the exercises for a golfer involve stretch exercises designed to improve a golf swing. Some of these stretch exercises for a golfer can easily be done form the comfort of an office or home when you have a moment to spare.

Actually a bad golfer ignores or is unaware of what has to be the single most important aspect of the golf swing. This is the setup or positioning before the swing.

It does not matter how good your swing is and how much correct technique you have used. If you do not pay attention to your swing, you are a bad golfer and it will clearly show when you have hit the ball.

All great golfers are aware of how important the setup is and you can be sure that many bad golfers are not. If you setup correctly for a shot, chances are extremely high that you will hit a good shot. So important is your setup that even if you swing poorly in a good setup position, you are bound to at least hit a reasonable shot.

A good setup will enable you achieve a good posture and the sort of balance that will help you maintain balance and inevitably control throughout the shot.

The correct setup comes with correct training and even more important; exercising and conditioning of the muscles you use in your entire body for the swing. A bad golfer will more often than not be the sort of person who does not do golf-specific exercises aimed at improving their golf. The result is that they will not even be able to tell the difference between a good setup position and a bad one, simply because they will tend to feel uncomfortable in both.

It is amazing but true that all it takes to move you swiftly to the ranks of a good golfer from amongst the majority of bad golfers is a simple exercise routine, most of which you can even do from your office while you work.

A golf ball retriever is just that, it retrieves balls so that the golfer does not have to go into water, mud, or rocks to retrieve a miss-hit. Ball retrievers often come in very handy when you play on a course that has a lot of ponds, lakes, wooded areas, as well as rock gardens. Of course, you never intend to hit your ball into these areas, but every now and again it will happen and a golf ball retriever will make it a lot easier to get your ball without all of the climbing and stooping that is generally associated with locating ones ball. Because of your golf ball retriever you&’ll find that you have to buy golf balls less often because you won&’t just write them off when they land in hard to reach areas.

There are a few different golf ball retrievers on the market.

Two of the most well known are the IGOTCHA golf ball retriever and the Golden Retriever golf ball retriever. There are many other retrievers on the market, these two products are just known for their reliability as well as their durability. Because there are these great products as well as others on the market it can be difficult to ascertain which is right for you. The great thing is that all ball retrievers are relatively affordable, so you can go for one of the well-known products of something else on just about any budget.

The IGOTCHA golf ball retriever is also very popular and can be purchased for right around $30 as well. Like other retrievers the IGOTCHA comes in a variety of sizes ranging from 6-18 feet long allowing you to grab your ball with ease from any area. IGOTCHA can grab your golf ball from water, mud, rocks, and soggy areas of green after a rain so that your pants as well as your shoes can stay clean. IGOTCHA has cleverly come up with four different ball retrievers known as the Executive, the Executive XL, and the Biggest. IGOTCHA is definitely a quality product that many golfers can get a lot of use out of.

The Golden Retriever golf ball retriever will usually cost about $30 and will fit into or attach to golf bags with ease. Even though the Golden Retriever comes in 7, 12, and 18 foot the handle is telescopic so that you don&’t have to lug around a huge ball retriever from hole to whole during your game. This ball retriever can be fully immersed in water or mud should it happen to land in one of these things. The claw like handles will allow you to simply scoop up the ball with one hand and then drop the ball into the other. Because the handle is telescopic you can reach a ball that is in the middle of the pond.

A golf ball retriever is a tool that every golfer should have. If the golfer in your life doesn&’t already have one, a retriever makes a great fathers day, birthday, mother&’s day, or Christmas gift.

North and South France’s Finest

France offers some of the finest golf courses, with more than 25 of the top 100 courses in Europe. When taking a golf holiday in the south of France, there are many well-known clubs and courses to try out such as the Royal Mougin Golf Club, Monte Carlo Golf Club, Cannes-Mandelieu Old Course, Domaine de Terre Blanche, Golf Country Club de Vievola, and St. Endreol Golf, to name a few. In northern France, there are top quality courses such as Le Touquet, Hardelot Les Pins, Belle Dune, and Nampont St. Martin Golf Course.

A golf holiday south of France is often preferable year round due to the milder climate and gorgeous scenery. The weather is beautiful most days, and many of the golf courses in southern France were designed by some of Europe’s most skilled golf course architects. And though there are premier golf courses in the south of France, this doesn’t always mean extravagant prices or pro-style golf only. You can find courses to fit almost any budget and also courses that welcome golfers of all skill levels.

You’ll also be able to tour some of the finest cities in Europe such as Marseille, Vence, Cannes, Nice, Monaco, or Toulon. Many of these cities are just a very short distance from the French Riviera, so you can secure great holiday rentals in France and tour several areas around the French Riviera. South France holiday rentals are available at hotels and resorts, or you might find a cozy apartment to spend your golf holiday.

Package Ideas for a Golf Holiday in France

When traveling to France, choose golf holiday packages that will cater to your needs and location, whether staying north or south of France. If you need to stay only a few nights, many hotels and resorts offer packages for two to four nights and a couple of games of golf. If you need to stay longer, find golf packages that are discounted for longer stays. If it’s variety you want, another type of package is a golf cruise in which you can sail to different hot spots and play golf on different courses. French Riviera golf cruises are particularly popular.

You might also choose to stay in an area that’s saturated with golf courses so you can try out a new one every day. Areas such as Vence (south of France) or Nice offer many courses, tourist attractions, and beautiful scenery.

Booking Your Golf Holiday in France

You can easily book a golf holiday in North or South France online and find great deals for hotels, apartment rentals, or even places for a France day trip. Use online maps to pinpoint where you want to stay or go golfing. For example, if seeking Provence accommodations, check out a map of the Provence area to find a great destination.

Look for fabulous French Riviera rentals or other golf holiday adventures to enjoy your vacation to the fullest!

Will they still be able to enjoy their game and see constant improvements or at least consistency in their quality of play?

Those golfers who ask these sorts of questions about golf fitness and exercise sometimes nostalgically cast their minds back to the so called good old days of the golf game when the game was strictly a leisure sport where one hardly needed to break into a sweat to thoroughly enjoy themselves on the course.

The modern golf game has changed dramatically and permanently. Although golf is still very much the leisure sport that has given pleasure to thousands over the years even with the golf fitness and exercise programs. If anything these golf fitness and exercise programs have given many more people a chance to master the game much faster and really get to enjoy it.

Assuming that a golfer would want to skip golf fitness and exercise they would find themselves faced with one major problem. Increasingly they would find themselves frustrated and would be faced with a situation where it would seem that the standard of their game is dropping.

Actually what would be happening is that the pressure of playing against golfers involved in golf fitness and exercise programs would be taking its&’ toll.

There are few things that are as infuriating and frustrating as seeing your opponent effortlessly run rings around you on the course just because they have taken golf fitness and exercise seriously and you have not.

In all likelihood the golfer who is determined to do without golf fitness and exercises, just like in the old days, would increasingly find themselves in a position where they enjoy their game less and less.

A beginner only needs a handful of items to get started. A few lofted golf clubs, say a nine and seven iron, and a putter. If you want, grab a metal wood, but no more than a five wood. Gather some golf balls, tees, a towel, and throw your stuff in a golf bag. You are ready to play some golf!

You are probably wondering about all the other clubs and why they were left out.

They are for the golfer who is ready to mix playing golf with practicing golf. If it makes you feel less awkward, take the full set of clubs with you, just use the ones mentioned until you are comfortable with your golfing abilities. Let me explain myself.

Golf is a sport. Like all other sports a score determines the winner. In golf the lowest score or fewest strokes win. Most people who play sports enjoy competition. Why not learn how to play golf to win from the very beginning. After all an early success will bring you back to the golf course sooner. And I don&’t know of a better place to be than on a golf course.

If you are playing with others of your same ability you need to learn how to score the lowest. This is why you are only using a few clubs for now.

If you can keep the ball moving forward towards the target (the flag) instead of sideways (the direction most beginners hit towards) you will always score lower than you opponent. The clubs that are easiest to hit are the ones with the most loft, your seven and nine iron. These will never travel as far as your opponent&’s big dog, (their driver or 1 metal) but they have a greater chance of moving the ball in the direction of your target. So it may take you six or seven shots down the fairway to reach the green, chances are your score will be less than your playing opponent when totaled.

Making solid contact with the golf ball will always win the game.

Using the higher lofted clubs will have you hitting the ball with precise contact faster than any other club in the bag, except your putter. When you can stand at address over a golf ball with a seven or nine iron and hit a good shot seven out of nine times you can expand your club selection to any other club. I use this technique when teaching beginners to play and they are my proof that it works. The confidence you gain from hitting good shots by making solid contact will show up with every other club once you master the higher lofted irons.

As a beginner, you are going to need to focus on purchasing irons. These are the primary types of clubs that you will be using, and thus where you need to focus the majority of your efforts. If you are concerning yourself with numerous types and styles, you are more likely to become overwhelmed with information and much less likely to make a good decision when you do purchase your clubs. The first thing for the irons that you need to keep in mind is how they are made. For a beginner it is much better to look for a set of clubs that are cast irons. This will provide you with a much larger sweet spot on the head of the club, which will allow for a bit more error in your swing without hindering you badly.

Once you have mastered your swings and greatly improved your skills then a set of forged clubs are much better because they allow the ability to influence the trajectory much better. However, with a much smaller sweet spot on forged clubs you will find that they are highly inappropriate for beginners. Never buy forged clubs with the idea that you will be needing them in the next few weeks. If you really think you will be moving to them that quickly you can just turn around and buy the cast iron set that you have just purchased to recoup some of your money.

The next consideration is the size of the head. Typically, golf clubs have a very small head; however, this gives you a noticeably smaller sweet spot and in turn demands a much higher skill level in order to play well. If you are a beginner or intermediate level player, you should look at using a medium head club. While larger or oversized heads are available, choosing these is generally a bad idea because you will not be able to control the club as well. Overall, this will cause numerous problems in terms of being able to really improve your game.

Selecting the right set of clubs is essential in order to actually ensure that you are playing a good game. A poor set of clubs, regardless of whether they are top quality will cost you numerous strokes on the green and make you quite frustrated. Choosing the right set of clubs does not mean you need to purchase custom made clubs, but you do need to take your skill level into account to ensure you buy clubs that can actually help you improve your game and play well.