Golf Practice-zine Newsletter for June 2008

Thanks for signing up to receive the June 2008 issue of the Newsletter. The newsletter is late (as promised) due to my vacation to Vancouver Island. I've made my final retirement preparations. I'll be heading out West (Ottawa to Vancouver Island) during the whole month of August. More on this in the newsletter. Here is the lineup for June:

Newsletter Contents:

1. Golf Scholarships
2. Great Western Golf Tour
3. Nicklaus Bear Mountain Resort
4. Vancouver Island Golf Development
5. Refresh Your Fitness Program
6. Golf Performance
7. FiZGOLF Tested

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1. Golf Scholarships

Each year the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCA) awards approximately $1 billion in scholarships to about 126,000 student-athletes. Gaining a scholarship for your son or daughter is challenging, hard work. Get the facts, start early and do your homework on the schools, the programs and the recruitment process.

Schools aren't allowed to contact kids until after they have completed Grade 11. Athletic scholarships are awarded for one academic year at a time. There are no four year terms and no guarantees that the initial year award will be renewed for the coming year.

For Division I and II schools, one-year scholarships can be renewed annually for a maximum of five years during a six-year period.

Getting a scholarship is one thing, keeping it year-to-year is just as challenging. Get organized. Get a game plan. Find the scholarship and program that suits your needs.

Some Tips

1. Inform Yourself: here are some key organizations that provide a valuable knowledge base to work from:

Golf Association of Ontario (GAO)

The official governing body of amateur golf in Ontario since 2001. Affiliated with the Royal Canadian Golf Assn. (RCGA)the GAO supports a broad range of golf development throughout Ontario.

Scholarship Seminars

In addition to offering Scholarship Programs and Player Development programs to junior golfers, the GAO provides Going After Golf Scholarship seminars. Cost is $50 per family. Seminars start at 9:00am, finish at noon. Topics covered include:

• Academic requirements
• Costs of attending schools in the U.S.
• Playability (skill levels required to be eligible/successful)
• Marketing (how to sell yourself to recruiters)
• Research (find out about college programs on the internet)

Ping American College Golf Guide

The Ping Guide is the gold standard reference for prospective golf scholarship candidates. The Ping Guide has provided information on every scholarship and non-scholarship golf program in the U.S. since 1989. The Guide helps athletes match themselves athletically and academically with potential schools. It answers questions including:

• recruiting guidelines
• entrance and eligibility requirements
• letters of intent
• scholarship terms and conditions
• NCAA regulations and their effect on international eligibility
• financial aid eligibility criteria
• the importance of campus visits and handling interviews with coaches

Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA):

The RCGA, as the Canadian body governing amateur golf, has an excellent section on Scholarships on its website (www.rcga.org). Key information is very well documented in a clear, concise overview of the most significant components of scholarship characteristics. Guidelines are prescribed for:

• Definition of Amateur Status
• Academic vs Athletic scholarships
• Payment procedures
• How scholarship funds may be used by athletes
• Guidelines for Canadians accepting scholarships in the U.S.
• Approved Scholarships, Bursaries and Grants
• Issue of Free Equipment to Amateur Golfers
• Policies on gambling or wagering

NCAA Eligibility Center:

All students competing for athletic scholarships in Division I and II Athletics must be qualified by the Eligibility Center. The EC's role is to certify the academic credentials and amateur status of all college scholarship candidates. To check on eligibility rules and monitor changes, visit the website (https://web1.ncaa.org/eligibilitycenter).

2. Get professional help.

Scholarships are a competitive, complex game within a game. Eligibility criteria for international students have undergone recent changes. Do not get an agent. The word agent holds a negative connotation with respect to amateur sport. Having an agent renders you ineligible as a non-amateur immediately. If you seek assistance, consultants are the way to go.

One well-known, respected example is a company called Inside Edge Sports Consultants, Inc.. I spoke with one of their staff at their booth during the Ottawa Golf & Travel Show in March 2008. Her name was, Susan Dedrick and she is Assistant to the President and CEO (Brad Fitzsimmons).

Inside Edge has four offices in Canada:

• Ottawa
• Toronto
• Calgary
• Vancouver

They also have international offices in:

• London, England
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Frankfurt, Germany
• Milan, Italy
• Sydney, Australia

A new office is about to open in Dubai.

Inside Edge (IE) has been very successful acting as advisor to aspiring students and their parents; helping them develop their skills and help them market their strengths to schools and coaches in the U.S. and around the world. The advisory services enable families to develop a marketing/communications strategies to help persuade prospective schools to accept them into their golf and scholarship programs.

The firm holds a golf tournament where players/clients can show off their skills to invited college coaches. The event includes:

• a golf swing webcast to every college golf coach
• individual player scholarship assessment and review
• 18 holes of stroke play
• lunch
• a seminar presented by CEO Brad Fitzsimmons to college players and their families

Events such as golf tournaments afford clients an opportunity to reach college coaches directly. Details of other IE services are available at www.edgecollegegolf.com. The site is a good example of the advantages to this active marketing approach to competing for golf scholarships.

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This summer I retire. The date will be July 30, 2008.

Total freedom!

So I want to do something special. You might have guessed that it would be golf-related. You would have been right.

For the last 23 years I have been living and working in Ottawa, Ontario. I took up golf to maintain an active lifestyle, get a focus on something outside the office and slipstream into what was the Tiger Woods bandwagon effect on golf in 1997. Golf has given me a reason to retire early and now that time is very near.

My plan has always been to return home to British Columbia. Victoria, B.C. is where I grew up and went to University. I purchased a home in Chemainus, B.C. on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

In mid-August I will pack my golf bag and a few travel essentials into my car and head west to golf my way back home. I call this my Great Western Golf Tour.

I conceived the idea a few years ago, when the National Post newspaper came out with their Golf 2006 Preview. The magazine enclosed with the paper had a special section called the Infiniti Golf Guide with course maps and listings from coast to coast. This is a very good, detailed guide to Canadian golf courses, with course addresses and maps showing how to get there. The perfect guide book for my adventure!

Sample Courses that I plan to visit and either practice or play at are:

Ontario

• Trillium Wood
• Wooden Sticks
• Deer Creek- The National
• Osprey Valley
• Rattlesnake Point
• Whirlpool
• Thundering Waters

Manitoba

• Bel Acres (Winnipeg)
• Niakwa (Winnipeg)

Saskatchewan

• Dakota Dunes (Saskatoon)
• Royal Regina (Regina)
• Saskatoon West (Saskatchewan)
• The Willows (Saskatoon)

Alberta

• Wolf Creekm(Edmonton)
• Kananaskis (Banff)
• Northern Bear GC (Edmonton)
• The Ranch (Edmonton)
• Links of Glen Eagles (Calgary)
• Silver Tip (Canmore)
• Jasper Park Lodge GC (Jasper)
• Banff Springs GC (Banff)
• Stewart Creek (Canmore)

I plan to blog my way west, so watch this site for a blow-by-blow account of the Tour.

The list of courses is by no means final. If you have any suggestions, please let me know about courses you have played and would recommend. I'll be on the road for at least three weeks, so I'm very interested in your input. Send me an email at: info@best-strategies-for-better-golf.com I really would appreciate your help.

Right now, a general map of the route looks like this:

My first stop is a visit to TaylorMade's head office in Vaughan, Ontario (just west of Toronto). There, I am enrolled in a 2-hour fitting and instruction session. I will have a 3-D swing video done and be fitted with a motion analysis suit so that they can take a movie of my swing from multiple cameras simultaneously. Sounds like a whole lot of fun. I'm always up for learning something new. I'm booked for Friday, August 15th at 1:00pm. I walk away from this session with a copy of the complete video session plus a head full of ideas on how to improve my golf swing. I can hardly wait!

Watch the website, I'll definitely put up a page regarding the Motion Analysis Technology by TaylorMade (MATT) session. I will include the video, too if I can.

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Jack Nicklaus and his son Steve designed this resort course located just 20 minutes north of Victoria, B.C.

This is a resort with a true mountain course. It is setup to play as tough as you want the course rating for men starts at 68.4 from the recommended Spirit tees(5783 yards) on up to 75.1 from the tips (7212 yards).

I went there while on holidays this May. A good friend of mine took me as his guest and paid for everything. Bless him! What an awesome course! It is visually stunning, so I recommend you take your camera. Lots of wildlife and tremendous vistas of the Olympic mountain range and the city of Victoria down below.

Practice Range

Great grass practice range. A short game area is not yet available but will be soon. Players will be able to buy a pass just to practice on the range (my kind of membership) Right now (May) the grass area is completely open. By July they expect to have 25 covered hitting stations ready for players.

Before your round, I highly recommend that you practice putting, else you are not going to believe how fast the greens are. We walked up at to the practice green by the pro shop just as the mowers were getting there. They said the green would probably be rated at 11 on the stimpmeter. They were about to cut and, "..add another foot or so to the speed of your put." They were right on. Gosh were they fast! Fast and true. Everything about the course was spotless. There were no weeds in sight on the practice range or anywhere near the pro shop. It made me want to clean my golf shoes before playing.

Hit your irons and wedges high if you hope to hold those greens. There were a number of elevated greens, blind landing areas and of course, pronounced changes of elevation during the round. Well-placed bunkers, though marked on the GPS screen, hidden from view when your hitting, so pay attention. What you don't see can bite you. Green and fairway speeds meant I rolled into eight bunkers during my round. My score skyrocketed -- you really have to play the course once or twice to get a feel for the correct placement of your ball. Hit it where you aim or you will pay -- every time.

The Course

GPS carts and valet service. Service was excellent and pace of play very good. About 140 golfers were on the course when we teed off at 10:30am. and we never really came close to anybody else nor them to us.

We played from the 'Spirit' or white tee markers which measured a relatively wimpy 5800 yards. The choice was recommended by the marshall for anyone with a handicap between 10 - 18. Not so wimpy. This is a tough course from anywhere, trust me.

Pay for What You Play for

Expensive green fees are an expected feature of any resort course in my experience. Bear Mountain is no exception. I am not complaining, don't get me wrong; this facility is world class in all respects. The course is a real attraction to Victoria's tourist industry and it sets an enviable standard for Vancouver Island Golf. That said, current rates for the 2008 season (April - mid-October 2008 are):

Bear Mountain Green Fees:

Booking Time	Rate Mon-Th	Rate Fri-Sun
Green Fees	$130	$145
Sunrise (1st Hour of Tee Times only	$85	$95
Twilight (5-6 hrs. before dusk)	$85	$95
Sunset (4-5 hrs. before dusk)	$65	$75

It pays to be a resident. Just one more reason for me to retire there. With proof of Island residence, players pay $99 weekdays and $109 Friday to Sunday. I expect to treat myself here on a semi-regular basis -- these rates are still very expensive for my palette. The first few times will be painful since you really should have your 'A' game here to enjoy the golf. Otherwise, you're relegated to enjoy the scenery.

Membership

The course is semi-private, so fees players are welcome.

Memberships are available for:

• Individuals - $35,000 + GST for initial registration; $375 + GST monthly dues
• Family - $60,000 + GST; Monthly dues $640 + GST
• Corporate - $60,000 + GST; Monthly dues $640 + GST

See their website (www.bearmountain.ca) for further details on membership rates and features.

The Resort

Developers have taken over a mountain to build the resort and its surrounding community. The resort comprises:

• Westin Hotel
• Athletic Club
• Dining
• Condominiums
• Townhomes
• Residences & Home Lots
• The Village commercial retail space

In a few short years the mountain will be covered top to bottom with residential and recreational development. Bear Mountain is becoming a mini-Whistler Mountain development. A virtual city within a city.

Valley Course coming

In a few months, the new valley course will be the venue for the public as the Bear will go to Members only. Valley course construction is expected to be completed later in 2008.

More golf and more impressive. Bear Mountain is definitely a landmark worth experiencing for yourself.

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In addition to the Valley Eighteen mentioned earlier (see #3 above) new course development on Vancouver Island is active, with developers achieving varied levels of success.

New tracks include:

• Highland Pacific
• James Island
• Wyndansea at Ucluelet
• Quadra Links
• Sage Hills
• Cable Bay
• The Cliffs Over Maple Bay

Highland Pacific

On he border of two municipalities near Victoria, the Plasterer family carries the vision of a golf course on 190 acres of land purchased in 1961. The project has been difficult, but over the past eight years a Clubhouse and award-winning driving have been completed.

Now the course is under construction. Four holes were playable in May with the remaining first (or Pacific) nine finished in Fall 2008. The second nine is planned for completion in 2009. final course yardage will be 6400-6500 yards.

James Island This island is situated just off the Saanich Peninsula, about 10 miles north of Victoria. Originally a home to a dynamite factory in the late 1800s which became a munitions factory to the military until the mid-1960s when it was demolished.

Developers warmed to the real estate potential in the 1980s, obtaining zoning for 210 homes plus a golf course. Bankrupcy terminated those plans which were renewed when Craig McCaw, founder of McCaw Cellular and owner of the Vancouver Canucks in 1994, bought the property and proceeded with plans to environmentally "cleanse" the island via ultra-exclusive high-end residential developemnt. This included flying in Jack Nicklaus to refurbish the partially completed golf course. According to Nicklaus, the seventh hole may be the, "finest par five in the world." according to a recent article in Inside Golf Magazine (Vol.#15, No.56, 2008).

Too bad the 7300 yard course is totally private -- for the exclusive use of residents only.

Wyndansea at Ucluelet

Previously mentioned in the May newsletter, this course/resort combination was scheduled to finish in 2009, having been slowed down by environmental protests, frequent dialogue with local residents and officials, plus delays with hotel construction. New schedules to synchronize resort and course progress now point to a completion in 2010 or 2011.

The Cliffs Over Maple Bay

What began as a possible show piece has progressed to a near-disaster. The Cliffs Over Maple Bay is a wonderful property overlooking Maple Bay and the Gulf Islands of the Georgia Strait and the Cowichan Valley. Early in June, local news carried the story that the Cliffs was under bankruptcy protection (Times-Colonist, Carla Wilson, June 3, 2008).

The planned residential-golf community located on Mount Tzouhalem near Duncan, B.C. called for phased development of approximately 350 single-family homes, 345 condominiums and a hotel around a Greg Norman designed golf course. The primary factor attracting people to the development has been the golf course.

Court documents state that the course is about 70 percent complete but needs irrigation water for completion. No water, no grass. The developer estimates an additional $10.3 million will be required to complete the golf course. Local officials indicated that there is sufficient value in the unsold property to support the remaining investment needed to complete the project. If not the original developer, then "another developer will carry on with this project and complete it..."

Golfers, taxpayers, investors and tourists await developments with interest.

Cable Bay

Just up the highway from Duncan, Cable Bay is planned for the community of Cedar, near the City of Nanaimo. Part of a proposed 575 acre resort, the course is designed to be built and managed to Audubon Society standards. The course will have ocean views looking east to Georgia Strait, the Gulf Islands and the Coast Mountains.

Designed by Gary Browning, who also designed Stewart Creek in Canmore, Alberta, the course development has encountered local resistance, but the environmental designation inherent to the Audubon certification is apparently warming residents to the idea. If public meetings go well,construction may start in the Fall of 2008.

Quadra Links

A local team, headed by president and local resident, Keith Remfert has cleared nine holes for this community based course. Their site is on Quadra Island located off Campbell River on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

Ted Locke, the noted architect of The Falls, GC near Chilliwack, B.C. has acted as consultant to the project and the plan is to get 18 holes done eventually. However, that will take extra funding from a new equity partner; right now, they need another partner to fund the $1.7 million needed to install irrigation required to complete the first nine holes.

Sage Hills

The Sage Hills project is located 6 miles south of Courtenay on a 3900 acre development to include a residential community with sports academy, private school, commercial village and two golf courses.

This is a big development. Backers include the global sports consultancy, International Management Group (IMG) who lead the golf course design.

Currently going through approval stages this project may see course construction on one course complete by 2010 but the rest of the development may evolve over the next 10 to 15 years and total $2 billion.

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I enjoy working out. It takes me a few trips to the gym to get going, but after 3 or 4 times, I'm generally into my program on a regular basis. I try to go 3 to 5 times a week. I feel better and perform better with regular exercise.

I do, like everyone must, get into periods where I get bored. The motivation wanes a little, I lose energy and miss the odd workout. That's ok, as long as I get back into the schedule, but there are other ways to keep from slipping.

A recent article in the Vancouver Province newspaper (Monday, May 12/08) gives me hope. Dump those worn-out workout habits was the title. The article made sense. It said:

(i) You get used to performing the same old exercises day-in and day-out. It's a good idea to cleanse your workout and ensure the workouts contain exercises that are tuned for what you want to achieve.

(ii) Don't do exercises you're comfortable with, you'll just be going through the motions.

(iii)focus on a program that takes no more than one hour of gym time. Make sure the hour is well spent. Work hard, but work efficiently.

(iv) Don't train for a marathon if your event is a sprint. For example: bicep curls. These are a single-joint exercise that work only the bicep muscle. Try a multi-joint exercise like the lat pull instead. This trains the upper & middle back, biceps and shoulders. Another good example is the push-up; it works the chest, triceps, shoulders). You could also combine the bicep curl with a lunge to work the legs and improve your balance for golf. Another good multi-purpose exercise is the seated row; the row works the mid & upper back muscles, shoulders and biceps.

(v) Stretch with more intensity. Studies have reported that there is no proven result to support that static stretching before athletic activity helps prevent injury. Static stretching is defined as stretching a muscle until you feel tension and holding this tension for several seconds. A superior warm up involves more dynamic exercise that are sport-specific. For golf, a good warm-up could consist of light aerobic activity followed by a series of dynamic range or motion movements such as swinging a weighted club for about 5 minutes. Lunges, arm swings, trunk rotations and knee lifts are more examples of moves that are best performed at the beginning of your workout.

(vi) It is not the quantity of workouts that matter but the efficiency or quality of the program that matters. Better to workout less frequently (3 - 4 times a week) but vary the muscle groups to ensure the muscle group coverage and maintain an intense (sweat that hour) workout that to just go through the motions.

Never forget that diet matters most of all. No amount of exercise will save you from a bad diet. Eat the right foods, watch your portions and maintain an active lifestyle.

Know your limits. Stay healthy and keep fit. Put some variety into your workout to add some spice. Don't be afraid to experiment to keep things fresh. Your routine is too valuable to let it get stale. Check with your doctor and the fitness instructor at your health club or gym. Get a fitness evaluation and let them help you develop a program tailored to your goals.

Be smart about it. Your fitness program is a great key to better golf and a healthier, longer life.

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Key Ideas:

• If you don't know your stats, you don't know where you stand
• If you don't know where you stand, you can't get better
• After studying thousands of golfers of all abilities, key trends have emerged, revealing the key statistics to track.

Key Statistics:

1. Greens in regulation (GIR) is most significant determinant of score.
2. Number of Putts per round (PPR)was a distant second to GIR as an indicator, but by far the second most important statistic. You can save a bad round of ball striking by putting well, but hitting more greens in regulation won't save you if your putting poorly.
3. Your best scoring happens when GIR and PPR are at their best. Keep these two stats as the benchmarks for your round and progress.

Greens in Regulation

Good iron play is the key to reaching greens in regulation (that is, getting there in 1 on a par 3; 2 on a par four; 3 on a par 5). Which irons? Track which irons you use to hit the green. Long irons (3,4), middle (5,6,7) or short irons (8,9,w)?

Good tee shots are also important to your GIR. Mark down whether your tee shot resulted in putting you in position to reach the green in regulation or not. Hitting the fairway is good, but not if you're too far back to reach the green. Likewise, if you're in the rough. If you're blocked from reaching or in grass so thick you can't make enough contact with the ball to make it, then your tee shot needs improvement.Bad tee shots and bad irons spell trouble. Dr. Ricci's research indicates you need to hit three greens on average to break 90 and eight greens to break 80. Your stats will tell you your tale.

Putts Per Round

Putting is defined by a stroke taken on the putting surface. If you putt from the fairway, it is counted as a chip, no matter what club you use. The pros consider 30 putts or less per round good (less is better). Shooting 71, a pro would take 29 putts; to break 90, you need 34 putts; to break 80, 31 or 32.

Better putting stats come with making your long putts shorter. You make more 3- and 6-footers than you'll make 30-footers. So put your iron shots closer to the hole (proximity to the hole) or make better lag putts so that your second putt goes in for sure. When you practice lag putts, try to keep your ball within a 3-foot circle of the hole. A good first putt makes life easier.

Better chipping stats mean you chips finish closer to the hole and your first putt goes in. Therefore, you'll have more one-putts and your total putts will go down. If you chip close and make the putt, count that as a "good up-and-down". Your score will go down too.

So, better chips, better lag putts all mean fewer three-putts and lower scores.

The more greens you hit, the fewer putts you will take. Dr. Ricci's stats bear this out. Sharper drives, better iron play will increase your GIR stat. Better chipping and improved lag putting will lower your score.

Track and Analyze Your Stats

Dr. Ricci has created a score card on which to record your performance. The card and suggestions for how to mark the stats is detailed in his Golf Digest article.

Try measuring your game with this statistical approach. If you're seriously trying to improve your game, this is the best approach to take. You'll learn a lot about your strengths and weaknesses. It will be worth your time.

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7. FiZGOLF Tested

The Fiz struck me as a pretty clever idea, though I had only read about it. Well on my vacation, I discovered some at the Victoria Golf Town and jumped at the opportunity to try a bottle. Time to try this stuff on behalf of my readers, I thought. So I bought two bottles, one for myself, the other for Cary, my golf buddy. We were about to visit the awesome Bear Mountain course so I thought we might experiment with the "scientific spit" concoction in the field, so to speak.

Conclusion? This gizmo has a lot of merit. The science-backed solvent shines! Literally.

Fiz is a self-contained cleaning cartridge, complete with bag clip and cleaning bristles. A simple squirt leads to a lot of fiz. The foamy solution squirts enthusiastically out of the canister in a fine, high pressure stream. The first few times I blasted foam all over the place. There was what the military might call collateral damage as I got it all over my glasses but once I could see straight, my aim got better and found the foam to be a very effective cleaner.

Pretty much as advertised, cleaning the grooves on clubs was a snap, the foam is not just for show, it cleans for real. If you just left the foam, the little fizzies went to work on the grit and grass and then wipe off whatever was left very easily. The best method was to spray your golf towel and then rub the towel onto whatever you wished to clean.

Cary and I tried it on some harder objects like some found golf balls with a high degree of stain from the much they had been sitting in and cleaned them up too. The liquid did not leave your hands or grips sticky after application either. The scientists at FizGolf have done a good job with their product.

I was very pleased with this item, to the point that I was blowing off to friends and strangers about it whenever I got the opportunity. I should have gone a little easier on it the first couple of times. I hurried over to show Marc, the pro at my home course. I stuck out my dirty wedge between us, aimed the spray canister and kapow, the foam ricocheted off the blade and spattered both of us. So, I proved it won't stain your clothes, it has great pressure and cleans wedges all in one shot. Be careful where you point it, please, if you get one of these babies.

My May newsletter claimed a retail price of $9.99, but that turned into $12.99 at Golf Town. No matter, I would cheerfully buy another one in the future. Whenever that will be, since the one I have is still going very strong after continuous use for a month. FizGolf estimates 340 uses per can and I will see, but it could even last me a season. That would be great. They can consider me a customer, I'm sold.

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