PGA to Deflate Pumped up Players!!

Football? Sure. Baseball? Yep. Cycling? Definitely. Track & Field? No question. But golf? Thats the question now that the PGA tour will begin implementation of their own anti-doping plan in 2008 as part of an overall world golf Foundation policy.

The world golf Foundation not only includes the PGA tour but also the European tour, LPGA, the USGA, augusta national and the Royal and Ancient golf club. With the Asian, Canadian, Japanese and Australasian Tours all signing on to support the plan, weve essentially got an anti-doping plan that reaches every corner of the globe.

PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem had long held fast to the belief that there was no need for anti-doping intervention but has changed his position during this past year. Said Finchem earlier this year theres no sport thats inherently immune to doping. Its a sad commentary, but its true.

Is it true? And is it really necessary? golf has always been looked on as a gentlemans game, one equated to honesty, integrity and good sportsmanship where players self-police and in many instances, call penalties on themselves for unseen infractions. But times apparently are a changing!!

Is this merely a sign of the times, a preemptive strike to keep up with the policies of other professional sports or is there some evidence of cheating that the PGA is hiding from us? Is there a potential Barry Bonds-like abuser lurking on the PGAs leader board? The only player as beefy as a steroid popping ball player is Tiger Woods yet hes also the most vocal proponent of this anti-doping plan and has publicly volunteered to be first in line for testing.

I cant think of another player out there who looks or golfs the part of a doping violator. The guys that hit it 300 yards seem to have reached this mark via advanced technology (i.e. Hotter club faces & balls) mixed in with a bit of exercise but even assuming there is substance abuse on tour, you still have to hit the ball straight! And once the driver is in the bag, players dont really need muscle, they need technique. They need to hit a wedge 100 yards to a tightly tucked pin location and Im not sure theres a drug out there that can help with this. And just how will any banned substance help a professional read and sink a 15 foot putt with a double break in it?

The illegal substances that generally get all the attention are the muscle pumping, strength inducing drugs so prevalent among the Popeye forearmed baseball players of recent years but what about some of the other prohibited substances on the list for testing? The list includes everything from anabolic steroids and hormones to beta-blockers. Now I can see how beta-blockers may be of help to a PGA tour professional as they basically block the affect adrenalin has on your body. In other words they make you relax! Additionally they facilitate smooth muscle control which explains their prevalence as being a treatment for various heart ailments including cardiac arrhythmias and heart attacks (prevention post-attack).

Woods recently reminded reporters that Nick Price once admitted to using beta blockers but said they actually hurt his game rather than help but drugs have varying effects on people so whos to say it wont help the next guy? A few beers usually help calm me down but it certainly doesnt seem to help my game any! Its not farfetched to think that beta-blockers may help someone down the road.

Its better to be proactive rather than reactive so Finchems making the right call here but Im betting on betting on the players and believe golf will not be shamed and dragged into the mud like so many other sports these day.

About the author - golf fanatic Greg Shaw is the VP of sales for Tattoo golf ( http://www.tattoogolf.com/ ) and has extensive experience in trend marketing. Greg also owns http://www.thegolfshirtfactory.com He can be reached at greg@tattoogolf.com

Alison Teacher Tyler Vegetarian Yoga

90+ Shooters - This Golf Article Is For You!

The advice I give in this article is aimed specifically at golfers that score over 90 for 18 holes of golf. But if you score under 90 for 18 holes you'll still find the advice I give you here valuable....so keep reading.

What you need to work on to score better is the following and this list is from the highest priority to the lowest

1. putting

2. Chipping

3. Pitching

4. Bunker Shots

5. Driving

6. irons

7. fairway woods

You should work on improving your putting first because if you normally have 38 putts per round and you improve by 5 putts per round you've just knocked 5 shots off your score. This same philosophy applies to chipping and pitching. The more you can improve those two aspects of your game the better you'll score. And finally, you must get really good at bunker shots.

Now when you're practicing putting you should mainly work on distance control. So practice longer putts first and then leave the shorter putts till last. But don't practice your putting for too long. Just get some good feel for distance and then go and practice your chipping and pitching.

And when practicing your chipping you should concentrate on landing the ball where you want and then assessing how far it's going to roll to the hole. Then select a club that will be the most efficient at getting the golf ball close. Then when you practice your pitching you should mix up the distances you practice from so that you get a good feel for distance control. But experiment. Make practice fun. play some games. And this applies to bunker shots as well.

play some bunker shots out of unusual lies. For example, play a shot that's plugged, play another shot where you have to stand out of the bunker but the ball is in the bunker. Just have some fun. Even try a "Seve" and get out your 3-iron and try to get the ball out of the bunker with that. This will force you to use your imagination.

If you just worked on these four areas of your game consistently then your score will drop. It has to. Because it's been scientifically proven that shots inside 100 yards make up about 70% of golf. So therefore it makes sense to work on that part of the game the most.

Unfortunately most golfers work on their game the reverse of what I'm saying, and I suppose that's why there is so many "DRIVING RANGES" around! So remember this 70% practice rule when you next go out to practice and if you spend all of your practice time hitting long shots and you're not improving, then don't say I didn't warn you!

professional golfer Nick Bayley has found just one golf swing fault that could be stopping you from ball striking consistency and success. But now you can take a simple 2 minute golf swing test to see if you have this swing fault or not. Go here to take The golf swing test now: http://www.yourgolfswingtest.com

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