Golf: QuickSandwoodCreek

Club Dynamic

Golf Clubs 101

Golf is one of the most popular pastimes in this country, for both young and old. Golfers contentedly while away their days on the sunny green talking politics and weather, enjoying the recreation as if it were a fine aged whiskey before a roaring fireplace. Like any sport, however, you must start with the basics before you enjoy the true benefits of playing with this sort of graceful ease. For beginners, one of the most important pieces to begin with is the right equipment, and quite arguably the most important device is the club. The standard beginning golf set generally includes the following clubs-which as your skill increases, will alter once you get a feel for what works best with your grip, swing and control, but for starters-: 3 woods (1-driver, 3, and 5), 8 irons (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and a pitching wedge), and a putter. This useful arsenal of 12 clubs will help you make different plays possible, depending on distance and loft (the angle of the club’s face inversely related to the distance needed). To fully understand the dynamics of each club, let’s take a look at each one below in detail.

Woods

The three woods included in your standard beginning golf set should be the 1 wood or driver, the 3, and the 5 (commonly referred to as Fairway Woods). This classification of golf clubs is used for maximum distance. Typically, the distance to the green should be a minimum of 175 yards or more away from you, when you use a golf wood. The 1 wood or driver as it is most commonly referred to, has the lowest loft of the woods. The loft or angle of the club’s face in relation to the ball is between 7 and 12 degrees (depending on skill). Having a low loft will help you send the ball further (or drive the ball) rather than higher. The 3 wood has a loft between 15 and 18 degrees, and the 5 wood a loft between 20 and 22 degrees; and so you can see that with each successive type of wood, the loft is higher and the capacity for distance less. Moreover, it is worthwhile mentioning that the higher the golf club number (woods and otherwise), the shorter the golf club. This is to minimize the arc of the swing, thereby slowing its momentum and lessening the distance of the play.

Irons

The eight irons included in your standard beginning golf set should be the 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and pitching wedge. As noted earlier, the higher the club number, the shorter the club and the higher the loft. The higher the loft, the lower the distance incurred with a swing. The 3-9 irons offer varying distances for your varying short distance tees. The pitching wedge typically has a loft of 48 degrees for a very close tee. The purpose of irons is generally for distances of less than 200 yards away. It is useful to add that there are a variety of wedges, besides the standard pitching wedge, that seasoned golfers employ. As a beginner, a pitching wedge will do just fine; but in time, you’ll need the rest: approach wedge, sand wedge, lob wedge, high lob wedge, and last wedge (with a varying loft of 52-68 degrees).

Putters

The putter included in your standard beginning golf set is used simply as the last maneuver, to play the ball to the hole. You are almost on top of the hole at this point, and the putter is used to sink the ball. Though a standard putter will work for beginner golfers, it is again necessary to point out that seasoned golfers carry a variety of golf putters in their bags to deal with varying needs in those final seconds of sinking the putt. Other types of putters to learn about in the future include: short, belly, long, bent, center-hosel, heel-toe, mallet, etc.

So there it is: an introduction to what to include in your golf set on those first sunny days on the green. More importantly, having discussed how and when to use the different woods, irons, and putters you should be up to trying your hand at the sport so many call their favorite pastime: the age old game of golf.

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Book Clubs for Boys

Boys may not show as much interest in reading as parents would like.  You know being able to read well is a key indicator of success in school and the business world.  You want your son to achieve great things, but it is obvious that reading is not high on his list of things he wants to do. 

 

Forming a Boy’s Book Club can motivate your son to read more.  There are some important points to keep in mind though.  First, independent reading, which is so important for solidifying reading skills, must be interesting to the reader.  Independent reading is reading we do because we want to.  It is not because it is required by a job or the school curriculum.  Next, boys crave activity.  Sitting around is not usually high on their agenda.  Given these provisos, here are some ideas on setting up a book club for boys.

 

Club size.  A small group is usually more interactive than a larger group and the goal of the club is to read and discuss the book for the month.  A group of five to 10 boys will work well.  More than that and the group dynamic shifts to a few outspoken individuals controlling the entire discussion.  So in this case, smaller is better.

 

Next topic, please.  Focus the group on a particular subject matter for the choice of books.  Manga is a very popular book category among teens in many parts of the country and the interest level in reading these books is very high.  Remember the purpose of the book club is to motivate your young son to pick up a book.  This is not school and it is not the place to learn the classics.  Other ideas for book subject matter include sports (include books on different aspects of sports, biographies of great players, sports magazines), cars (including different makes and models, picture books of sports cars, biographies about car builders, the history of car making, etc), action/adventure, science fiction, and the military (fiction and non-fiction, biographies of soldiers, historical battles, military uniforms and fighting techniques).  Librarians can help the book club find books of interest in the subject area selected.

 

Pass the popcorn.  Plan to serve snacks at the book club meetings.  People feel more relaxed and talk more when they have something to sip and nibble.  Evoke the feeling of a party, instead of classroom, and the club will immediately feel more special and fun.

 

Bring it on.  Jazz up the meetings by having club members dress up as their favorite character, bring in pictures or cards of their favorite players, make a model of their dream car, demonstrate fencing techniques, or play a game of basketball afterward. 

 

As publishers of books for children, we often hear from parents of boys (particularly teenage boys) about their son’s lack of interest in reading.  So much happens during the teen years.  A Book Club with the features mentioned here may be just the thing for sparking more interest in reading.

About the Author

Celia Webb, President of Pilinut Press, Inc., publishers of advanced readers for children and ESL students. Check out http://www.pilinutpress.com for more free articles on developing reading-related skills, word games and puzzles, and activity sheets for the company’s entertaining and educational books.

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