VIDANTA VIDANTA

OUR
10th
YEAR
THIS MONTH: 6ZHHW6WXII‡'HVWLQDWLRQV‡&KLS6KRWV
GOLF VACATIONS
AUGUST 2012
EAKKAKKAHHAK
FALLEN OAK
NW IRISH LINKS
MORE BANG
FOR BUCKS
VIDANTA
NUEVO VALLARTA
Plus: RESORT REPORT: BLACK BUTTE RANCH, OR
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SWEETSTUFF
O
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ne of the most renowned custom golf
club makers—Muira Golf—which
has established its reputation with
top-quality forged irons, has introduced its
latest mallet design to add to the company’s
collection of quality forged putters.
The KM-007, fourth in the KM line (for
Katsuhiro Miura, the company’s founder and
chief designer) begins as all Miura putters
do: with a billet of the finest quality low-carbon steel. Once forged into the proper raw
shape, the KM-007 mallet is CNC (computer-numeric controlled) milled into an elegant
mallet shape designed to please the eye of
players looking for some heft behind the ball.
“Mr. Miura was looking at our putters,
and felt we needed to take care of mallet
players too,” said Adam Barr, president of
Miura. “He came up with this design as a way
to fit their eye while offering a soft, authoritative feel in a non-glare, milled finish. Miurasan understands that putting is very personal,
and that a handsome look is as important as a
solid feel. He didn’t release this design until
he was sure he had met both high standards.”
The KM-007 offers a more face-balanced
option within the Miura KM putter line. The
KM-350, a heel-shafted model that is relatively short heel-to-toe, appeals to players
with more of a fan-shaped putting stroke.
The KM-005 (350g head weight) and KM006 (370g), whose shaft intersection point
is closer to the center of the putter face, are
“quarter-hang” models balanced mostly for
back-and-through swingers. The 007 will
work well for that kind of stroke too.
Miura Golf’s corporate office is located
in Vancouver, British Columbia and Miura
Golf clubs are sold at the finest custom-fitting
shops in North America. The Miura brand is
marketed exclusively by Miura Golf Inc., in
the United States and North America. More
information on Miura products can be found
at www.miuragolf.com.
26 (ļĹij7ĮİĮŁĶļĻŀt"łĴłŀŁƊƈƉƊ
ithout a full-time instructor watching your every stroke on the practice tee, making sure you are executing the right things during the swing can
be hit and miss. But a cleaver new device
called SwingPerfect that attaches to a golf
club can now take a lot of the guesswork out
of practice and keep you on plane during
those sessions on the range.
Instead of spending hours guessing how
to correct your swing you can attach this
compact and innovative swing trainer to your
club that provides immediate vibration feedback, teaching you how to develop the perfect golf swing and club head position. Endorsed by perennial Top-50 PGA Teaching
Pro and host of the Golf Channel’s “School of
Golf” Martin Hall, SwingPerfect lets you step
inside the sensation of a professional swing,
and discover the proper building blocks from
small swing to a full swing.
SwingPerfect uses advanced micro-circuitry technology backed by five US Patents
through a miniature swing analyzing gyroscope that provides immediate vibration feedback and a unique four-position switch aligning your swing properly. Five aspects of your
swing are measured by SwingPerfect, including club face, rotation position, swing plane
angle, vertical and horizontal axis, tempo,
and direction. Incredibly precise, SwingPerfect vibrates if your swing mechanics deviate
from the ideal swing path. And, at a mere 2.3
ounces, SwingPerfect is lightweight and will
not affect the weight of the club head.
“SwingPerfect is an amazing example of
how technology can be used to help beginners and even seasoned golfers improve their
swing and their overall game,” said Hall.
“Typically, we will video tape a swing and instructors will use that tape to show a golfer
the corrections that need to be made in their
swing. Now you can take your lessons with an
instructor a step further and use SwingPerfect to alert you every time your swing deviates. You will be able to improve your swing
faster than ever with SwingPerfect, or as I
like to call if, the pro in your pocket.”
SwingPerfect is compatible with all left
and right-handed golf clubs and comes with
an instructional DVD that is very concise and
gives some great instruction on building a
sound golf swing. SwingPerfect can be purchased online at locations including Amazon.
com, GolfSmith.com, through SkyMall or at
www.swingperfect.com
T
he latest in a line of outstanding books
on the psychology of playing golf by one
of the most acclaimed sports psychologists practicing—Dr. Rob Rotella—is now
available and is an excellent guide into the intricacies of two areas of golf that don’t get as
much attention as they probably should—the
short game where all of the scoring is done-and the mental process behind it.
Dr. Rotella, the author of Golf Is Not
A Game of Perfect and Golf Is a Game of
Confidence, now has his latest work: THE
UNSTOPPABLE GOLFER: Trusting Your
Mind and Your Short Game to Achieve
Greatness (Free Press), a 224-page book
to help golfers of all levels master the increasingly challenging elements of the short
game – chips, pitches, bunker shots, and
putts – through mental focus.
It’s no secret that more than two-thirds of
the shots a golfer makes are short ones: putts,
chips, and pitches. Long drives may garner
applause, but whether a golfer wants to win
the Masters or just five bucks from his buddies on Saturday morning, it’s the little shots
that make the difference. Every game has its
unglamorous and overlooked skills.
In basketball, if you don’t rebound and
play defense, you lose. In football, you have to
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SWEETSTUFF
by Terry5RVV
block and tackle. In golf, it’s chipping, pitching, and putting. But, because golf course
architects have made greens ever more complicated and challenging, chipping, pitching,
and playing bunker shots cause great anxiety
for both professional and amateurs. Overcoming this fear has never been more essential to getting the most out of your game.
In The Unstoppable Golfer, Dr. Rotella,
who has worked with a roster of major champions, including hall of famers like Pat Bradley and Tom Kite, and stars of the present like
Angel Cabrera, Padraig Harrington, Keegan
Bradley, Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and
Graeme McDowell, teaches readers how to
use their minds to master the short game by
achieving a calm state of mind in which the focus is only one thing—the target. In addition
to preparing players mentally, Rotella also explains the science of memory, and how knowledge of the brain’s workings—in particular
how it masters physical tasks—can improve a
golf game, particularly the short game.
Many of the mental skills taught in this
book are really life skills that carry over to
personal success and business, even outside
of the realm of sport—such as a firm in a
belief in yourself and what you are doing.
These are some of the thoughts and techniques that you also hear from the current
crop of Olympians in discussing their success
in their chosen sport.
For older players, the short game becomes even more critical because of the loss
of strength and ability to hit the ball as far—
so you need to make up for these deficiencies
with a better scoring ability by being able to
save strokes around the hole.
This book is an easy and interesting read
with some great antidotes from Dr. Rotella’s
many years of tutoring tour pros like Davis Love, III, Brad Faxon, Nick Price, Paul
Azinger, Trevor Immelman, Clarke, Harrington, David Toms, Scott Verplank, McDowell, Fred Funk Sean O’Hair, and Kite.
His clients have had unprecedented success
in golf, and since 1984, golfers coached by
Dr. Bob Rotella have won a total of 74 major
professional titles.
He has also worked as a personal consultant to the NBA, NFL, Major League
Baseball, NASCAR, U.S. Olympic Ski team,
U.S. Olympic Equestrian team, New York
Yankees, San Francisco 49ers, New Jersey
Nets, and Texas Rangers. Outside of the
sports world, Dr. Rotella has also been a
ńńńĴļĹijŃĮİĮŁĶļĻŀĺĮĴİļĺ
performance enhancement consultant to
numerous corporations, including Merrill
Lynch and Pepsico. As a teacher, Dr. Rotella has been selected as one of the top 10
golf teachers of the 20th Century and for 20
years directed the leading sports psychology
graduate program in the country at the University of Virginia.
From one end of the golf spectrum to
another, The Unstoppable Golfer can be of
benefit to just about every player. The seri-
ous, competitive golfer will find counsel that
will help him/her chart a course that will
make them the best player he can be. The
casual, weekend player will find thoughts and
ideas that will be immediately useful on the
course.
More information on The Unstoppable
Golfer and Dr. Rotella can be found at www.
drbobrotella.com
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