Jamaica golf vacation at Breezes Runaway Bay during Women's Golf Month!

Jamaica is an island nation where over one-million visitors vacation each year. Feelings conjured up when thinking about "Xaymaca" a.k.a. "land of wood and water" are tropical breezes against my skin, green fairways and, as the locals say, "Irie"!  Imagine the excitement I felt being selected as one of five women writers to travel on a fun-filled ladies golf getaway to Breezes Runaway Bay Resort Jamaica!

Since June is Women's Golf Month and the trip coincides with my birthday, this was an offer to graciously accept!

 Map of Jamaica

An early flight (only three hours) from New York to Montego Bay, will leave an entire day to get acquainted with the twenty-two acre, all-inclusive Breezes Runaway Bay Resort and Golf Club. On the northwest coast of Jamaica, MOBay is not only known for its natural beauty but also for it's vibrant nightlife, which, for those who read my golf vacation blogs, is one of the big three important items on my great vacation checklist: natural beauty, nightlife within reach, and, of course...great golf courses!


Breezes Jamaica is considered "super-inclusive", which means everything from food, drinks and land and water sports is included within the Runaway Bay beachfront property...NO tipping...which is good because my bathing suit doesn't have pockets!

 Breezes Runaway Bay Jamaica

Although there is no need to leave the resort, I have been offered a choice of excursions seen below.


Which would you choose?


·         “Encounter” or swim with dolphins

·         Dune Buggy Adventure

·         Zipline Canopy

·         River tubing

·         ATV Safari

Ask me and I will reveal my decision!


SuperClubs Golf Club at Runaway Bay, a PGA-quality golf course once home to the Heineken World Cup Western Hemisphere Qualifying Tournament and the Jamaica Open, is now connected to the resort through an underground tunnel. I will definitely be taking a video golf lesson, playing a few rounds and reporting on the amenities!

My plans also include my first Scuba lesson at the Gold Palm Five-Star PADI facility, putting on some outdoor gear and taking a hiking, and a spa treatment!


Although I'm going to get away from the daily grind for a few days, a WI-FI connection will keep pictures and updates of my activities at Jamaica Breezes Runaway Bay Resort flowing through Facebook, Twitter and through the Golf for Beginners blog so stay tuned.


Rest and relaxation for me this coming week are a hammock away.

Uribe Boosts South American Golf with HSBC Brasil Cup Win

With five years to go before Brazil hosts a golf's return to the Olympics, Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe gave the women’s game in South America a significant boost by winning the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup in Rio de Janeiro. Tim Maitland reports.

Mariajo Uribe, Winner of 2011 HSBC Brasil Cup



The twenty-one-year-old from Bucaramanga gained her first victory as a professional shooting a 9-under-par 135 for the US$720,000 two-round event at the Itanhanga Golf Club in the Barra de Tijuca district of Rio. Uribe, the 2007 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, won by a stroke from Australian Lindsey Wright who narrowly missed a seven-foot breaking putt to force a play-off.


“It’ll make a huge impact on South American golf, especially women’s golf. With the Olympics coming up we need a lot of representatives from South America, so I think it’s a big deal,” said Uribe, who enjoyed enormous local support during her six-under-par final round.


“That’s how Latin people are: It’s not only because I’m Colombian. If you play with passion and if you’re emotional on the course they support you, " Uribe confessed. "The Brazilian fans reacted to me as if I were one of their own.”


Uribe added that even though the tournament is not considered an official LPGA event win and the prize money doesn’t count on the tour’s money list, it is playing a significant role in a country that, despite its population of 200 million, only has 25,000 golfers.


“A lot of the kids I saw last year are training more because they met me and they have someone closer to relate with. I think my win is going to create a huge buzz,” Mariajo said.


The President of the South American Golf Federation (the Federacion Sudamericana de Golf) and of the Brazilian Golf Confederation (the Confederacao Brasileira de Golfe), Rachid Orra said Uribe’s victory was as significant to the region as Jhonattan Vegas’ victory at the Bob Hope Classic in January; even though Vegas’ win has single-handedly changed Venezuela president Hugo Chavez’s attitude to the sport.


“Symbolically it’s the same thing because it’s a girl that has beaten some of the best players in the world!” declared Orra.


“It’ll be all over the newspapers in Brazil that South America has one girl, and others, that can compete equally with some of the best players. It’s a great thing that one girl from South America has beaten some of the best players in the world. It’s very important for us. It’s an example for the young girls that want to play golf to see one girl from Colombia, a country like Brazil, can win a very important tournament. We are very happy. The coming of the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup was a very important step for us, taken three years ago. This is another one. Both are very, very, very important,” he explained.


Uribe’s victory is South America’s first at the LPGA level since Paraguay’s Julieta Granada scooped the million dollar jackpot at the ADT Championship in November 2006. The last Colombian win was Marisa Baena’s 2005 triumph as a complete outsider in the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship in 2005.


“Golf in Brazil and in the region is at such an embryonic stage that every step in the right direction, every little thing that gains attention and increases the interest to a broader audience, is of enormous importance,” said David Kotheimer, Deputy CEO and Vice Presidente of tournament sponsors HSBC Bank Brasil.


“The sport has been so energised here by its introduction to the Olympics and the prospect of its return in the 2016 Rio Games, but a ‘local’ win at the HSBC Brasil Cup will still play a substantial part in fanning those flames even more. This event really can be a catalyst, just as the WGC-HSBC Champions has been a catalyst for growth in China. That was the strategy behind investing here just as we have in Asia,” he added.


Relatively forgotten in the excitement was the performance of the thirty-one-year-old Wright, who was overjoyed at getting back into contention for a title for the first time since she finished runner-up at the LPGA Championship, one of the women’s Majors, in 2009.


“To finish second and to have a chance of winning was awesome; just for my confidence. I felt really pleased because I went for every shot. On the last hole I went for it, pulled off the shot and nearly holed the putt. I was happy to be in that position; really happy to get the nerves and that “Yeah! This is great!” feeling… and I haven’t had that feeling in a long time,” Wright said.


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HSBC LPGA Golf Stars Issue Olympic Rallying Call

Two of the world’s leading golfers landed in Rio for the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup with a simple message for the sport: “Next Stop: Olympics - Let’s grab this opportunity with both hands”, Tim Maitland reports.

World number two Suzann Pettersen and number four Cristie Kerr believe Rio 2016 represents a once in a lifetime chance for the sport to establish itself in a country where less than one in every eight thousand people currently play the game.

Less than a week after battling it out in the final of the Sybase Match Play Championship in New Jersey, Pettersen and Kerr sat on lounge chairs sipping glasses of fruit juice on Botafogo Beach, hoping it would be the last occasion they will have time to enjoy Rio de Janeiro’s sun-kissed sand.

“We’ve got five years before we return for the Olympics in Rio and the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup is the one foundation stone our sport has to build on,” said Pettersen, in the build up to this weekend’s two-day, limited-field event at the Itanhanga Golf Club.

“We can’t miss this opportunity!” declared the Norwegian, who was one of the team that successfully argued the case for golf’s return to the IOC two years ago.

“Sitting in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain is spectacular and Rio is stunning, but if we’re going to grasp the Olympic opportunity we have to continue to grow here. We’ve got the best field of women’s golfers Brazil has ever seen, so this week is already a success but we need to keep getting bigger,” added Kerr, aware that golf needs a bigger base than the 25,000 players among the estimated 200 million people who make up the world’s fifth most populous country and a nation that boasts one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world.

Kerr and Pettersen also spent time swapping tips on bunker play with children from the R&A-funded Japeri Project, a community programme that is developing over 100 young golfers from one of the poorer areas of the city.

“Both Brazil and golf needs the kind of top-and-bottom approach that we have traditionally taken with our golf sponsorships in Asia and around the rest of the world. The sport needs growth in number of participants and it needs to spread demographically,” said Giles Morgan, HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship.

“At the top end, the sport needs to grow its profile and to build the profile of the top players. Improving the quality of the leading international tournament in Brazil is one step and the steps are only going to get bigger the closer golf gets to the 2016 Olympics, especially with the rate Brazil’s economy is growing.”

Note: Columbia's Mariajo Uribe won the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup, which took place the weekend of 28th and 29th May. The Brazil Cup, an unofficial two day event, offered prize money of US$720,000 and attracted four Major champions and twelve LPGA tournament winners in the thirty player field. Uribe won by a single stroke over Lindsey Wright.

Photo Credit: TheGlobeandMail.com


For more information: www.lpgabrasil.com.br

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Five reasons why Tiger Woods should opt-out of the U.S. Open

Although Tiger Woods expects to play golf in the U.S. Open, is it a smart career and personal decision or should he opt-out?

Tiger admirably wants to compete (and win majors) and has made year-long commitments to fans and sponsors, but that did not stop Woods from opting out of the 2010 season. Here are five reasons why, if Tiger Woods hobbles away now from the U.S. Open, and perhaps for the remainder of 2011, he just might rebound stronger in 2012.

1. Physical recuperation. Tiger Woods needs to heal his injuries, period. If he keeps playing golf, he will continue to withdraw from golf tournaments before the final round. There are two more major Championships he can compete in if he nurtures his wounds now.


2. Prioritize. Tiger Woods needs to get his life in order. A divorce debacle which has followed him around (of his own doing), swing coach catfights, loss of endorsements and possible IMG management changes continue to plague the former world's number-one golfer. Tiger Woods is going to have to sort out his priorities, take out the "trash" and get his mind back into the game if he wants to achieve peak performance.

3. Mental recuperation. As important as physical recuperation, Tiger Woods needs to come back strong emotionally. Questions of mental toughness and whether or not Woods will ever dominate the sport are the fodder of golf journalists. Do they have a point?

Steve Siebold, author of the international best-seller "177 Mental Toughness Secrets of The World Class", says not only will Woods be back, he will regain his number-one ranking in time.  One reason? "Champions like Woods are professional failures. They know that success is based on a series of comebacks, and that setbacks are set-ups for comebacks."

4. Tiger needs to regain the respect of his fans. Why did Woods insist upon an openly apologetic press conference after his divorce? Why has he been tweeting, signing autographs, basically showing the softer side of Tiger? He longs for the backing of his fan base, a throng of cheers from the many who once thought Woods could do no wrong. The silence is deafening...

5. Woods needs to regain the respect of his peers if he is ever going to make a strong comeback. In the old days, when Tiger Woods was in the field, he was respected and feared. Players in the top position of a tournament would see Woods coming from behind and would stumble a bit, worried that he was going to make a charge...and they were right.

His fellow playing partners are talking and they're no longer worried...the Tiger mystique is gone.

Stewart Cink summarized why Woods should opt-out now for a strong comeback.  "His personal struggles off the course, and the rough patch he’s still going through, it’s eaten away at his belief."

“Before this happened, he never believed he wasn’t going to win," Cink continued. "I guess it’s just hard to keep that up forever.”


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photo credit: GregsGreens.com

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Getting a grip on technology using golf gloves?

Is it considered an unfair advantage during a round to improve your grip with the help of a golf glove?

The meaning of "bionic", as defined by Dictionary.com is "utilizing electronic devices and mechanical parts to assist humans in performing difficult, dangerous, or intricate tasks, as by supplementing or duplicating parts of the body."

 

The Six Million Dollar Man was recreated after an accident with technologically advanced replacement parts to help give him a superhuman advantage...to run faster and jump higher in order to rid the world of undesirables.

 

Claims in a press release issued by the Bionic® golf glove company stated that their glove is a "piece of game-improvement equipment and not just a golf accessory or apparel item."

 

"The biggest difference is felt when you play a round with Bionic, " said the release. "Research at the renowned Pinehurst Golf Academy showed that most golfers who used Bionic gloves gained six yards of driving distance."

 

Although the golf glove conforms with USGA rules, would I feel comfortable playing golf against someone who used the Bionic Glove in order to gain an advantage? Golf club manufacturers tout their use of game improvement technology for the average player so why not use a golf glove to do the same?

 

While there are golfers using the Bionic Golf Glove during a round, players are also practicing with the new SensoGlove, "the World's First Digital Golf Glove" to give feedback on grip pressure, "in real time."

The SensoGlove is being used as a training aid by PGA Instructors to help stave off the dreaded "death grip". The golf glove has built-in digital sensors which gives feedback of the grip in real time, right down to the sensitivity of each finger on the golf club! The only problem that I see with this technology is that, during practice, players tend to be less agitated so their grip doesn't necessarily reflect the same nerves as during play, no matter how much one tries to recreate it!

 

Arnold Palmer said his father "put my grip on the golf club when I was six years old and he said, 'Boy, don't you ever change it.' Well, I haven't changed it."

"Your hands are your only physical link with the tools of the game," Palmer relates. "If they don’t transmit your energy properly to the club and thence to the ball, you won’t hit much of a shot."

Instead of using technological enhancements to improve this aspect of a golfer's game, wouldn't simple consistent grip practice make perfect?

 

You can decide for yourself if either golf glove is right for you by visiting the Bionic and SensoGlove websites.

 

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Golf tips and Acupuncture to help prevent injuries and improve your swing!

Age, repetition of common motion, stress, tension and desk jobs can inhibit flexibility and range of motion, which directly impacts a golfer’s game and leads to sub-par performance. 

Dwayne Lee L.Ac , acupuncturist, avid golfer and specialist in golf-related injuries at PLACE360 Health + Spa in Del Mar, CA., helps golfers enhance flexibility in order to gain range of motion and rotation.

In conjunction with Place360, Dwayne has sent me a list of Six Health Tips to Improve Your Golf Game:

1. Flexibility: Most golf related injuries can be avoided by keeping muscle and connective tissue warm and pliable. Crucial are low back, hips, shoulders and upper torso. Take a fifteen minute pre-round stretch to avoid having to take weeks off the course due to back strain.

2. Strengthening core/abdominal and the big upper leg muscles will prevent undue stress on the back and arms. Keep the center tight and the centrifugal force of your swing will be safer and more powerful.

3. Avoid tendonitis. Don't over-squeeze. Keeping the hands and forearms soft until ball impact will reduce strain on the joints of your elbows and wrists. Let your muscles do the work to avoid the dreaded tennis or golfer's elbow.

4. Not enough time to stretch? Are you running to the tee box? Then schedule an appointment with a trained massage specialist a day or two before your round to keep tight muscles loose and address problem areas before they complicate into bigger problems. This may be especially important on golf vacations or in tournaments when your body starts to tighten up after several rounds. Most golf resorts offer spa services for men and women with varying body types.

5. Balance is key. There are sets of acupuncture points on the hands and feet that can create better balance and muscle sequencing. These points can be stimulated with magnetic pellets or tiny tacks that will adhere to your skin for an entire round, helping you stay on plane and over the ball or better accuracy and better impact.

6.  Acupuncture is also great to keep connective tissue pliable and healthy as well as reduce inflammation of joints from repetitive overuse. Super fine needles are non-painful and are strategically placed to release spasmed and stubborn muscles. Acupuncture is also proven to be especially helpful for joint problem areas in the wrists, ankles, knees, elbows, back or neck.

Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that is thousands of years old and involves inserting and manipulating needles into various points in your body to relieve pain and help restore the balance of yin and yang.

The Golf Series package at PLACE360 Health + Spa was designed to increase or maintain a golfer’s flexibility while improving power and the overall game. A combination of acupuncture, massage and relaxation techniques help get golfers back out on the course while lowering their handicap.  

Although I have never tried acupuncture, it has been in practice for thousands of years. Seeing that KJ Choi has met with some success using acupuncture...I'm open to discussion!

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