Post / Regram Your #KAVUTFAVS to Win a $100 Gift Card!

HOW TO PLAY & RULES:

● Post / Regram a Photo of your Favourite Piece from @KAVUTcom or KAVUT.com 
● Must Follow and Tag @KAVUTcom on Instagram
● Use the Official Contest Hashtag #kavutfavs
● Tell us How You Will Style Your Favourite Piece When You Wear It


The winner will be determined by the photo that receives the most likes!


Contest runs July 1st - 4th, 2016


GOOD LUCK!


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Spring Contest Winner: Run

by Guest Blogger

We’re very proud to publish this story by Maia D. Thomlinson, which won the grand prize of $300 in the 2016 Spring Writing Contest with wordhaus literary magazine. You can see all the stories from the writing contest here. Congratulations, Maia! Also, don’t forget to sign up for our 5th Anniversary Writing Contest, which opened this week.

Run. Run. Run.

As light bleeds into this endless plane, I run towards the rising sun.

I run from destruction, from my own pounding heart. Gun shots fire. Still, I run.

Pressed tight up against my chest, my baby brother whimpers. The tall grass grabs for his tiny, bare feet, and I clutch him tighter still. This precious cargo is all I have left; no more family, no village, no home.

“Mama,” he whispers, and tugs at my braid.

“I’m sorry,” I pant, racing on.

There’s no time to think, no time for tears. We’re refugees now, on the run.

“Mama,” his voice is louder this time.

“I know,” a tear rolls down my cheek.

I can’t tell him, not yet, not now. He’s so young, he won’t understand.

“Mama,” he cries, but I have no words.

All I can do is run.

***

Angry shouts and hammering footsteps grow soft as the men fall behind. Perhaps soldiers tire of chasing such worthless quarry.  

The midday sun sits high in the sky when the only breath I hear is my own.

We’re alone, the thought pops into my mind, at last, they’ve given up.  

My aching feet refuse to stop. Forever, I could run.

Run from my problems, run from the pain . . .

Mama always swore I could run for days.

Mama.

All adrenaline leaves my body in a rush that leaves me gasping for air; I can no longer see where I should step, but my feet fail care. The savannah swims before me in a blurry pool of thirsty grass. I stumble a moment longer before my cargo and I collapse, on the ground in a heap.

No, you must keep running, Asha—you’ve got a promise to keep.

Feebly, I attempt to push myself back up to my knees.  

One inch, two inches . . . My baby brother chooses this moment to speak.

“Mama,” he shouts in my ear. He’s impatient. He isn’t even three.

“MAMA’S DEAD!” I scream, falling back on my arm.

There is no more fight left in me.

The boy begins to sob as if he understood my words.

“Oh, Rahim,” I murmur, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean . . .” I stop. I can’t lie anymore—it’s true.

Helpless, I watch the memory unfold before my eyes, forced to relive each horror a second time.

It was still night when they came to burn our village and take our people, our homes; maybe they believed if they acted under darkness, the shadows would hide their crimes. How is it fair to attack when everyone sleeps, lulled by false pretense of peace?

Someone shakes my shoulders, hard. Mama, just five more minutes.

Smoke fills my lungs, then the gun shots begin—with each crack, I jump, wide-awake.

“Mama?” Rahim is stirring.

“Shhhhh . . . Mama’s here . . .”

With a fierce hug, she places him in my arms.

“Asha,” her gaze is solemn. I cough, shake my head, confused. “I love you, don’t ever forget that.” She kisses my forehead, pulls away. “It’s time now, you must go.”

I whip my head from side to side. “I can’t leave, not without you—I WON’T!”

“Yes, you will.”

She stands to usher me off, and that’s when the bullet finds its mark.

Her shirt grows red. She falls to her knees.

“NO!” I’m frozen inside.

A woman so strong, so selfless, so kind to all who knew her well—she crumples, an imploding star, a brilliant super nova.

“Run, Asha. Run!”

These are the last words that leave her mouth. I turn away.

Where can I hide?

Another bullet whizzes an inch over my head.

You can’t.

You must run. Run. Run.

***

I lie on my back concealed by grass, and watch the clouds float by. There is no sound but for Rahim’s raspy breaths; he fell asleep when he ceased to cry.

The sun nearly touches the horizon, and I have no thoughts for what to do for the night. Rahim must be hungry, but there is no food. I am numb in the fading light.

Then I hear it—footsteps crash nearby. I tense, now on high alert.  

Don’t move, don’t breathe, don’t make a sound, maybe they’ll fail to notice you here.

Earth quakes beneath my head, and the thunder slowly grows louder.

I squeeze my eyes shut, clutch Rahim tight.

Cool metal presses into my forehead. An eternity passes in silence.

Please don’t, I pray, don’t let me die.

“Ehsan,” a rough voice barks across the plane; my heart jumps into my throat. “Did you find something there, or what?”

I blink, I stare, I challenge the soldier inspecting my face. Do you have any humanity left?

Unsure, he bites his lip.

Rahim stirs on my chest, stretches a tiny hand up to tug at my braid.

“Mama?” he whispers.

My own hand trembles against my leg.

“Ehsan?”

In a sudden swift movement, the young man pushes himself to attention. “Nothing here, sir.” He coughs, looking down at his boot. “Just a dead squirrel, is all, sir.”

“Well, then,” the voice is sharp, “you better stop wasting my time. Move on.”

“Sir, yes sir.”

I am a statue, perfectly still, until the two voices fade into the twilight.

“Rahim,” I breathe, “the Merciful. You saved us today, you did.”

I lift him up to watch his tiny face. Inexplicably, he giggles. “Asha!”

I roll to my feet with the boy in my arms, turn to nod at the sun, turn away, and run.

I am not running away this time.

Towards hope, forever I will run.

Run, run, run.

The post Spring Contest Winner: Run appeared first on The Write Practice.

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SERIES: An Insider’s Look at Modern Club Design – Part 4

Marketing Influences vs. R&D Capabilities in Golf

By: Bob Renegar

So we’ve talked about the three tiers of OEM’s with their respective R&D capabilities and challenges. The question is, how well does the business of golf equipment sales reflect the realities of R&D capabilities - aka what products really are the best.

Truth be told, not so well.  

The marketing influences in golf can be stronger than the best product integrity and R&D – we would be naive consumers to think otherwise.

What About the OEMs and the Pro Tour Players?

Despite golf equipment being the tools the Pro Tour player uses to make his living, most Tour players know surprisingly little about their equipment (there are clearly some exceptions).  These guys could help themselves so much if they just got more studious about it, and put the equipment variable to work for them as an advantage.

The truth is, though, these players are so good they can hit just about anything you give them. The equipment advantages for them are smaller than they are for the rest of us, but still significant and largely unexplored – they could be significant enough to be the difference between winning and a top 10 finish. They will figure it out sooner or later.

The Tour Player will generally play whatever product his contract sponsor brand gives him and fits it into his game with a launch monitor optimization for the driver-shaft configuration, then put his shaft preference and “set-up” specs into his irons. At this level, the Tour Operations personnel (acting as custom builders and fitters) are critical for each getting the most from the other. It all happens in the Tour Trailers next to the driving range at each event site and in the OEM’s R&D labs.  

Beyond that, for the Tour players, equipment choices may be about looks or feel, but there may also be other “incentives” that are on the table for the player to use some particular equipment - perhaps whatever pays the best.

Offer They Can't Refuse

There is not much said about it because it exposes the politically incorrect “profit motive” in professional golf, but would you believe that some Tour players are paid tens of thousands of dollars annually just put a putter in play? With a “bonus pool” at year’s end for uninterrupted usage? Or even more to put a driver in play? Did you really think they used them because they thought they worked best?

How can we blame them? They are all self-employed. They go to work every day with NO guarantee of a pay day. In fact, nearly half of them on any given week go home with empty pockets (in terms of money winnings).

Ever heard of a PGA Tour “bonus pool” or other player incentives?

Behind the Curtain

Players have various types of contracts with their major OEM sponsors. A few marquis players will have “full bag” contracts where they are obligated to play products only from their sponsor, but these deals are fewer nowadays. More often, we see deals for a bag and driver or bag and irons and hat, and the player is “open” on whatever is left.

Truth is, practically every part of the player’s equipment can be a “pay for play” contract. These deals are cut over drinks or in the agent’s office or over the phone, but any given player will most likely have several significant and many lesser deals for equipment usage, and they are probably all quite different.

“Deals” come in many forms. They might range from fixed annual contracts at any scale to a one week deal to wear a hat or play a putter. There are Win-Place-Show pure incentives and “win bonuses”, and there is even weekly “tee up” money with “bonus pools” for play over extended periods – usually for the season. There are driver deals, ball deals, putter deals, glove deals, hat deals, apparel deals, bag deals, car deals, watch deals – you name it, anything goes.

I have seen in years past checks passed out on the driving range and in the locker room, but that is rarely the case any longer, because it does not look good. It is more about quarterly wire transfers nowadays.

The weekly Darrell Survey tracks this contract compliance on Thursday of each week’s competition and reports it to the OEMs who pay for subscriptions to the Darrell report each week. What happens in any given player’s bag after Thursday is often quite interesting too, as sometimes a player’s equipment may change for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday play.

These same “deals” also exist on all the other Tours, but they are predictably for lesser amounts and are fewer in number – an obvious function of marketing value-added and visibility.

Undue Influence

Yet there persists this extraordinary influence of the Pro Tours on sales and marketing with the golf consumer – the impact of the old golf biz truism that “what wins on Sunday sells on Monday”. Is it not time we got beyond Pro Tour player usage validations being the ultimate seal of approval for a golf club design the recreational player cannot hit anyway?  

Instead give me objective testing and data using skilled recreational players! 

And yet, I can hardly recall ANY equipment successes in my career that were not preceded with Tour usage. If you want to sell premium golf equipment, you must still validate it on the Pro Tours.

And therein lies the true value of a Pro Tours Program for the equipment manufacturer, because it does still make a difference to what is sold on Monday. Witness the website reporting on Mondays regarding “what’s in the bag” for the winners from the day before . . . and what sells in the golf shops during the week that follows.  

What is the Golf Media’s Role in All of This?

In my view the golf media has been extraordinarily disappointing for the golf consumer, as they muse and reflect upon the new equipment offerings that appear in the market place each season and then award them “stars” or “gold medals”.  They really aren't helping us much in making better equipment selections to improve our golf games.  And their reporting has evolved very little over the years with improved sophistication for their equipment reviews (except now they have web sites and videos).

Should the media equipment evaluations instead be more quantitative and objective? Should they be geared specifically for the consumer? Should these equipment evaluations be free from the influences of media advertising dollars?  

Practically no one in the media is giving us anything more than “stars” or “medals” as quantitative feedback! And worse, they keep talking about “feel” or cosmetics instead of comparing quantifiable performance measurements... but that day may be coming soon.

The golf media is for the most part failing in their responsibility to the golfer-consumer to test and report objectively which golf equipment offerings actually work better. Counting qualitative “stars” from consumer test panels is hardly a meaningful quantitative performance evaluation, especially since most clubs get all the available stars anyway.  

The business reality for most of the golf media, though, is that their operating revenue comes largely from advertising dollars. It would take some very principled reporting indeed to risk judging your largest advertiser’s product as a mediocre performer.

The ultimate impact that the Internet will have on golf equipment sales is yet to be determined. Fitting complicates most “consumer direct” sales strategies from the OEMs, as does the consumer’s desire to “feel” and hit the club prior to purchasing it. But the pervasiveness of selling directly to the consumer with other consumer products is obvious – it will in time find a place in golf.

A Better Way Forward

The most valuable impact of the Internet to golf equipment may ultimately be as a source of truly objective and quantitative performance evaluations for new products – ultimately forcing the OEMs to do a better job with new product development.

The longstanding void of objective quantitative performance evaluations for the consumer (with appropriate performance parameters) will in due course be filled. And the great influence of the Pro Tours and a sycophantic media on equipment sales will, over time, diminish.

New equipment “authorities” are appearing (particularly on the web), but performance parameters and criteria will need to become more standardized for each different product category so that they ultimately translate to lower scores.  

Qualitative Media BS is of little value – quantitative and objective data are required with meaningful performance measurements.

Maybe You Should Think About It Too . . .

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11 Ways To Motivate Your Kids To Exercise More Often

Motivating kids to do something that’s actually good for them can be a handful; try telling them to eat the green healthy vegetables they so meticulously pick out and put aside. Yea, you know where that one’s headed! Well, it is possible, you’re just going to have to be a tad bit clever with that and you can still manage to get the natural goodness of veggies into their systems.

But what about exercise?

The unfortunate reality is that kids rarely get the ‘healthy for you’ talk, and are more inclined towards doing things that are unhealthy – or fun. Not that unhealthy things are fun, but you probably get the point. So how exactly do you go about motivating your kids to do some sort of physical exercise as often as possible?

11 Ways to Motivate Your Kids to Exercise More Often

#1) Start small

That’s the key to it all. Trying to do too much, too soon can often end up being more discouraging as opposed to motivating. And this is one mistake that a number of parents end up making. For your kids, running 10 laps around the block might sound like a lot, but if you tell them to start with just a couple of meters, they’ll like the idea even more and they will eventually increase their threshold as time goes by. But if you’re going to overburden them in the start, they’re going to hate exercising just like they hate doing other household chores.

#2) Make them walk the dog

Walking is one of the best exercises to keep your mind and body active throughout the entire day. Not to mention, it’s great for musculoskeletal health and for decreasing the early onset of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. But you know how kids feel about walking – most of them don’t even like to walk to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water for themselves. So how do you motivate your kids to adopt this exercise? Well, if you’ve got a dog, then it’s pretty simple; just ask them to take the dog out for a walk and mission accomplished. Make them do it more often. Besides, even the dog could use a stroll outdoors to empty its digestive tract.

#3) Timing is crucial

Time is a big reason; if you get the timing right, you might not even have to press your kids so much to exercise. Kids usually have a favorite show or two on TV and they’re more than unwilling to move from in front of the idiot box when their favorite show is on air. Obviously, if you’re going to tell them to do anything let alone exercise during that time, they’re not going to be happy about it. Sacrifice is an important lesson to teach your kids, but you should pick a time for their exercise or fitness routine that doesn’t clash with other activities of theirs. Pick a time for a light workout when you know they won’t resist; like right after dinner, or after school?

#4) Don’t limit your ideas

Ok, so exercise isn’t just walking and working out at the gym; at least not for kids. If you want to motivate your kids into adopting a healthy lifestyle and pick up exercise more regularly, you need to add some variety to the mix so that fitness regimes don’t end up feeling and looking like a military dictatorship. Adults often forget that playing too is a form of exercise. If you make them walk the dog one day, play a game of soccer with them the next. And stacking could be the third. For kids, exercise isn’t and shouldn’t be about the gym alone; as long as it gets them moving and working some, if not all of their muscles, it’s good.

It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.

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#5) Phone-a-friend

If you need an extra hand in the motivation department, feel free to invite one of your kid’s friends for a hike. When they know that their friend(s) is coming, they’ll be even more excited and motivated. You could even use this as an opportunity to get to know your kid’s social circle even better by inviting their entire family.

#6) Track everyone’s progress

In fact, this has to be one of the best motivational techniques ever. Set fitness and exercise goals for the entire family, keep a calendar separately for this purpose and mark everyone’s progress on it. That way, everyone knows what everyone’s up to and where they stand. Watching others progress is a great way to induce motivation especially if your kids have the competitive gene in themselves.

#7) Connect with nature

Another way to motivate your kids to exercise more often and thus live living healthy lifestyles is by getting them to connect with nature. Be it spending more time outside of home away from technology or connecting with nature in a more literal sense by indulging In outdoor yoga, the more your kids embrace nature, the closer they’ll get to it. And it wouldn’t be long before they realize how important it is to make healthy choices in life. Not only will they be motivated to love healthy, they’ll also want to eat healthy and exercise more. If not for nature, then at least do it or a cause. Is your family a bunch of couch potatoes? Well, tell them that things are about to change!

#8) The Five Minute Warning

If you’re having difficulties in getting your kids to commit to exercising, motivate them by saying that they only have to give you five minutes – which is actually long enough for anyone to break a small sweat. However, the trick is that it never ends at five. In fact, a five-minute routine usually ends up turning into more than ten, which is better. Do that a couple of times and they’ll be used to it before you even know it; you wouldn’t even have to motivate them with the five-minute line the next time.

Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you can’t get more time. – Jim Rohn

Click to tweet

#9) Make a schedule

Once your kids are getting the hang of exercise, making a weekly schedule is going to motivate them even more. Like adults, kids too respond better to a structured schedule; it just takes them a little longer to get used to it. You might want to set a date and time for the planned exercise and write it on the family calendar – if you’ve worked on one that is.

#10) Let them pick

In fact, if there’s a particular sport or exercise your kid enjoys, try doing that more often; let them be the decision makers for once. That way, they’ll be more motivated to take part and you wouldn’t have to spend a good fifteen minutes trying to convince them over the benefits of exercise. So if your kid likes bicycling give them some care instructions on cycling and let them ride. You could even ask your kids to take charge of the family fitness program for a week. That would build their interest even further simply by being in an authoritative position. Everyone likes to play boss after all!

#11) Bring in some competition

Competitions are always a great motivator especially when it’s the parents vs. kids types. You’re obviously going to win, but if you want to motivate your kids to work harder in achieving exercise and fitness goals, and work harder in general when faced with a challenge in life, it’s the idea of keeping ahead of their competition that’s going make them successful in the long run!

Author Bio: Zyana Morris

Zyana Morris is a passionate health and lifestyle blogger who loves to write about prevailing trends. She is a featured author at various authoritative blogs in the health and lifestyle industry.  You can find her using twitter @ZyanaMorris

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3 Ways to Strengthen Your Doors

There are many precautions you can take to boost your home security and ensure that your home is safer. In this short post we’ll cover 3 simple and effective ways to strengthen your doors, including: reinforcing the strike plate, improving the locks and securing your door hinges.

Image Source: Flickr

Reinforcing the Strike Plate
To further reinforce the doorjamb, install a new plate in place of the old lip strike plate that serves the doorknob lockset. Attach it with 3-in. screws. Make sure the screwheads seat flush with the face of the strike plate. We used No. 8 x 3-in. screws. No. 10 x 3-in. screws (used for the deadbolt plate) were too large. Remember to angle the screws back slightly to be sure to catch the framing (Figure A). Again, you may have to chisel a slightly larger mortise and predrill to drive the screws.
Remove the lockset’s lip strike plate and 3/4-in. screws. Predrill and attach a new plate with No. 8 x 3-in. screws that are angled in slightly to catch the stud. Predrill with a 1/8-in. bit. Source: FamilyHandyman

Improving the Locks
In a significant percentage of burglaries, the criminal enters the victim’s home through an unlocked door. Even the strongest locks in the world are useless if you don’t use them. Lock all exterior doors whenever you go out – even if you’ll just be gone a few minutes.
Install deadbolt locks. With the exception of sliding doors, all exterior doors should have a deadbolt lock in addition to the lock built into the doorknob. The deadbolt should be high quality (grade 1 or 2, solid metal with no exposed screws on the exterior), with a throw bolt (the bolt that comes out of the door) at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) long. The lock should be properly installed. Many homes have lower quality deadbolts or throw bolts less than 1 inch (2.5 cm). These must be replaced.
Install a dead-lock. Adding an additional lock will provide extra security when you are home. The dead-lock, sometimes called an ‘exit-only deadbolt’ is a deadbolt that does not have an external key. It may be clearly visible on the door from the outside, but it cannot be broken into without destroying the door, frame, or lock itself. While this security won’t help directly when you aren’t home, its visibility may discourage an intruder from trying the door. Source: wikiHow

Securing Door Hinges
The hinges of a door are an essential part of the door that connects the door to the jamb. Most residential doors have hinges that are inward facing, because the door opens up inwards. Most of these standard residential doors can withstand attacks against the hinges of the door because burglars and intruders cannot gain access to them. However, not all doors work in the same fashion. For doors that open outwards, the hinges are usually placed on either the left or right of the doors exterior and this they are easily accessible by whoever is on the outside. If the hinges on your door are compromised, it will be relatively easy for burglars to knock your door of the hinges and gain entry to your home.
The hinges of your door can be secured by using safety studs, corrugated pins, and by using setscrews in your hinges. These are all minor additions to your hinges, which will go a long way to help strengthen your door and keep your family safe. The additions are simple and effective but because of how important the hinges are to the door, it is best to make sure that nothing goes awry and that your doors are made as secure as possible. Source: SafeWise

 

Contact:
Mr. Locksmith
555 W. Hastings St
L21A
Vancouver BC V6B 4N4
(604) 259-2953

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Why Your Character’s Childhood Dreams Matter

by Ruthanne Reid

Hi, everyone! I have the flu this week, so today’s post will not be a long one. I have a question for you to ask your characters, regardless if they’re good or bad: what did they want to be when they grew up?

Here’s why it’s important to know the answer to this question.

“When I Grow Up”: Your Character’s Childhood Dreams Matter

We often struggle to create realistic characters; they don’t always seem believable. We can usually recognize characters that feel two-dimensional, but we don’t always know why. I’d like to submit that one of the primary reasons we have trouble with characterization is we rarely ask ourselves how our characters got where they are.

People don’t simply appear in their current condition, with beliefs and biases, scars and senses of humor, and all the details that pile together to create the construct of “self.” The combination of nature (your natural inclinations) and nurture (the environment in which you matured) combine to create the essential you. Well, your characters work the same way.

“

To create believable characters, find out how your characters got where they are.

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What Did Your Character Want to Be?

With very few exceptions, all characters had a childhood. What did your character want to be when they grew up? When they were young, what seemed like the best future path? What job did they want? What skills did they crave? What misconceptions did they have about that job?

“

What did your characters want to be when they grew up?

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I, for example, wanted to be an astronaut, but I also have a learning disability that affects my math skills. No math skills = no astronaut future for me.

That was actually a hard thing to accept, but it also defined my identity. Knowing I couldn’t “do” science-stuff led me to focus more on the arts, which led to taking pride in my creative ability and identifying myself as “a creative.”

That affected my choice of friends, my choice of college, my choice of reading material, and my everyday confidence. Once I self-identified as a “nerd” (i.e. geek, weirdo, strange), I altered my life’s path.

Your character’s childhood dreams work the same way. The success or failure of that dream (along with developing tastes or changing morals) is part of the journey that brought your characters to their place in your story.

And now, it’s your turn.

What did your characters want to be when they grew up? Let me know in the comments.

PRACTICE

Take fifteen minutes and list your characters, then figure out what they wanted to be when they grew up. If you have time left, start thinking about whether they succeeded, and how that success or failure affected the rest of their lives. Post your practice in the comments below!

The post Why Your Character’s Childhood Dreams Matter appeared first on The Write Practice.

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Premier Fitness Systems – 5 Pre-Round Stretches You Should Stop Doing Right Now

How do YOU warm up before a round or a range session?

These days most avid golfers know that a 12 oz. beer curl isn't going to get it done, which is certainly progress. But even if you're a hardcore believer in stretching and warming up, you need to ask yourself a question - are you doing it correctly?

If you're like many of the golfers we see twisting and wrenching on the range or even on the first tee, sorry, you're probably doing it wrong.

The truth is, so many golfers are doing more harm than good with their warm-up routines. Misguided stretches or good stretches that are executed improperly can damage the tendons and muscles that you are targeting. So not only are you not priming the body for a great round in the short-term, you could be doing long-term damage to your body and golf game.

What if you had a safer warm-up routine that yields better results? That's where Premier Fitness Systems comes in. Today Andrew Hannon from PFS will show you 5 of most common stretches that he sees - and wishes he didn't - golfers doing on an everyday basis.

For each dubious stretch, Andrew provides a superior alternative that will maximize the benefit of your warm-up session and minimize the chance of harm.

For each of the movements discussed, we've queued up the video to the relevant portion, but by all means, feel free to watch the full video.

5 stretches you should stop doing before you play

By: Andrew Hannon

As a golf fitness specialist I want to make sure that I practice what I preach. Before I play a round or go to the range for a practice session, I want to make sure my body is ready for the stress and torque I’m about to put on it due to the mechanics of the golf swing. When I take 10-15 minutes to go through stretches before I even touch a club, I get a lot of weird looks. Maybe because I’m giving the same look back when I see majority of the players on the range taking 2 minutes to do a few static stretches or not even warm-up at all. When I do see players “stretch” there are 5 moves I see most often, and golfers should stop doing NOW.

Let's take a look at some of the mistakes golfers make along with some better alternatives that will help you get loose and ready to play before your next round.

Bend Over Toe Touch

The bend over toe touch is something we learned to do in gym class, and there are variety ways to perform this stretch. The problem with it is that the majority of the population does not know how to hinge from their hips properly, which defeats the purpose of the stretch entirely.

The bend over toe touch should target the hamstrings when done the correct way, but a lot of golfers I see have too much flexion at the thoracic and lumbar spine (mid and lower back), usually causing stress in the back of the knees where ligaments attach.

Here's a better alternative. This movement is more dynamic, safer, and the staggered position teaches the golfer to hinge properly.  

(Before performing these movements, make sure you are monitored by a professional to make the correct cues, and have no previous injuries to the target area.)

Behind the Neck, Club Twisting

This is probably the number one move I see majority of golfers go to. The problem with this stretch is that placing the golf club behind your neck locks the shoulders in a bad position, forcing you to create rotation from the lumbar spine.

The proper mechanics of the golf swing do include some lumbar rotation, but most of the rotation comes from the thoracic spine, shoulders, and lower body separation coming from the ground up.

Here is a more effective warm-up to prevent the lower back from flaring up and its more specific to the golf swing.

Standing Static Quad Stretch

This is another stretch that we learned to do in gym class, and one that I actually don't mind... when it's done correctly.

Often I see golfers having a tough-enough time trying to grab their ankle with their hand. Even for those who can effortless grab the ankle, there are better alternatives.

Quadriceps have a big impact on the golf swing and are one of the strongest muscle groups in the body, but for proper function of the swing, warming up the hips and glutes is more important. In Tiger Woods' words, if the “glutes aren’t firing” then more stress is targeted to the lower back.

This alternative movement utilizes a golf cart (I’m just using support bars in the studio as an example) to help support the body while standing on one leg.

Cross Body Shoulder Stretch

Another fan favorite, this time for the upper body. I actually do use this stretch myself, but I see many golfers putting their shoulder in a bad position.

During the golf swing, the lead shoulder does go into internal rotation across the body, but majority of the time that’s not the part of the body you need to get loose.

The alternative is a movement that helps with creating more turn during the backswing while producing a good stretch for the thoracic spine, lats and shoulder rotators, which helps with the full swing.  

Hands behind lower back, swinging hips move

Yes this is actually a move I have seen, multiple times.. Golfer walks up to the range straight out of the car, grabs a driver and starts swinging away. 5 swings later the back tightens up, they grab their lower back with both hands, and start swaying their hips to stretch it out.

So let’s stretch the back, right? Nope. The back usually flares up due other joints not being ready to move, so compensation in other joints and muscles turn on to protect the body.

Here's an easy hip movement to get blood flowing to the right joints so the hips can prepare to move the right way, so the back doesn’t do all of the work.

Bottom Line

The golf swing is not a normal movement and it creates a lot of torque and stress on the body. Wasting 3 minutes on some mediocre stretches might be doing more harm than good for not only your body but also your golf swing. Take the time to not only stretch, but stretch the right way.

For more stretches and movements that will improve your golf game, check out the Premier Fitness Systems Website and Premier Fitness Systems on YouTube.

You can find me on Twitter and Instagram.

Based in Scottsdale, Arizona PFS offers great online training programs for golfers everywhere.

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Golf Geeks – Fairway Wood CG Locations Revealed

By: Tony Covey

Within literal hours, I think, of the first time we published driver CG data, we began fielding requests for similar data for fairway woods. Because you guys asked for it, and because we think it's generally good info regardless, today we're providing that information.

Which Fairway CG Location is Right for You?

Like drivers (and pretty much every club in the bag), there's no single fairway wood CG location that's ideal for every golfer. And even when your swing characteristics dictate a theoretical ideal, there's no guarantee it will actually work for you. An aggressive swinger with a negative angle of attack has a high probability of fitting into forward CG driver. With fairway woods, it's less cut and dry.

One R&D contact inside one of the major OEMs we work with often believes there's a bit less science in fairway woods fittings. Regardless of the golfers swing characteristics, golfers to who struggle to hit fairways woods well, or need the proverbial help getting the ball in the air will often see better performance from rear CG clubs, while competent fairway wood players will often see better results with more forward CG offerings.

As with everything else, your actual mileage may very.

Required Reading

Before we get to the charts, let's make sure we're all good with our fundamentals.

For those of you who are stumbling across our CG charts for the first time, you should know that these charts are an excellent resource for comparing arguably the most important element of metalwood design (CG location) between different manufacturers and models. Having this information at your fingertips can help you identify the clubs that are most likely to perform well for you. Of course, before you can leverage our info you will need to understand a bit about what you're looking at.

If Center of Gravity or CG, the Neutral Axis, or any of the other terminology in our charts is new to you, before digging in any deeper, I would encourage you to check out any and all of our previous posts on the topic.:

• Golf Geeks - How Center of Gravity Makes a Huge Difference
• 2015 Driver CG Data
• 2016 Driver CG Data & 2016 Driver CG Update

About the Charts

Included in the charts below is Center of Gravity location data for 21 fairway woods released in 2015 and 2016. We've created a set of consistent filters across all of the charts that will allow you to filter by Model Year, Manufacturer, or Model Name. You can select as many or as few fairways as you like. Clicking on a model name from the list below the charts will highlight only that model.

Clicking on any dot on the chart itself will reveal more data tied to that model.

ATTENTION MOBILE USERS: We've done what we can to make these charts more accessible for mobile users, however, if you are on a mobile device, you're going to want to rotate your phone to landscape mode.

Lie, Loft, and Head Weight

Before we get to the CG stuff, let's first take a look at our basic measurements for loft, lie, and weight. For obvious reasons, loft matters, but what about lie angle?

Lie angle contributes to the starting direction of your shot. Guys who start the ball too far right may benefit from a more upright lie angle, while guys who start it too far left will often benefit from a flatter lie angle.

The chart also compares actual measured loft to the stamped loft, which gives us an indication of which companies do the most vanity lofting, and which come closest to aligning actual loft with stated loft.

Finally, we should mention that each of the clubs measured is designated as a 3 Wood by its manufacturer.

Observations

• While the actual loft of the majority of samples tested is reasonably close to the stamped loft, it's not unusual, particularly in models designed to be easy to hit for lofts to be a degree or more above the stated number
• At just over 221 grams, TaylorMade's M1 is the heaviest head measured, while Callaway's Big Bertha V-Series (208.1g) is the lightest
• The Nike Vapor Fly has the most upright lie angle we measured
• The Big Bertha Alpha 815 has the flattest lie angle of any fairway measured. Callaway's Alpha 816 is the flattest of the 2016 models

Front to Back CG (CG YZ)

The chart below shows the front to back Center of Gravity locations of the fairways measured relative to face center. As we've discussed previously, both low CG and rear CG will generally increase dynamic loft which leads to increased launch angle, while high and forward CGs will decrease dynamic loft (on a comparative basis) and ultimately launch angle.

Heads with CGs located farther back are generally easier to square at impact, and are often billed as being easier to hit, or easier to get in the air.

Observations

• The four most forward CG fairway woods are all produced by TaylorMade
• Not surprisingly, PING's models all have relatively rear CGs; however, Cobra, Callaway, PXG each have offerings that can be defined as rear CG.
• While most models are clustered in the middle, notable outliers include:
  • Nike Vapor Fly - High CG
  • Cobra KING LTD and Adams Tight Lies Titanium - Low CG
  • Cobra KING F6 and PING G SF Tec - Rear CG

CG Relative the Neutral Axis & MOI

Woods with Center of Gravity locations closer to the neutral axis will provide better performance on true center strikes. Additionally, the portion of the face (above the CG) that produces lower spin due to the gear effect will be larger, while the portion (below the CG) that produces higher spin (also due to the gear effect) will be smaller.

Golfers who consistently strike the ball on or below the center of the face will likely see more distance from golf clubs with CG locations closer to the neutral axis, while consistent high face strikers may see better performance with higher CG clubs.

The farther right a club falls along the X-axis, the higher the MOI or Forgiveness. While the correlation is not absolute (there are other factors), clubs with more rearward CGs (as shown on the previous YZ chart) generally offer higher MOI.

Observations

• All but four of the models measured fall between 2mm and 5mm from the neutral axis, and most models have a MOI between 2400 and 2900
• The Cobra KING LTD is the only fairway model with a CG location anywhere close to the the neutral axis
• Not surprisingly, 4 of the 5 most forgiving models are produced by PING. It's worth noting that the SF Tec's extreme high CG (relative to the neutral axis) is due to its 16.3° of measured loft. With the data normalized, the SF Tec would sit slightly lower than the Nike Vapor Fly
• Though billed as extremely easy to hit, the Adams Tight Lies Titanium has, by far, the lowest MOI of any fairway wood measured

Heel / Toe CG (XY CG)

This chart comes with a disclaimer of sorts. Determining XY CG location is not straight-forward. We might find woods with similar XY CG locations, yet very different face heights, face shapes, crown curvatures, bulge and roll radii, etc.. XY CG similarities aside, those other design considerations may cause two similarly appearing clubs to play quite differently from one another. So while this chart can give us some indication of draw or fade bias, the CG NA and MOI chart will provide a better indicator of total performance.

Observations

• All but 3 models/configurations tested have at least a slightly heel-biased center of gravity location.
• The XR 16 is the most heel (or draw) biased club measured, which will benefit some slicers
• TaylorMade's R15 and M1, along with the PXG 0341, when properly configured may benefit hookers, and other toe-centric ball strikers

Want More?

As always we enjoy hearing your feedback (mostly). If there's anything else similar you'd like to see, please let us know.

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Announcing Our 5th Anniversary Writing Contest

by Joe Bunting

We’re so excited to celebrate The Write Practice’s fifth anniversary! We started the party last week by launching our newest book, How to Win a Writing Contest.

(If you missed it, get your free copy here!)

But it gets better! We’re not only sharing with you our best writing contest resources. We’re giving you an opportunity to put them to use right away.

That’s right—today, we’re opening the 5th Anniversary Writing Contest!

We’re so excited to share what makes this contest special. Read on below, or . . .

Click here to see all the details of the 5th Anniversary Writing Contest.

A Writing Contest That Will Help You Grow

Writing contests can be some of the best practice you can get for your writing. They offer motivation (prizes!), deadlines, inspiration (contest themes!), and publication opportunities.

But they can also be very discouraging. I know from personal experience how frustrating it can be to lose a writing contest, especially when you have no idea why your story wasn’t chosen.

What if a writing contest didn’t just ask you to write a winning story, but helped you to grow as a writer along the way? And what if you could get direct feedback from the judges that would help you understand what’s working in your writing and what isn’t?

That’s our goal as we design all our contests. We care as much about helping you grow in your writing as we do about awarding prizes. To that end, this contest involves two awesome features:

• Every writer who enters will get personalized feedback on their story.
• Every writer will also get premium instruction to help them write the best story they’re capable of.

Plus, we’re offering feedback directly from the judges. You can learn more about how it works here.

A Writing Contest in Which Everyone Gets Published

We know it’s frustrating when you work hard on a piece you know is great, but it doesn’t get selected by the judges. You want your writing to get the exposure it deserves.

So do we.

That’s why this writing contest is unique in one more way: everyone who enters gets published.

The 5th Anniversary Writing Contest isn’t just about choosing winners and losers. It will help you become a better writer.

How to Enter the Writing Contest

Entrants are asked to write a new story up to 1,500 words long.

You will then workshop your story within the Becoming Writer community, getting personalized feedback to help you make your story better.

After workshopping your story within the writing group, you can you submit your story to the contest.

Judges from our partner literary magazine, Short Fiction Break, will then choose the winning stories. Since it’s our fifth anniversary, we’re going big:

• One grand prize winner will win a $500 cash prize!
• Five runners-up will receive $50 each.

While all submitted stories will be published on shortfictionbreak.com, the five runners-up will receive a featured spot on the magazine, and the grand-prize-winning story will be published here on The Write Practice, live in front of our thousands of readers.

Ready to enter? Click here to learn more and sign up for the 5th Anniversary Writing Contest.

And if you haven’t yet, click here to get your free copy of How to Win a Writing Contest.

I hope I see you and your story in the contest! Good luck!

The post Announcing Our 5th Anniversary Writing Contest appeared first on The Write Practice.

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Customers and Friends join me again this year for Canada Day this Friday July 1st 2016 at Kitsilano Beach.

Customers and Friends, join me again this year for Canada Day this Friday July 1st 2016 at Kitsilano Beach. BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs (tofu burgers too but I don’t know why anybody would eat one) , all my friends invited 8am -8pm. Just look for the flags. Drop by anytime. See the Fireworks at 10pm.

 

Terry from Mr. Locksmith Vancouver Canada Day 2015.

Randy Bath Mr. Locksmith Automotive Canada Day 2015

Alan Mr. Locksmith Vancouver West Canada Day 2015

Yes, its a Welsh Flag. Mr. Locksmith Vancouver Canada Day 2015.

 

 

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How to Use Possessives to Show Ownership

by Liz Bureman

Possessives are a funny thing. When used correctly, they add much-needed clarity to our sentences. But they seem to confound our apostrophe rules.

Let’s sort out this grammar conundrum, shall we?

What’s a Possessive?

Before we get into the tricky rules, let’s cover the basics.

A possessive is a word or punctuation that indicates the relationship between two nouns.

Sometimes, this uses adjectives: my car, his ice cream cone, our chair, their cat, etc.

Sometimes, this uses pronouns: the car is mine, the ice cream cone is his, the chair is ours, the cat is theirs, etc.

And sometimes, it uses apostrophes: Bert‘s ice cream cone, Jenny‘s cat, etc.

“

Possessives indicate a relationship of ownership between two nouns.

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So when do you use each one?

First and Second Person Possessives

I’m partial to first and second person possessives:

It’s tearing up my heart when I’m with you.

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends.

The boy is mine.

The main reason I enjoy them (besides their prevalence in pop hits of the late ’90s) is that they’re pretty straightforward. Mine, yours, ours. No messy apostrophes.

Just pick the adjective or pronoun that matches the speaker and fit it into the sentence. Adjectives go before the nouns:

my heart

Pronouns go after the nouns:

The boy is mine.

Easy peasy, right?

Apostrophes: Where Possessives Get Tricky

If first and second person usages are pretty straightforward, third person usage is where the fun begins.

Let’s start with singular possessives.

Singular Possessives

If your subject of ownership is a singular noun, you can go ahead and add the apostrophe and s.

Hanson’s “MMMBop” is the best song with a nonsense chorus.

It gets tricky when your subject ends with an s. If it’s a singular subject, you still add the apostrophe and the extra s.

Britney Spears’s career trajectory has been an interesting one to watch, but she has evolved into a captivating entertainer.

Plural Possessives

Moving on to plural subjects: always, always, always end the subject with an apostrophe only.

The Backstreet Boys’ fan base is devoted and passionate, but I’ve always been an *NSYNC girl.

It doesn’t matter what the object of possession is, or if it’s one thing or many. The subject or owner is what you want to keep track of.

Whose Turn? Yours

Now it’s your turn. Go, use your possessive adjectives, pronouns, and apostrophes with confidence. With these rules mastered, you’ll clear up your readers’ confusion and use possessives like a pro.

(Did you catch all my possessives in that paragraph?)

When do you run into possessive problems? Let me know in the comments.

PRACTICE

For today’s exercise we’re going to practice writing about ownership, paying close attention to apostrophes.

Here’s the prompt: The assistant to a self-centered pop star (male or female) is cleaning up the star’s hotel room. Describe their inner monologue as they work.

Write for fifteen minutes. Post your practice in the comments.

Have fun!

The post How to Use Possessives to Show Ownership appeared first on The Write Practice.

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Air Force One Golf – Take Two

By: Chris Nickel

Depending on how closely you follow companies not named TaylorMade, Titleist or Callaway, you may have some vague idea about Air Force One. Chances are, any association you do have is tied to a company that rhymes with Schmowerbilt. So let’s set the record straight.

Air Force One equipment was previously released under the PowerBilt Brand, a licensee of Hillerich and Bradsby. Now, Air Force One is both the brand and licensee and the PowerBilt name is no longer. As in, it’s gone the way of the dodo bird and Taylor Swift songs which are actually country.

That relationship is over. Done. Finito. Kaput.

Awesome, but what is Air Force One?

The name doesn’t exactly conjure up nostalgic memories of persimmon woods and leather wrapped/hickory shafted mashie niblicks. Truthfully, it doesn’t conjure up much of anything to do with golf.

And therein lies the basics of the problem, one which CEO Ross Kvinge (pictured above) is working to resolve by re-launching Air Force One as its own entity. On paper, Kvinge’s original 2009 plan seemed to make a lot of sense. Take the heritage and credibility of the PowerBilt name, add in some 21st century compressed nitrogen technology, and presto, you have a high-performance golf company (Air Force One) with built-in brand awareness and a positive history steeped in a rich tradition of quality product (PowerBilt).

The problem was consumers never got this message.

“The first problem is perception. You had the golfer who knew PowerBilt as a premium name releasing more budget friendly clubs.Then you had younger golfers who had no idea who Powerbilt was.” - Ross Kvinge

It didn’t matter that PowerBilt was in the bag of more than 120 PGA Tour winners like Chip Beck, Frank Beard, Fuzzy Zoeller and Grant Waite. The history of the company as one of the oldest (est.1859) and most reputable companies meant nothing to a generation of golfers raised on titanium heads and solid core balls.

Conversely, those who count a dusty Louisville Slugger and trusty PowerBilt three wood as valuable family heirlooms couldn’t quite wrap their collective heads around the uber-affordable pricing structure of this newfangled N7 nitrogen-infused technology. Economists refer to “prestige goods” as items which require higher prices so people believe they’re purchasing something of quality. The AFO DFX premium driver starts at $249, and in this case a lower price works against perception of the brand.

Call it a lose-lose.

But as of now, that complicated relationship is in the rearview, although some objects are still closer than Kvinge would like.

DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK

So, Air Force One is back. Again. For the second time. It makes sense from an economic standpoint, as Kvinge states “It costs ten times as much to resurrect brand as it does to launch one”, and it makes sense from a brand clarification perspective. It’s much cleaner to sell your product when you only have a single, focused story to tell.

But, like any relationship gone sour, there’s some scar tissue. Google “Air Force One Golf” and you’ll be hard pressed to find the homepage for the newly single Air Force One. In fact, if anything, it’s reasonable to think Powerbilt and Air Force One still have a bit of thing for each other. If I’m interested in the product, I’d prefer not to have to search that hard to find the homepage to get more information.

The question is, what do you do about this? Succeeding in an online environment is absolutely critical, and if Kvinge really wants to establish Air Force One as a distinct brand, he’ll have to figure out a way to remove unnecessary roadblocks.

Same Performance. Less baggage.

If a brand is going to exist for any period of time, it has to “win” somewhere. Because retail space is controlled by the behemoths of the industry, you won’t see Air Force One fighting for space at your local PGA Superstore.

Instead, Kvinge sees a distinct home court advantage with professional fitters. In this context, the player isn’t as brand conscious and may even be resistant to the often unfulfilled promises from less than honest marketing efforts of large OEMs.

"What you see in that environment is people who are ultimately focused on performance. Brand awareness still plays a role, but not it’s not the deciding factor. Ultimately this is the combination that wins."

The lynchpin to this entire model is you have to make clubs whose performance is equal to if not better than competitors and provide the customer the type of value for which they’re looking. For Air Force One, this translates to nitrogen charged, distance-oriented clubs and moderate cost. 

 

Do They Work?

I’m not the target player for the AFO AFX Game Improvement iron ($499 for a set of 8), but I was pleasantly surprised at how reasonable this iron feels and how well it performs. The AFX checks all the boxes for a great Game Improvement iron. They’re hot (I carried the 6 iron 205 comfortably), they launch high and they’re extremely forgiving. The sweet spot is as big as anyone reasonably needs and this particular iron has no problem going up against any distance iron from any OEM, big or small.

The performance of the AFO DFX driver is well-documented and the recently released DFX-Black fairway is quickly becoming a clubfitting favorite; in turn, Kvinge has reason to be optimistic. “We’re already seeing reorders from some clubfitters….which is generally a good sign.” Clubfitters may place an initial order based a hunch or relationship, but they don’t re-up unless the product is generating sales.

Have we answered anything?

It’s muddy, but this much we know: Air Force One is not Powerbilt. Powerbilt no longer has anything to do with Air Force One. Capiche?

Air Force One is a company whose success rests on the shoulders of their proprietary N7 Nitrogen Charged technology, which for my money is most effective in woods and hybrids, where everyone is looking to gain distance.

It makes sense the current lineup is anchored by two drivers (DFX Tour and DFX MOI), one fairway wood and one hybrid, all of which boast N7 technology. Just for good measure, there’s two sets of irons - one aimed at better players (Pro Series) and the other focused on game improvement. Prices are generally half of what you’re used to seeing from major manufacturers, but you might be surprised by how much ball speed these clubs produce.

No doubt it’s a work in progress, but the technology is legitimate, and with a more defined purpose and cleaner focus, there’s no reason Air Force One won’t establish themselves as a premier option for players who care more about their pocketbook than the brand of clubs in their bag.

For more information about the new Air Force One, visit the company website.

 

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