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By admin On January 25, 2010No Comments
In over 30 years, since November 1976, the US dollar and Canadian dollar have not been par until now. As the Canadian economy has been progressing over the years, the US economy seems to have fallen behind with all its turmoil.
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The war in Iraq has not helped the US economic situation but rather offset the deficit, and in a move to avoid the forecasted economic recession due to the credit crunch, the feds cut interests rates by 0. 5 points to 4. 75 percent. The move to cut interest rates to ease the mortgage industry has weakened the US dollar against foreign currency including the Euro, and giving the push for the Canadian dollar to hit parity with the US dollar. One US dollar now buys one Canadian dollar. But the Canadian dollar’s gain isn’t only linked to the US federal interest rate cut, but can also be seen as the Canadian economy has been booming in an upward gain from 2006 with a low inflation rate, and a red hot oil industry. This rapid progression of the Canadian dollar against the US comes as a shock to some Canadians, who measured the Canadian dollar value at . 62 USD only four years ago in 2002, and now hitting par seems too good to be true. As Jeff Rubin, chief economist and strategist at CIBC World Markets, stated, “the Canadian economy that once used to be the sleepy little resource backwater of the North American economy is certainly turning the tables on its big brother in a hurry. ” So what does all this have to do with Canadian and American dealings with each other? Well, for starts there will be an increase in American exports as buying from the American markets will become cheaper for Canadians. Although, vice versa Canadian exports to America will also decrease, as it will simply cost more for Americans to buy Canadian manufactured goods. The Canadian tourism industry will also suffer, as more American visitors will decline as the dollar parity discourages Americans from shopping in Canada, since the one time savings of up to 40%, due to the dollar value, will no longer be available to Americans. Although, Canadians will suffer in sales, they will gain in purchasing from American based businesses, and buying cars from the American side is becoming more attractive to some Canadians. As car prices in Canada are much higher than in America, a lot of Canadian shoppers will find drastic savings by traveling south of the border to buy a car. The difference in prices may not be the greatest for all cars, but gaps in some categories such as luxury sports cars, will save a Canadian buyer almost $14,000 on average. But the high loony will put pressure on Canadian companies that are dependent on exporting to the US, who is also Canada’s largest trading partner. Already, in 2006 there were almost 100,000 job losses in southeastern Ontario, due to the rising Canadian dollar against the US dollar. Even with such a massive job loss, the Canadian economy is still doing well, as the manufacturing sector loss a total of 289, 000 jobs since 2002, the Canadian economy has created over one million jobs in resources, construction, services, health care, education and financial industries, leaving the national jobless rate at 30-year low. In contrast the Canadian dollar seems to be stronger over the American for the time being, but only time will tell the future of the American dollar vs. the Canadian. If asked to predict, there is always uncertainty, but given factors such as future interest rate cuts by the Americans, could possibly even lower the US dollar compared to the Canadian, and this could become reality in the next 6-12 months.
This article is provided courtesy of http://www. justwantaquote. com Find Free Mortgage Quotes, Rates and Mortgage Lending Information.
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By admin On October 26, 2009
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One of the most elegant and prolific games of this century, golf has a fascinating trail of history running behind. The word ”golf” is actually a modification of the Dutch word “kolf” which simply means a “bat,” “stick,” or “club”. If defined literally, the game is all about striking a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes while complying with the rules of the game. It is one of those rare games which do not require playing area; rather golf is played on golf “courses.” The competitions of golf are based on stroke play, where the individual or team posts with lowest score on the most individual for a full round, wins the game. Some other team games of golf such as fourball have been pioneered, and are played either using matchplay format or stroke. Several alternative styles of golf playing have been introduced like disc golf and miniature golf. However, it is still interesting to find out the History of golf.
Most scholars agree with the “fact” that the Scots were first to popularize the game of golf. However, there exists no common consensus in the history of golf about the inventors of the classy sport. The records suggest a golf-like game was played in a city called Loenen aan de Vecht, Netherlands, on 26 February 1297. The Dutchmen played this game with leather ball and a stick. Actually, the game required the players to hit the ball into a target situated several hundreds of meters away.
The emphasis on golf’s Scottish origin is contributed to the fact that the game was mentioned in two 15th-century Acts of the Scottish Parliament. Further, there are evidences that in A.D 1456, the first game of golf was played at Bruntsfield Links, in Edinburgh, Scotland, as recorded in the archives of The Royal Burgess Golfing Society.
There are some reports which record evidences of golf from continental Europe. Different forms of sports similar to golf were played in 14th century in the countries of France, Belgium, and Holland, apart from Scotland. However, the game was introduced in England by a keen Scottish Baron, James VI, after succeeding on the English throne in 1603.
In the early years of golf, the players never thought of forming a club or society until in 1744 a group of Edinburgh golfers united into a club named Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. It was here that the first 13 rules of golf were drawn up for an annual contest. In 1766, Royal Blackheath Golf Club was formed in England – the first golf club formed outside Scotland.
Although traces of golf can be encountered in 18th century United States, however the game was still waiting to be popularized. The history of golf in North America began with its roots in Canada. In 1873, The Royal Montreal Club was formed, which was followed by the Quebec Golf Club in 1875 and the golf club in Toronto a year later. It was in 1888 that golf re-emerged in the United States. For the first time the “three-hole golf course” was built in Yonkers, New York by a Scotsman, John Reid on a 30-acre site. From a modest beginning, golf emerged as the new national pastime in the United States.
In the recent times golf has become a complete spectators’ game, involving professionals at different levels and amateur tours across various terrains of the world. Not only the game, but the golf players -Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam and Jack Nicklaus to name a few, have gained worldwide recognition as great sports personalities. Engrossingly huge sponsorships and new technologies being developed to assist golfers and dedication and raw talent from the emerging players all suggest a luminous new chapter in the “history of golf”.
Patrick Carpen is the designer, writer and owner of the website http://golfing.infobay.ws/
Infobay.ws is a content based, consumer oriented website that provides professionally researched, and up to the minute content on selected subjects. This website was created as a resource to the golfing enthusiast.
By admin On October 26, 2009
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As a kid, I heard it all the time. “Straighten up!”…I was told when they caught me slouching. Well, “straightening up” is not quite the tight thing in your golf but I’m sure you’re not surprised to discover that your posture is crucial in ensuring consistency and power in your strokes. What’s more when you embody, my “3 Tenets of Great Golf Posture” you’ll enjoy a more relaxed, easy comfort through 18 holes of play…
P for Posture – Your swing is a whole body phenomenon involving your feet, your legs, your hips, your trunk, your arms, your shoulders etc. You need good flexion, stability, strength, rotation in the hip, knees and torso in order to effectively result in perfect contact between the club and the ball. Proper posture is the framework that brings it all together and it’s crucial to executing a killer swing. Here are some pointers that will help you guarantee that posture is not the weak link in your game.
Start from a relaxed upright posture, with your ears over your shoulders and knees slightly bent. It is very important during your golf posture to maintain the space between your head and your chest so that you allow easy rotation of your shoulders. Now let’s talk a little “spine angle”.
Spine Angle is the angle that your torso makes with the ground. Bend at the waist while keeping your torso and spine straight. You’ll need an angle of about 30-45 degrees depending on your height and the length of your club. The taller you are and the shorter your club, the more spine angle you’ll need. To complete your posture, simply flex your knees so that your head comes over your feet. You will engage the most powerful muscles of your body – your leg muscles. You are now perfectly set to take a power shot with optimal comfort. And what’s more, because this posture is congruent with the natural bio-mechanics of your body, you can do it over and over through the course of 18 holes without the fatigue, the aches and the pains that come from improper use of your body.
Maintain a Consistent Spine Angle through the full range of your stroke and you will be delighted to produce a great shot. Keep your eye on the ball as you swing and notice how your posture changes. Be sure to keep your head up and maintain your viewing position by appropriate flexion of the hip and knee joints. Keep your spine straight at all costs. Bending the spine causes the chest to collapse and the neck and shoulders to rotate forwards and inwards. This not only distorts the natural arc of your swing but it makes it difficult to turn your head through the range of motion required to keep your eye on the ball. The accuracy of your shot goes to hell in a hand basket. So keep your back straight and you’ll maintain a solid base from which you can accurately aim those long drives.
Core Stability and Flexibility is the key, and a little practice on the core stability ball with some simple yoga or Pilates exercises can help you develop these much needed attributes for a great golf swing. Abdominal crunches are an excellent exercise for developing core strength and endurance. But that’s a subject for another article.
The 3 Tenets – So the next time you’re enjoying a gorgeous, sunny round on the fairway, be sure to practice the “3 Tenets of Great Golf Posture”, keep your back straight, adjust your spine angle by hinging at the hip and most important, keep it constant through the execution of your swing. You can look forward to hitting, longer, further and with more accuracy. What’s more you’ll feel great at the end of the day with far fewer aches and pains from improper posture.
Aidan Sugrue is a Golf Enthusiast and creator of Hot Golf Secrets the Internet’s hottest resource for golf tips. If you’ld like to turbo-charge your game then go to Hot Golf Secrets NOW, Claim Your free golf tips and start having more fun on the fairway today! You can also visit Golf Tips Blog for more fun stuff.
By admin On October 26, 2009
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Injuries occur in all athletic events quite frequently, certain
sports more so than others. Golf is no different than any other
sport. The severity of injuries in golf usually are not as
severe as in other sports. The scenario of a 300 lb. defensive
lineman slamming into the side of your knee tearing every
possible ligament structure in the knee will never happen in the
sport of golf. An interesting visual if you combined the sports
of football and golf onto the same playing field, but
inappropriate for this paper.
There are two types of injuries classified by professionals in
the fields of athletic training and sports medicine. The two
types of injuries are: 1) acute and 2) chronic. The above
example of the football player is classified as an acute injury.
An acute injury can be defined as the trauma in the body
occurring immediately after the injury. Refer to the football
player example above for a reminder. (For us older golfers,
remember Joe Theisman of the Redskins and Lawrence Taylor’s leg
breaking tackle? Acute injury.) Relating an acute injury to golf
is a little more difficult. Probably the easiest, and maybe most
the common, acute injury in golf, occurs while swinging and you
hit a rock or something that creates an injury to your wrist.
That would be the best example in the sport of golf of an acute
injury. Overall, acute injuries tend to be rare in golf because
contact by the body with external forces is rare.
My back is always killing me!
The second type of injury, chronic, is much more prevalent when
it comes to the sport of golf. A chronic injury is one that
occurs over time. Think of it as a “wear and tear” injury. These
are usually the result of the body breaking down over time. A
great sports example outside of golf is when you hear about a
baseball pitcher having tendonitis in the elbow. Tendonitis is
an inflammation of the elbow resulting from the stresses placed
upon it from throwing. Over time the elbow becomes tired and
eventually injured from the number of pitches thrown. If you are
a runner and, after a certain amount of time, your knees begin
to hurt, this is usually a chronic injury. When we talk about
golf, the majority of injuries are chronic. They tend to be a
direct result of the golf swing (just like the pitcher’s elbow).
Usually the chronic injuries in golf show up in the lower back.
If chronic injuries are caught soon enough in the cycle, rest
and proper treatment (i.e. massage, chiropractic care) will heal
them. But if you wait too long the body is going to “break,” and
then you will not be playing any golf for a long time. This is
where the unfortunate situation of surgery and other invasive
procedures are considered.
So a couple of questions we must ask when it comes to chronic
injuries in relation to golf are: how do they occur, and how do
we prevent them? Chronic injuries occur as a result of the body
becoming fatigued and eventually “breaking down.” The muscles,
ligaments, and tendons of your body are required to perform the
activity of swinging a golf club. Over time this activity causes
fatigue within your body. As the body continues to fatigue, or
get tired, the body gets sore. This is the first indicator of a
developing chronic injury. If you continue with the activity
you’re participating in, with soreness in the body, eventually
your body will break down. This “break down” will be in the form
of maybe a pulled muscle, muscle stiffness, tightness, or some
other type of inflammation. All of the above examples are a
result of structures in your body breaking down from fatigue and
overuse. Even if just on one swing you feel “your back go out,”
nine out of ten times it is a chronic injury, and that last
swing was the “piece of straw that broke the camel’s back.”
How to Prevent Chronic Injuries in Golf
We all know that the golf swing is a repetitive movement,
meaning the body is performing the same activity over and over
again. This creates fatigue in the body over time. And if over
time our body can’t support the number of swings we are taking,
it is eventually going to break down. There are three variables
we have when it comes to the prevention of chronic injuries in
golf. Number one is workloads. Workloads can be defined as the
number of swings that the body takes with a club over a given
period of time. That time frame can be seven days or an entire
tour season. Number two is efficiency of your mechanics. When we
say “efficiency of mechanics” we are talking about how
biomechanically correct your individual swing is. “Why is this
important?” you ask. Let me tell you. I think most of us would
agree that the tour players have very “efficient” swings; their
swings are smooth and look almost effortless. A swing like this
asks less out of the body to perform and requires less effort
from the muscles; hence fatiguing levels in the body are lower.
Some amateur swings look like they take a lot of work to
perform, and in reality they do! These types of swings ask a lot
more out of the body and fatigue it more quickly. The final
variable is what we term “golf strength.” Golf strength is a
measure of the required levels of flexibility, strength,
endurance, balance, and power to successfully support the
mechanics of the swing. Large amounts of golf strength allow the
body to support an efficient swing. Low levels of golf strength
do not provide the support needed for the swing.
Workloads, Swing Mechanics, and Golf Strength
All three of these variables work together to determine if you
are a candidate for a chronic golf injury. Golf strength is
essentially the foundation upon which your swing is built. This
variable indicates how many times you can swing a golf club with
your current mechanics before you come up injured. If you have
high levels of golf strength then regardless of how efficient of
a swing you have, you will be able to play for quite awhile
before you get sore. The flip side can also be said. If you have
low levels of golf strength, regardless of your swing mechanics,
you will come up sore in a shorter amount of time.
Secondly, let us look at swing mechanics. If you are a player
that has a very efficient swing that places very little stress
on the body, you will undoubtedly be able to play many rounds
before your body starts screaming at you. Again, if you have
poor mechanics, it is going to take its toll on your body and
your game.
Finally, we have workloads (i.e. number of swings). The number
of swings one makes must match up with levels of golf strength
and swing mechanics. The golf swing is a “stressor” of the body
and breaks it down over time. If you have an efficient swing,
each swing does less “damage” to the body. If you have a poor
swing, the body has to work harder, thus fatiguing it more
quickly. In addition to this is golf strength. If you have high
levels of golf strength, you can swing the club more (i.e.
workloads) before you get tired. Low levels of golf strength
present the situation of the body’s fatiguing more quickly. “So
what is the magic formula?” you ask. My first suggestion is
twofold: 1) work on your swing to improve the efficiency of it,
and 2) increase your levels of golf strength in order to support
your swing. For the time being, match up your swing and golf
strength levels to determine what workload levels you can get
out of your body. If you are in need of some more information on
the golf strength side of the equation, take a look at
www.bioforcegolf.com.
About the Author
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness
instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour
regularly with 2005 PGA & 2004 Masters Champion Phil Mickelson.
He has made many of his golf tips, golf instruction and golf
swing improvement techniques available to amateur golfers on the
website www.bioforcegolf.com. To contact Sean, you can email him
at support@bioforcegolf.com.
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness
instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour
regularly with 2005 PGA & 2004 Masters Champion Phil Mickelson.
He has made many of his golf tips, golf instruction and golf
swing improvement techniques available to amateur golfers on the
website
http://www.bioforcegolf.com.
To contact Sean, you can email him at
support@bioforcegolf.com.
By admin On October 26, 2009
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Going on a golf break in France has never been easier. With the Eurostar now faster and more popular than ever, Paris is only a comfortable two hour train journey from the centre of London. The French capital has numerous charms, and many golf enthusiasts will be loathe to trade the attractions of the city for the country while on a golf break in France. Luckily there’s no need to, as some of the best golf courses in France are within striking distance of Paris, allowing you to combine a visit to the capital with some rounds of classic golf.
The best golf near Paris is concentrated in three regions: Chantilly, Fontainebleau and Versailles. All three feature beautiful countryside and some outstanding golf courses; though Chantilly has the widest and best range of courses, there’s plenty to enjoy in Fontainebleau and Versailles as well.
Here are five of the best courses for a golf holiday near Paris:
Paris International Golf Club
The only golf course in France to be designed by the Golden Bear himself, Jack Nicklaus, Paris International Golf Club is consistently rated by visitors as one of the best maintained and enjoyable courses to visit for golf near Paris. The club house has to be seen to be believed; it’s enormous, elegantly designed and has luxurious facilities that include a spa and a swimming pool.
Chantilly Vineuil
Widely reckoned to be the best golf course in France and ranked as one of the Top 5 golf courses in Europe, Chantilly Vineuil was designed by the legendary Tom Simpson at the beginning of the 20th- Century and is traditionally laid out and immaculately kept. This course has hosted the French Open numerous times, with Nick Faldo winning it here in 1989. It’s a challenging course – you’ll need to combine accuracy with power to avoid ending up in the woodland or numerous bunkers. Located 1 mile north of Chantilly and 30 miles away from the capital, the Chantilly Vineuil is one of the best options for golf near Paris.
Fontainebleau
Another classic Tom Simpson design, the Fontainebleau is arguably the most enjoyable of the three he designed in France. The golf course is set amidst the largest forest in the country and is ranked in the European Top 20 and World Top 100. It is often remarked that the landscape and layout have a remarkably English feel so this course (one of the oldest in the country) can provide a taste of home for those on a golf break in France. The art deco clubhouse is a real treat and a great place to relax between rounds.
Chateau d’Augerville
Situated near Fontainebleau, this course is something of a hidden gem out of all the golf courses near Paris. The design is unusual, tricky and rewarding. The variety of this course is what makes it so enjoyable – each hole presents its own unique challenge including a couple of blind shots that require a brave and steady hand. Diligent golfers will be rewarded on the 9th and 18th holes with a walk up to the beautiful 17th-Century chateau (also a luxury hotel), where you can take lunch on the terrace and watch other golfers as they try to tackle some of the more challenging holes.
Golf National Albatros
Now the home of the French Open, Golf National Albatros has been voted by the European Tour Pro’s as the second best course on the entire European tour. It’s not for the faint hearted and is renowned as one of the toughest golf courses in France. With its tricky fairways causing pros and amateurs alike more than a few headaches, it’s a true Championship course. However, if you’re feeling brave enough to tackle it you’ll be rewarded with a great round of golf on one of the best designed courses in the world.
Morgan Clarke is the Chairman of Your Golf Holidays, a company that has been providing bespoke golf holidays for over 25 years. They are experts in the world’s best places to play
golf: Paris and the North of France are their most popular destinations, but they also run luxury golf holidays to Spain, Italy, Dubai, Morocco and over 20 other countries.