With one swing on the Dancin Dogg golf simulator you'll learn more about why your shots do what they do than with any other simulator on the market.

How often have you purchased a golf training aid, used it once and never used it again? But effective golf swing training means training your muscles specific to the golf swing by using a swing analysis system and applying well-known golf swing knowledge to make adjustments to your golf swing.

Golf Digest article looks at dominance of China in golf club manufacturing - There's an excellent article in the April 2007 issue of Golf Digest that takes a close look at the extent to which golf club design and manufacturing has be virtually taken over by the Chinese.

Although low wages and a huge, hard working work force are important factors in this incredible shift, it's much more than just cheap labour that sends these manufacturing projects to China. It's the ability of the Chinese to consolidate massive capabilities in a few large factories, most of which are located within a few hundred miles of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In the process these companies have developed manufacturing techniques that speed up the process of going from concept to finished product. And at the same time the quality of the end product has been improved. That makes it possible for major manufacturers to bring out new products more often; and for "boutique" companies to produce their own distinctive lines of clubs. The Chinese can take a concept or rough 3D model and turn it into a finished club within days. Or a small company without its own design team can start with "open" designs and put their own distinctive graphics and colour schemes on them.

To a large extent this has happened within just a few years. For instance, a California company, Coastcast Corporation, that was making a million+ titanium heads in 2004 was out of business two years later. Virtually all that business went to China.

As a result, of the roughly 45 million golf clubs sold every year about 75% have some Chinese content.

Pretty amazing.

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Now that spring has arrived in southern Ontario the clubs have already been dusted off for another season.

Actually Fritz, Sean and I did a five day trip to Dallas last month for some power golf -- 8 rounds in 5 days. But that doesn't count. The real golf around here is about to begin over the next couple of weeks.

Well, that's not true either. Fritz and I were out last Friday (March 30) for a round at Carlisle near Burlington. It was a balmy 10C, and apart from being dead tired from the walk (after a very unathletic winter) it was great to be out again hacking the ball around.

As I said, the real season begins over the next couple of weeks. Most of the courses around here will be open by April 15. I even went out and bought one of those collapsible practise nets so I could hit balls in the back yard. My basement range had to be dismantled a couple weeks ago because I needed the drop sheet for a reno project we're doing. So I've actually hit very few balls over the winter.

But that's about to change. After a couple of years of very little practice time -- either at the range or in the back yard -- I've decided to get a new net (my old one seems to have disappeared), and make a concerted effort to work on my swing.

We'll see how it goes.

Heron Creek, North Port, Florida

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One of my favourite winter destinations is Port Charlotte, Florida where we have spent many winter weeks playing golf and enjoying the sun. Here are some of my favourite golf courses in the Port Charlote area.

Deep Creek Golf and CC - Fairly short, and lots of water. If you go in the afternoon you can sometimes get around in 2.5 hours.

Port Charlotte Golf and CC - Closest thing to a "muni" in Port Charlotte. Older course with lots of mature trees. A number of nice holes, especially on the back. "Make sure you get the carts in before it gets dark."

Riverwood Golf Club - One of the "prestige" courses in the area with green fees to go with it.

Heron Creek Golf and CC - Recently added a third 9 for a total of 27 holes. Nice layout. Great practice facility.

Sabal Trace Golf and CC - An older community course which we played a lot until Heron Creek opened up next door. Once saw a "big 'ol gator" walk across the putting green right in front of me.

Bobcat Trail Golf and CC - An unusual layout with some interesting holes. Practice range uses floaters -- you hit the balls at island greens in a lake.

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This was pretty unusual. Judy has never been much for hitting balls on the range. But on Sunday after our family outing at Blue Springs we stuck around for a while on the range there. She started having really good results with her driver - a recent addition to her compliment of clubs - so we just kept on hitting until they kicked us off the range.

Last night it was more of the same. We kept hitting until all the balls were gone and even went out into the range and hit some back a couple of times.

Judy doesn't get to play much - only 6 or 7 times a year for the past few years - so it always takes her a while to get back into the groove. But I'm always impressed by her swing. Teaching her the subtleties of the golf swing has been a pet project of mine for quite a few years and it is interesting to see how she has progressed. These past few days working with the driver she has taken a couple of giant steps forward, and given her a new awareness of some of the potential.

I guess that explains her eagerness to get out there and hit some more.

After one particularly bad round when I flubbed a number of chips that ended up costing me several strokes, I decided a bit of dedicated practice was in order. So last Friday I headed out to a local range with just one club - my sand wedge - to see if I could figure out my problems (and yes, I know the sand wedge is not always the best club to chip with.)

That little bit of practice helped a lot. The next day I even made two fairly unlikely chip-ins.

So yes, the short game is very important when it comes to scoring. And yes, it is relatively easy to make major improvements to your short game - much easier than straightening out your driver or your irons.

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I've been doing the late afternoon thing for years and have played lots of 18s in the semi-darkness, so have become pretty good at controlling my swing so it is more or less straight, listening for where it lands, and then marching down the darkened fairway until the little white thing emerges from the black.

I can usually feel whether I've pulled it, pushed it or, heaven forbid, sliced it. When you play in the semi-darkness you learn that a slice or hook is usually the result of swinging too hard. So backing off on your swing is the first prerequisite for actually being able to find the ball after you hit it.

Yesterday it didn't work out for some reason. I had a pretty good round going and when we hit #17 I thought "No problem." At this course 17 is a fairly short par 5 that I've birdied a few times. It requires a drive over the main entrance roadway into the course, and when I hit my drive Joe said "It's down the middle." OK, I thought, we're in business.

But when we got out there it was nowhere to be found, and I had no idea which side it should be on. The fescue at Glencairn makes it almost impossible to find if you don't know where to look. The same thing happened with my next shot. It felt like I pulled it out of the primary rough and it went zinging across to the other side. Never to be found again. Too dark to see where it went out.

#18 worked out a bit better. My drive just cleared a sod-walled bunker and since I was still about 180 out and had to clear two "burns" to hit a green I couldn't even see, I just hit an easy 9 to plunk it between the burns. It didn't sound too good when it landed, but sure enough when we got down there it was right where I thought it should be.

A sandy to the green and I was finished. By then the sprinklers were on so we just left it there on the green for the next lucky guy...

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As reported in a previous post, this summer Judy and I visited Prince Edwared Island and Cape Breton (in Nova Scotia) to play some of the highly rated courses in that neck of the woods.

While in PEI we stayed at the Rustico Resort -- a unique golf resort where the no frills rooms are clean and roomy and very reasonably priced.

And the golf is free when you stay at the resort!

Unfortunately we only had time for one round on the home course because we had planned junkets to Crowbush Cove, and Dundarave.

The course was a lot of fun and in awfully good shape with thousands of trees and the kind of perennials you are likely to find in your own flower gardens. Both the resort and the golf course are the personal projects of the resort owners, John and Martha Langdale, who purchased the property in 1980 when it was little more than a potato field with a few ramshackle buildings.

If you are considering a trip to PEI and especially if you want to combine it with a golfing excursion, this is a perfect place to stay.

The resort has its own private beach along with a swimming pool and tennis courts. It is within minutes of many top notch restaurants, a number of which specialize in lobster dinners.

The resort is located near South Rustico, less than 30 minutes from Charlottetown, 15 minutes from the beaches on the north shore, and about 20 minutes from Cavendish, famous for its Anne of Green Gables exhibits.

Here is an interesting article featuring Rustico Resort

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Golf Workouts Can Transform Your Game

by Mike Pedersen, Golf Fitness Expert

I’m sure by now you’ve heard most of the professional players; both men and women actively participate in golf workouts. It’s no secret. But why then do most amateur golfers ignore this? Is it because it seems like work? Or, does the thought of actually breaking a sweat get you tired already?

Either way…the proof is in the bag. The number one player in the world, Vijay Singh, does his golf workouts all the way through Sunday of each tournament. Does it look like it’s hurting his game? I don’t think so. Back in 1997, a young, very athletic golfer came on the professional scene and blew everyone away. I think you know who I’m talking about.

Can improper spin have a detrimental effect on driving distance? The other day Andy asked me this question in light of a demonstration he had seen on TV. Some long ball guy demonstrated two drives: one with "spin" and the other with reduced "spin". The one with reduced spin went further. Since this demonstration came with virtually no explanation it was difficult to know what he was referring to, and, in any event this was not something I had thought or read about much, so had very little insight into the matter....

Apart from the obvious of course... If you put side spin on the ball it will curve left or right. If you top the ball and put top spin on it, the ball will sail low and dive into the ground with more than usual run. And if you put bottom spin or "back spin" on it, the ball will tend to rise up, drop softly to the ground and not run a good deal. Too much back spin and it will balloon up into the wind and drop down like a stone.

Ok, that much most golfers know. But is it possible to modify your swing, change your club, or use a different ball to achieve less spin and therefore more distance? I think it is a fairly safe bet that these things can be adjusted and make a difference. But just what the optimal situation would be I am not sure. An hour or so checking on the web yielded some interesting theory, but not a lot of practical advice.

Most of what I found had to do with ball technology. Here is a pretty good article explaining some of the aerodynamics of ball flight. And here is another similar article about ball spin. I will continue to look for more information that might be helpful.

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Bulgarian golf in its developmental stages - Golf course development has essentially reached the point of saturation in North America and many of the traditional golfing countries.

Yes, there are lots of absolutely gorgeous sites that could be converted into golf courses. But who is going to play on these courses?

As a result, investors and golf course developers are looking to "underdeveloped" countries in Europe and Asia for greener pastures. There the hope is to capitalize on the thriving tourist trade as well as turn some of the largely non-golfing local population into golfing fanatics.

Bulgaria is just such a country. With its recent entry into the EU, Bulgaria's development promises to be rapid and significant in the very near future. The same will likely be true for the development of the infrastructure required for extensive travel - airports, highways, hotels, tourist destinations, and golf courses.

Currently there are only two golf courses listed on GolfEurope.com:

Ihtiman Golf Club - the original Bulgarian golf course. Ihtiman Golf Course is rated by the rating committee of USGA. 18 holes, 6345 yards, rating is 71.3 and slope 131 from the back tees.

Sliven golf course was opened on May 24th, 2004. It is a par 71, 6563 yards. It features spectacular views to the Balkan mountain.

The Bulgarian Golf Federation hopes to gradually build more golf courses throughout Bulgaria. Golf courses in Razgrad, Varna, Burgas, Plovdiv and Sofia are in the planning stages, and other developers are planning golf course developments as part of larger tourism projects.

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Nicklaus urges golf ball to be "rolled back" - There's a very interesting article by Jack Nicklaus in the March issue of Golf Digest called "I've Been Thinking." One of the points he usually makes in articles like this is that, in his opinion, the modern ball goes too far and has changed the game for the worse. As he says in this article, "My greatest concern, because I believe it has the most effect on the most parts of the game, is the golf ball."

According to Nicklaus, after about 60 years in which the game (and equipment) stayed pretty much the same, in the 1980s and 90s the game of golf started to change dramatically. In the 80s it was the introduction of metal headed drivers and "woods", and in the 90s it was changes in golf ball technology. Both changes let players hit the ball farther.

Golfers at all levels like to have their egos stroked, but the truth is, a guy like Fred Funk does not add 30 or 40 yards to his drives by working out or by improving his swing. These increased distances are mostly a result of "technology" changes. It is a familiar refrain, but for guys like Nicklaus who design courses this has meant the classic old courses aren't long enough anymore.

We lesser mortals have come to take these ongoing "improvements" for granted because we think it levels the playing field between good players and not-so-good ones -- it makes us think we can become better golfers by simply buying new clubs or using a different ball.

The irony is that just the opposite has happened. It is a well-known fact that high handicap players do not get the same benefit out of technology improvements as do better players. While a pro might be able to hit different balls different distances, your average hacker doesn't see these increases because he or she doesn't have a consistent enough swing and can't generate the club head speed required to take advantage of the new balls.

It is a bit different with clubs, since larger metal heads and game improvement irons mean fewer duffed shots. But I suspect this advantage is again over-estimated for higher-handicap players. For a bogey golfer playing a 380 hard hole driving the ball 200 yards rather than 180 still won't produce very many pars. Why? Because he still can't make the 180 yard approach shot. So he's just as far ahead using a 5 iron off the tee.

So technology improvements have actually widened the gap between the pros and the schmos. And to add insult to injury courses are now being made tougher and longer to accommodate the 5 or 10% of golfers who are "big hitters."

At the root of the issue is the way golf is driven by marketing at all levels from recreational to professional. The inability of the golfing poobahs at the USGA and R&A to control the "improvements" has meant that golf has become a consumption driven sport like no other. And the chance of this changing in the foreseeable future are slim to none.