In the gentleman's game of golf the first name that pops into just about everyone's mind is Tiger Woods and rightly so. But, before Tiger there was another golfer that still is greater than Woods and his name is Jack Nicklaus. In other sports, there are athletes that are competing to become the best of their sport and even though many of you reading this article will soon learn, there were athletes far better than those that we tune-in to watch and root for today.

1. Jack Nicklaus: Greatest Golfer in the World

   
   
   Image Source
   
   Jack Nicklaus was playing professional golf long before Tiger was even a cub and his record of the most won major PGA tournaments still stands to this very day. Although, Tiger Woods is on track to toppling this record as well, as long as injuries doesn't end his incredible career early. Jack has won 18 professional majors, has been the PGA Tour of the Year 5-times, and is a member of the World Golf Hall Fame. He also has posted in 2nd place 19-times, Top 3 finishes 48-times, Top 5 finishes 56-times, and Top 10 finishes 73-times and most of these wins came before Tiger was old enough to hold on to a club.

2. Babe Ruth: Greatest Baseball Player in the World

   
   
   Image Source
   
   Babe Ruth played baseball from 1914 to 1935 and was known by other names such as “Babe”, “The Bambino”, and “The Sultan of Swat”, but no matter what we call him he was no doubt the greatest baseball player to have ever set foot on the field. He scored an incredible 714 home runs before retiring in 1935, which stood for another 39 years until Hank Aaron broke the record in 1974. Babe proved that it was possible to rack up 60 home runs in a single season in 1927, in which this record stood strong for another 34 years, until it was finally broken by Roger Maris (1961). Ruth had the 10th highest batting average of .342 in baseball history and he recorded a .690 career slugging percentage and a 1.164 career OPS, which still holds as a record in major league baseball today.

3. Michael Phelps: Greatest Swimmer in the World

   
   
   Image Source
   
   The 23 year old, Olympic American swimmer Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer in the world hands down. He has kicked his way to winning an astonishing 14 Olympic Gold Medals and 2 Bronze Medals after combining the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics together. Let's not forget that Mr. Phelps has also competed in the World Championships and won 18 Gold Medals and 3 Silver Medals in those games. The world's greatest swimmer has competed in the Pan Pacific Championships in 2002 and 2006 and accumulated another 8 Gold and 3 Silver medals all the while competing in the 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, 200m butterfly, 200m backstroke, 4 x 100m freestyle relay, and 4 x 200 freestyle relay. He has broken countless world and Olympic records and is considered to be the greatest Olympian of All-times.

4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Greatest Basketball Player in the World

   
   
   Image Source
   
   The 7 foot 2 inch center for the Milwaukee Bucks (1969-1975) and later for the Los Angeles Lakers (1975-1989) stands virtually alone at the top of basketball's elites. Sure, some avid basketball fans will frown at this fact, but when considering that basketball is a team sport and much of a player's greatness derives from their willingness to feed the talents of the other players, then he is the best ever. He scored 38,387 career points, 17,440 rebounds and made 3,189 blocks and was awarded the NBA MVP six-times and won 6 NBA Championships, before retiring in 1989.

5. Pete Sampras: Greatest Professional Tennis Player in the World

   
   
   Image Source
   
   Pete Sampras is the greatest tennis player the world has ever seen commands a court. During his long and exciting career, he has collected 14 Grand Slams men's singles titles, won Wimbledon singles title 7-times, won the US Open singles title 5-times, won the Grand Slam Cup 2-times, won 11-times on the ATP Master Series and won on the ATP Tour an impressive 32-times. Pete Sampras was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on July 17, 2007, after proving to the world he is really the greatest in the world of Men's Tennis.

6. Pele: Greatest Soccer/Football Player in the World

   
   
   Image Source
   
   Pele (Edson Arantes do Nascimento) formally played Brazilian Football from 1956-1977 for the Santos (1956-1974), New York Cosmos (1975-1977) and played for the National Team of Brazil from (1957-1971) and scored 1280 goals. His great ball handling skills on the field would become legendary and make Pele a national treasure of Brazil. Check out more about Pele's dominating career.

7. Muhammad Ali: Greatest Heavyweight Boxer in the World

   
   
   Image Source
   
   Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.) an Olympic Gold Medallist in the 1960 Rome Games for the Light Heavyweight division and a 3-time World Heavyweight Champion is still the only man to have won the heavyweight boxing championship three back-to-back times in history. “The Champ” competed in 61 total fights and winning 56 times and an unlucky 37 fighters were knocked out by the powerhouse punches by the World's Greatest Heavyweight Boxer - “The Louisville Lip” Muhammad Ali.

Who in the world could possibly disagree with these seven athletes' total dominance of their sports? Bring your best nominations to the table, because I firmly believe that my choices are the greatest athletes in the world - prove me wrong.

Well, not necessarily. For the majority of these athletes, natural ability has little to do with the fact that they stand out.

Take Michael Jordan for instance.

If Jordan was born with his ability to play basketball, why is it that he couldn't make his high school team after the first couple of tryouts?

Many who have only seen clips of Jordan may say, “I could never do that. That man was just born with a special talent.”

But those who know about Jordan realize that he didn't just work to get that point of greatness, he continued to work harder than his opponents after he reached that point of greatness.

Greatness isn't born, it's made. And an individual's greatness can only be built through his or her own blood, sweat and tears.

Sometimes, however, it's not that dramatic.

Many readers have seen me mention Katherine Hepler on a number of occasions.

Why?

Because at 13-years-old, I believe she understands what it takes to be above her peers in the sport of golf.

It's not because she holds the amateur record at the Pasfield course in Springfield with a score of 30 (the amateur record of all ages, not limited to her age group).

Although she accomplished this feat at 11 years old, that's not what makes her great.

It's not because she chooses to play in tournaments against 17 and 18 year olds, beating members of the U of I golf team and other athletes at this level. She did this at one time to become the youngest person to make the championship flight of the Women's Western Amateur Tournament.

Although she accomplished this feat at a younger age than golf legend Nancy Lopez, that's not what makes her great.

It's not because she motivates other athletes on the course, while dealing with rude people who are jealous of her abilities.

Although she endures attitude and discrimination not meant for a person of her age and still performs at a high level, that's not what makes her great.

It's preparation that makes Hepler who she is.

Before she even steps out on a course or even sees a fairway, chances are she already knows how she will play that course.

Recently, I had the privilege of looking into the private preparation of Hepler. What I saw made me realize why she is who she is.

Hepler looks at each green on the Internet, prints it out and maps out her strategy based on what she sees. If you look up most of the courses played by both high school and college level golf teams, you will see that almost everyone has this opportunity.

However, few take advantage of it. As a matter of fact, I'd bet that some of you reading this right now will blow off a perfect example of preparation. You won't do it because it's outside your skill level or you don't have the ability; unfortunately, some of you will ignore the advice because of its source - a 13-year-old girl.

To preserve Hepler's secrets, I will not mention the course that she analyzes. Isn't this irrelevant anyway? You can find this information for most of the courses in the state.

Hepler's notes

For Hole No. 2 on this course, Hepler writes: “Play your drive to the right side again. Wherever you are, don't go for the green in two - that is a big number.”

Not only does she know where she'll hit the ball before she wakes up that day, she knows and recognizes her limitations.

She also realizes where she can make a move. On Hole No. 3, Hepler writes: “TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS HOLE!!! It is the easiest hole on the golf course at only 219 yards.”

Why wait until you get to the hole to find out this information? Knowing this fact may help you be more aggressive on Hole No. 2, depending on your score.

Hepler knows that on some holes, she has options. On Hole No. 7, she writes: “You have two options: either hit a six iron to the 80 yd. area, or hit a driver over the water aiming about ten yards to the right of the green.”

She'll examine each option before she reaches the hole and make her decision based on how she feels and how she's performing. If she feels out-of-sorts when she starts playing, she doesn't have to analyze her options on the spot. She will already know the best path to success.

Hepler is also aware of her environment. On Hole No. 11, she writes: “You can just hit a driver to the right side of the hole; the cart path won't come into play. On the second shot, the creek runs in front and to the right, so play for middle left of the green.”

My favorite part of looking over her notes is seeing that she offers pre-words of encouragement, as well as recognizes her potential ego.

These examples include: “Play a driver if you're in a good mood; the bunker in the center of the fairway shouldn't scare you; don't feel bad if you bogey this hole; don't get greedy if pin is back right.”

Making these notes is what allows Hepler to travel to courses she's never seen and beat the people who play them regularly.

Although these notes are a large part of Hepler's success, it's not the only ingredient. She knows how far she can hit, and most importantly, understands her limitations and how personal mood can affect performance.

The point is that it doesn't take a large amount of money or technology to prepare. It just takes a little practice and preparation.

Knowing that Hepler makes straight As in school and is still able to socialize with her friends shows that she doesn't devote her life to practicing golf.

Hepler's preparation should be taken as an example of how to start on a path towards success. It doesn't just work in golf; it works in every sport and every aspect of life.

Did I mention that she plays hockey?

A list of important equipment used in the game of golf is as follows:

• Golf clubs, such as “putters”, “woods”, and “irons”, which come in different varieties for different types of shots
• Golf balls, made of two to four layers of synthetic material and covered with 300-400 dimples to enhance the ball's aerodynamics
• Golf tees, a generally wooden or plastic object pushed into the ground, with a nail-like design; players place the golf ball on the top of the tee before the first stroke to make for an easier take-off

The golf ball was originally a small pebble, struck by a stick during play. The first man-made golf ball was a thin leather bag stuffed with feathers. 1898 marked the creation of the first rubber-cored golf ball. Seven years later, a golf ball manufacturer realized that if a ball was scarred, it traveled farther than a smooth one. This discovery led to the introduction of dimpled golf balls. Since then, different dimple designs have been patented, but the plastic and rubber contents of the golf ball still remain constant.

The earliest golf clubs were fashioned entirely out of wood. As the golf ball evolved, however, golfers worried less about damaging the ball, and iron heads could be used. Before the 20th century, all golf clubs had a wooden shaft, whether the heads were made of iron or wood. In 1920, the first American steel-shafted clubs were introduced. After 1930, specialty golf clubs began to emerge (such as sand wedges, used to shoot the ball out of a sand pit). In the early 1970s, golf clubs with shafts of fibre-reinforced composite materials were developed, but these shafts were expensive and too flexible. After a few years, stronger fibres replaced the originals, increasing the popularity of these kinds of clubs.

A golf tee is simply the name for the spot where the golfer makes their first stroke towards a hole. Originally, a tee was a mound of sand meant to keep the ball above ground level. The first portable tee was invented in 1889, made of rubber with three prongs that held the ball in place before the swing. This tee was not meant to be inserted into the ground. However, in 1892, the first tee designed to be pushed into the ground was invented; this tee was made of rubber, but also had a metal spike. In 1897, a similar tee was patented, but this one had a cup-shaped head to better hold the ball. Other patents have been issued for tees made of different composite materials; for example, a biodegradable resin was used to make a golf tee in 1991.

In 2004, the United States Golf Association and the Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew's amended the official rules of golf for both clarity and ease of play. Among these changes was a new definition for “tee”. Relating to this new definition, Rule 11-1 introduced a new penalty of disqualification for using a tee not described in these new classifications. This includes any tee longer than four inches, even though newly-patented tees may exceed this measurement.

Since 1947, when the PGA of America began awarding the Vardon Trophy (for best yearly average) using the scores themselves rather than a points system, a steady trend has emerged. Between 1951 and 1987, the majority of winning averages were between 70 and 70.85. In the years between 1988 and 1996, the average winner's results were approximately 69.35. However, the more recent scores have improved; the average winning score between 1997 and 2005 is 68.62. In fact, the lowest average score on record was achieved within those 9 years (67.79 by Tiger Woods in 2000). The invention and improvement of equipment has surely aided these great golfers, as well as any other person enjoying this sport today.

A basic golf ball is made up of two layers, consisting of solid rubber, and a material called thermoplastic, or ionomer resin.

When a ball is hit it and flies into the air, a ball goes through two aerodynamic forces, which are lift and drag. The drag is created by the air, passing by the ball. Lift occurs when a ball is hit hard enough that the air pushes it upward into the sky. It is often mistakenly said that these two forces are created by the dimples on a ball. This is false. Dimples only make the forces greater or lesser effect of a ball. Dimples help a ball fly, because rather than a flat ball it carries with the wind.

With all this said, the less expensive balls may have less complex dimple structure, causing it to have less of an effect on the wind currents. More expensive balls may have more complicated dimples causing the ball to have more of an effect on the air currents. These differences may very well be the drastic difference in price.

What are you thinking about as you prepare for your chip shot. Think seriously about this, what exactly are you thinking?

Probably you have in your mind the words of your instructor,” hit down on the ball” or perhaps “hold the hands forward” or create a slight wrist cock. Good advice at times but why are you reading this article? Because good advice of this sort is mechanical that only works under perfect conditions which are proper mental conditioning and lots of practice.

You are still looking for a solution because you are simply not able to chip that tiny little golf ball consistently in spite of all the good advice.

A big problem with some instructors is that they go by the book, they teach you the things you have to do but they don't really tell you the things that you shouldn't do. By adding more and more mechanical techniques they add to your confusion and your golf game suffers.

You are still fluffing it, sculling it, shanking it topping it and generally lacking the precision needed for a consistent quality shot.

More than likely you are thinking thoughts of uncertainty and feeling insecure because your experiences of past flubs are circumspect. You just aren't sure of yourself in this situation.

Let's fix that for you now once and for all.

Golf is a mental game; fix the problem mentally. But in order to fix a problem you must first identify the real causes of your lack of success.

Has anyone ever told you the problem with poor chipping is lack of body discipline and uncontrolled movement? I watched the pros and I studied their body discipline and saw poetry in motion so to speak. In contrast I studied hundreds of amateurs and guess what the difference was compared to the professionals.

In most cases they were dancing as they hit the ball, yes dancing. They weren't all dancing to the same tune because the movements were different. They were following the instructions to the letter, perfect grip, hands a little advanced, hit down on the ball, etc, etc, but they were flubbing the ball and shanking it and if they did succeed to make a decent chip shot they still left themselves long unattractive putts.

Here's what the common error is, I call it dancing but in reality it is the inability to stay still and locked in during the four stages of the motion, swing back, swing forward, hit the ball and follow through. For chipping the legs should not follow the rhythm of the swing but they naturally do both with the backswing and follow through resulting in all the aforementioned problems.

Since golf is a mental game here is the fix you need to make perfect chips every time.

I'm not going to give you any mechanical tips, if you are a golfer reading this you have all the mechanics you need to know so from this point on it's your mental approach that is going to be fixed.

Here is the mental picture you have to establish and indelibly imprint in your sub conscious mind. After a while it will become automatic and the results will be amazing. You only have to do this to prove to your self that it really works.

With a pitching wedge in your hand standing over the ball mentally nail the toe of your left shoe and then the toe of your right shoe into the ground solidly with a hammer. Mentally try to move your feet but find that you can't budge them, they are locked.

At the same time imagine your knees being strapped tightly to an upright post. Mentally try to move them either way but find them locked in an unmovable position.

With this mental picture being developed and respected make the chip. It may take a little time if you have a thick skull but persevere and the results will come. Keeping the legs and feet under control is the solution to practically all chipping problems and a key to making your golf buddies jealous at your greatly improved short game.

Good golfing!

There is two ways to put spin on the golf ball and can be used in different situations. The first situation is when the pin is in the back of the green and you want it close. First make sure you select the correct wedge that you know you can fly all the way to the pin. Next open up your stance as well as your club face. This shot I recommend you take one more club then usual. Take a nice easy back swing and accelerate forward making sure you hit the ball then a little bit of turf, this shot you do not want a giant divot but want to swing easy.

This will allow the ball to fly high in the air and will stop and have a little backspin or just sit their. The next shot is when the pin is in the front of the green and there is no room to hit and run. Take a shallow stance and place the ball back in your stance off your right heel with the club face square. Take a ½ to ¾ swing but this shot requires a lot of club head speed coming down but requires you to hit the ball right between the turf and the ball on the right angle to generate maximum spin.

If you're asking what about when the pin is in the center of the green... Simple this is when you hit the nice straight shot land it ten feet in front of the pin and watch it roll up their. Typically you would shape these shots with a fade or draw, but it is extremely hard to fade your high lofted wedges. If you have any questions about how to do this further, or anything you do not understand just send me a message.

Go to your local golf course and start off with chipping to loosen up. Next set up a circle of tees around the hole, this way you have a target where you will be comfortable with a tap in. I like to make a 1 and 1/2 to 2 foot cirlce in diameter. Although I am a good putter as well I have become an excellent chipper where I should be inside that distance 9 out of 10 times. Now that you have the circle set up practice different shots. Expierement with what you can do! Soon you will learn new shots with out even noticing you are learning them. Try hitting real low shots with a lofted wedge to get the ball to check and roll as well as flop shots when you need the ball to stop. Already believe you do stuff like this? Well have you ever used an 8 iron or 7 iron to chip those long green side rollers. The only way to get better at chipping is if you try different shots from different lengths but stay within the 120 yard range down to the 5 foot flopper depending how far you hit your wedges. That is one of the many drills I use when working on my short game.

Next is possibly one of the most important attributes of an excellent golf... A good putter. Now most amateur golfers ask themselves how do i hold it? how far do i bring it back? where do I put it in my stance? The answer to this can simply not be answered. If you turn on the golf channel and watch the pros putt their is not one person who has the same exact putting stroke as another. Here is how to figure this out. Find a grip that feels comfortable and then experiment. Get a really good read of a 10 foot putt and putt 5 different balls start at the front of your stance and work your way back until you find a comfortable position. And last do not get tense! Stay relaxed.

Next for the drill. Set up tees 2 feet away, right behind it 5 feet away, then 10 feet away, and last 25 feet away. Before starting the drill I reccommend taking a few lag puts to get a feel of the green. Lag putts are the easiest way to get the feel for a green and is what the majority of scratch golfers do before working on the 5 footers. Now start at the 2 footer and make 5 putts in a row and keep going until you finish. Or start by making 1 from each without missing in between to get yourself used to consistency. For the next practice routine I use as well as many other players is set balls around in a 3 foot diameter around the whole and do not leave until you can make 10 in a row. I know it may be hard at first but soon you will be making them 19 out of 20 times. The 3 foot putts are what will save you par or even bogey. If you truely want to be a good putter you will have to learn to be strict on yourself. Tell yourself you can not go golf 9 holes with your buddies until you make the 10 putts in a row. Eventually when you master that go ahead and move it back to 3 and 1/2 feet until your comfortable with that. I promise you if you practice, practice, PRACTICE..., you will soon be a much better golfer.

If that is the case then you are probably going about things the wrong way by trying to emulate the tournament pros. They're in a different league from us and play a different game, they practice daily and have coaches for every facet of their game, they also know the basics so well that it is second nature to them. When the pros struggle it's with the little tweaks they are using to get that extra optimization out of their performance.

Trying to hit the ball the maximum distance might be great to get rid of some pent up frustration, but it's the wrong thing entirely to produce an accurate shot. Before you try to optimize your swing for distance, you really should try to optimize it for accuracy and predictability first. The most overlooked fault in golf is using way too much effort.

If you are always trying to hit the golf ball as if it was fired from a canon, then you are using far too much energy, your accuracy will be off and your distance for any given club will be erratic with a good chance of producing a slice or a hook.

The pros didn't start off with the swing they use today, they've put a lot of effort and optimization into their swing over a long period of time. First they had the basics, a solid foundation and a solid swing to build on, they had all the basics working and ingrained in their muscle memory before they built it up to the swing they have today. It's these same basic principles that we have to concentrate on first and the most important of them is to get rid of all the variable bits of the swing that can cause problems.

The longer the back swing the more room there is for your swing to be on the wrong plane and the easier it is for you to go out of balance, it's less troublesome to use a short back swing. Using a full back swing would come into the optimizing stage, you will find it more beneficial at this stage to have a full follow through rather than a full back swing.

Speed is another thing that is used wrongly and is better kept for the optimization stage. It is not how fast you can swing that produces power, but how fast the club head passes through the impact zone. There is a great tendency for high handicappers to swing too quickly, both the back swing and the forward swing. This is really important, there is no need for any great speed and the faster you swing the more your timing and balance will be negatively affected.

Finally, hitting the golf ball hard to produce more power is never a good golf shot, golf is a more subtle game than that. You will achieve a greater distance with more accuracy by getting the club to impact the ball correctly on the right plane than you will by trying to hit it hard, club head speed produces power and is something that can best be worked on once the basics are mastered.

Next time you're on the course, try finesse and elegance instead of brute force and you'll have better results and more fun.

My own golf site is young and still growing, but it has some information, some quirky and some of a more conventional nature, but it still has a long way to go with more being added as time permits, most of all it is supposed to be fun. I hope you enjoy it.

Stay updated with daily results and information on the 2008 Buick Open.

This, believe it or not, is one of the many enjoyable parts of our favourite game, too many golfers get their enjoyment only from a good result which leads them to feeling frustrated most of the time.

The pros, at least the top pros, all have help from a lot of different sources, eg. swing coach, mental coach, coarse analysts, and of course not forgetting their caddy who does a lot more than just carry their equipment for them.

Most of us, however, have to rely on nothing more than ourselves and maybe a few lessons from the local pro now and again, so getting to know our own swing and adapting what we have is imperative and a good pro will help us achieve this when we do get a lesson.

Our local pro is not with us when we are playing golf, so his advice on correcting our swing faults is not available when we most need it. This is why we have to be able to analyze our own swing and get to know each and every part of it.

As far as our swing goes, it's the basics that we struggle to get right, if we don't know the fundamentals then we have nothing to rely on when things go wrong, that fundamental method that we know works every time and gives us a straight shot, no heroics, no great distance, but something that we know will produce a certain outcome.

In order to get the basics right, we have to be aware of our swing, the path it is taking, and whether the club face is square at impact. Getting our stance right is less important, an open or closed stance should not matter if the swing trajectory and club face is right, it is still possible to produce an accurate and straight shot, the only part of our stance we need to get right is what they call the athletic stance, straight back, chin up, bend from the hips. Apart from these, it's your personal swing that you have to work with.

When most golfers are preparing for a shot, they take a couple of practice swings and concentrate on... what?

Usually, a lot of things like, are they lined up right, is the club head just skimming the grass at the right spot, is their left arm straight..., and a whole collection of other things. What they should be concentrating on is the swing, they should be aware of what the club is doing during it's complete journey from being at rest all the way through the back swing until it returns to the impact zone. Not just the trajectory of the club, but also what is happening to the club face.

Once we stand up to the ball, get our balance right and take a look at the green, trust in your own natural ability that you will be lined up correctly, you really don't have to worry about that, our brains are well capable of doing this automatically.

So next time your on the course or at the driving range, trust your mind to control the things it can and concentrate instead on what your swing is doing, once you get proficient at that, the basics will become obvious and, more to the point, you will understand them and be able to return to them whenever you need to.

My own golf site is young and still growing, but it has some information, some quirky and some of a more conventional nature, but it still has a long way to go with more being added as time permits, most of all it is supposed to be fun. I hope you enjoy it.