Dustin Johnson rides pressure to mark his comeback with Doral title

It is debatable whether this is the biggest win of Dustin Johnson’s career. He already had a WGC title to his name before adding the first such event of 2015. It is, though, unquestionably the most significant and by quite some distance.
In only his fifth tournament since returning from a six-month absence to address what he called “personal challenges”, Johnson found himself back on the podium. The 30-year-old’s golfing talent has never been in question; an ability to develop that, rather than succumb to the distractions of life, more so.
Perhaps fatherhood – Johnson became a dad in mid-January – will bring a fresh sense of maturity. Upon his return to competitive golf Johnson had admitted to a damaging relationship with alcohol; now the headlines around him are suddenly more endearing. For the eighth season in succession Johnson will have at least one victory to his name. That is the best streak on the PGA Tour.
He has catapulted himself into the top six in the world rankings and, if not already, is a live candidate for the Masters in April. The ease with which Johnson handled pressure over the closing stretch at Doral is not particularly common in professional golf. Should Johnson harness that more often he will win multiple major championships.
Johnson prevailed by one shot, a success secured with a closing round of 69. Given the ferocious set-up of the Blue Monster course there should be no shock at all attached to the fact some of the biggest hitters on tour made up the numbers. That said, Johnson led greens in regulation as well as driving distance over the four tournament days.
Bubba Watson, seeking to become the only player other than Tiger Woods to claim back-to-back WGC titles, raced into a two-shot lead at the turn but frittered away three strokes on the inward nine. The two-times Masters champion finished third.
Watson had briefly been the one to upstage JB Holmes, who had led by five with 18 holes to play. Holmes, who partnered Johnson, had to hole from 43ft on the final green to force a play-off. As the putt slid right of the cup Johnson knew he had two to win and made no mistake with a lag from the fringe of the green. “Welcome back” was the general message to Johnson from golfing insiders thereafter.
“It has been a tough road but a lot of really good things came out of it,” said Johnson of his recent absence. “It feels awesome to get that win. I knew I was really good, I just knew there was something missing that could make me great. I started working hard on that and it is showing now. This might be the best win.”
Johnson’s fiancee, Paulina Gretzky, and baby Tatum were on hand to celebrate the triumph. Adam Scott will rue what might have been, the Australian’s 75 on day three ultimately costing him a proper tilt at glory. He finished fourth, five adrift of Johnson, after shooting a Sunday 71.
“I’m very happy with what I saw out there,” said Scott. “It felt like I started off the year on the right foot. Hopefully I can build on this and just get better.”
Rory McIlroy’s week was rather summed up on the 72nd hole. The Northern Irishman had produced his finest golf of the tournament to get to two under par for his closing round before dumping the same number of balls into a water hazard from the tee.
Fittingly the second of them came from the face of the three-iron which he had tossed into a lake on Friday. A double bogey was the consequence. Before exiting Miami, McIlroy was to return the infamous club to Donald Trump, Doral’s proprietor, who had earlier presented it to the world No1 on the driving range. His tie for ninth seemed somewhat inconsequential by close of play; this is a work in progress with Augusta National in mind.
“My game is just not quite there,” McIlroy admitted. “I’ve got a week off now to try and work on it a little bit. I am pretty disappointed with how I played overall. I felt it was a little better again today for the most part but that was a bit of a disappointing finish. It is just not quite 100%.”
Johnson has no such concerns. If this is an indicator of things to come, very interesting times await.

Can You Play Golf Very Well?

As golf clubs could be the single most expensive equipment that a player would end up buying for golf, it would not come as a surprise that a lot of the golf instruction online recommend that the person should ensure that the club would perfectly match the person to get his money's worth. Exclusive golf stores offer such treatment. This helps give a powerful and smooth swing with less effort and strength needed. It would also help the person keep his balance while swinging.

To start, a player should know that each club is numbered and that each number corresponds to how far it can make the ball fly at the given type of club. The larger the number, the shorter is the resulting flight distance. His calm and peaceful persona was soon replaced with a highly competitive spirit as he immediately started giving unsolicited golf tips. By the time we'd reached the 17th green he was barking commands at me.

Usually a decent golfer but whatever they do they're not happy with it. If they'll do a superb 150 yard pitch onto the green, just yards from the flag, they'll complain they've left themselves a downhill putt. Don't expect many compliments from these hard task masters. They believe golf's all about power and speed and frequently let rip, consequently spending a fair bit of time digging out balls in places most golfers have never ventured before. Great fun if you're up for an adventure but don't expect a quiet life.

Whenever we go to play there is at least in most areas never a shortage of options, as there are golf deals all around. Many municipalities around the country got in on it, thinking that it would not only help their communities aesthetically but financially as well. As long as people kept coming to the courses and paying their green fees, the money kept rolling in. But it is leading to fewer golf courses to play. In Minnesota for instance, the golf course building craze led to 147 new courses in the years between 1990 and 2009. Now that trend is reversing as more courses are closing down, which is to be expected because many are losing thousands of dollars each year to stay open.

We just have to remember that it's still a business, and though we might feel frustrated when we go to the course for a round of golf and find that there's a tournament or golf outing going on, that those are the types of events that paid a lot of the bills for a golf course. Plus the driver and woods can also have tolerances in center of gravity, face angle, and construction of the head. Remember this, the cheaper the driver, wood, or irons you buy, the greater the tolerances.

The sad part of this whole thing is, if you buy irons that can't be bent for loft and lie because the steel is too hard to bend, you are stuck with what you have and you and your game suffer and you get awfully frustrated. That makes it necessary to not only get the proper shaft for you, but to make sure of the shaft bend profiles are sorted to best suit you. Your clubs also have to be matched for you. If the weight of the club head are +/- 2 grams, that means that the clubs you just bought are probably not even swing weight matched.

How Much Do You Understand Tennis?

To learn more about the common mistakes and some of the remedies, I interviewed Rick Macci. Macci, who runs a tennis facility in Boca Raton, Florida, is regarded as one of the best tennis coaches in the country. He has coached many top junior and a lot of top tennis professionals. Players tend to not use their legs enough on their strokes. They play primarily with their arms. Macci suggests that players bend their knees as if they are about to sit in a chair and then push down and drive. Weekend warriors abbreviate their follow through because they are afraid of hitting the ball out. They decelerate and stop the racket. Make a fluid full swing.

Macci feels that players ought to use the backhand slice more often. This shot is reliable and accurate and can be be a real weapon in matches. For most young novice and intermediate competitor, it's good to pick and choose shorter tennis racquet to acquire overall flexibility in your moves. Heavy racquet will usually give you the steadiness of your strike. The lighter weight racket can sway faster than the heavier racquet. Moreover, with regard to the stiffness; the more stiffly the racquet is, the greater jolt is generated in your fingers. Let's take a look at the type of material used to produce best rackets.

In the market, we can purchase good tennis racquet which is formulated from black lead coupled with boron and titanium to form a lighter and more solid lawn tennis racquet. When involved in tasks they need to perform, they take on identities which are quite remarkable and have little to do with mundane lines of thinking. The process of creating a mentality that would foster high performance may be stimulated by emulation of top performers' patterns of thinking and behaviour. More specifically, it may rely on the integration of concepts, strategies and perspectives which are most frequently employed and prioritized by elite professional tennis players. Such a selection, amongst others, comprises the growth mindset, task mastery and powerful self-presentation.

How Much Do You Learn About Yoga?

When it comes to yoga, some may assume that gratitude means tipping your instructor at the end of class. However, gratitude and yoga actually go hand in hand, with each affecting the other. Yoga and gratitude both improve a person's ability to handle stress (which directly impacts physical health) and improve the way a person interacts with others. Both also rid the body of negative emotions, replacing them with positive ones. When this happens, good health generates itself. Gratitude is a way of deeply appreciating the full spectrum of life - the good and the bad, the joy and the suffering. Yoga provides a mindful practice to invite one to respond to the full spectrum of life from the highest place with in oneself. Like mentioned before, gratitude can be easy to lose in the couch cushions of life. But, there are a few tricks of the trade aimed at helping gratitude flourish.

Another thing that can be helpful is getting a small notebook and writing down three or five small things that you are grateful for, like the sunshine, the time to reflect, clean clothes, and a warm cup of tea. Writing is a great tool for self reflection, writing down thoughts of what are you thankful for helps you cultivate gratitude. So much of our health and overall well being is determined by the way we think, programming our brains will program our lives. Recently, naked yoga has become more popular in some areas, and it is quite possible that some who have not been drawn to the practice of yoga previously may find their interest (among other things) aroused by this style of yoga.

Participation in a yoga class can help one to overcome negative feelings about nudity, whether those feelings are toward one's own nakedness or that of others, and can be an aid in getting more comfortable with one's personal body type. Particularly in men-only classes, the penis is discussed and information is given related to specific energies that may be radiating through the organ. In some partner-based exercises, there may be physical contact with the penis.

Here Are 5 Benefits Of Running In The Cold

Races usually start early in the morning, at 8 am. I know, for my first couple of runs, I'd get there at 6 in the morning for registration and its cold as a bitch. I'm freezing, my cheeks are numb; my hands feel like ice, I can't feel my ass, and I wonder "why the hell did I sign up for this damn race?" Well, good news, people. Running in the cold actually has its benefits. It's actually better to start training in the cold so that way, you can prep your body and get used to it.

Here are 5 benefits of running in the cold

Running in the cold increases your stamina. Of course, running in the cold is difficult, and it takes not only motivation, but perseverance to do it. The cold, like all adverse weather conditions, trains your body to function during difficult times—much like the later stages of a race will be. Increasing your stamina by running in the cold and adverse weather conditions of winter will increase your race performance.

Running in the cold develops and enhances mental toughness. Just as your body benefits from running in adverse conditions, your mind benefits as well. The mental fortitude gained by running in the cold can propel you to the finish line of a race when the going gets tough.

Running in the cold trains you for cold-weather races. If you live somewhere that sees cold weather for a significant part of the year, running in the cold is inevitable. Just as inevitable, if you are an avid racer, is running a race in the cold. Training in the cold mimics race-time conditions, allowing your body to become used to what it will experience during a race and increasing race day performance.

Running in the cold prepares you for a more productive spring running season. Most cold weather running takes place during the winter months, when many armchair athletes remain dormant. Bucking this trend and running in the cold prepares you for increased performance come springtime. Maintaining a base level of fitness throughout the winter months results in faster runs and better endurance during the following spring and summer running seasons.

Running in the cold is less difficult than running when it is hot. While running, the body generates excess heat that is exhausted through the skin. Running in the cold keeps the body cool, allowing heat to escape more readily. With proper cold weather gear, running in the cold can be easier than running on a hot summer day.