Jack Trends

Today let’s have a glance at a golf course– Planter’s Row

Planter’s Row is publicly considered to be one of the narrowest golf courses in Port Royal; one can prove it by counting the bark scuffs on your ball at the end of the round. There will be plenty. On second thought, count the scuffs as you go – you might lose a few spheres along the way.

The 18 holes are carved out of a forest of mature trees and feature relatively small but PDQ (pretty darned quick) greens. It put me in mind of the many 80-year-old, old-fashioned country clubs up north that were set into the woods, leaving as many trees as possible.
 

“Planter’s Row offers a different look than its sister courses at Port Royal, with rolling, tree-lined fairways in a park-like setting,” said Director of Golf Ken McNerney. “It’s the only course of the three without any homes on it. Water comes into play on 10 of the 18 holes, and avoiding the trees on any given hole is a challenge,” he added.
 

The golf course doesn’t go hog-wild with bunkers, but those that are there are very strategically placed. Water, when it appears, is anything but subtle. There is a water carry to the green on three holes, depending on where you put your approach shot.
 

Planter’s Row requires well-thought-out and perfectly executed golf. Either your game is up to it, or you’ll become aware of your flaws in a hurry.
 

facilities
 

Port Royal’s three courses share an elaborate practice facility, with several putting areas, at least two bunker areas and a dozen driving range stations. The golf club just added a short game area for shots up to 80 yards (a.k.a. the score-trimming shots).

Instruction is through the PGA Tour Academy, one of six Tour Academies in the country, according to McNerney. There are two full-time teaching professionals on site who offer multi-day golf schools, private lessons or through clinics three days a week.
 

The starter area is a little chaotic because it’s the orchestration area for all three courses at Port Royal Golf Club – Barony, Robber’s Row and Planter’s Row. All of the courses get a lot of play, about 100,000 rounds per year total, so be patient and arrive in plenty of time to make your tee time.

After your round, check out the new Port Royal clubhouse. Built two years ago, it’s regal, elegant and offers nooks and crannies for intimate settings of any size. I liked the library area, with dark wood bookcases surrounding a flat-screen TV. The veranda is a nice place to be for private events or in-season Sunday brunch.

Standout holes

Planter’s Row’s fifth hole, a par 5, is a calculation nightmare because the middle portion of the fairway is a peninsula that juts out from the right side. One has to clear water off the tee, but avoid the watery left side, then clear water again at about 200 yards. If that’s not enough, there is more water, then sand, on the right side from mid-fairway on to the green. Yes, it’s the toughest hole on the course. Short of hitting through fire, I’m not sure they could come up with any other challenges.

Thankfully, they tone it tone to a benign par 3 for the sixth.

The stress level rachets up again at the thinking-man’s eighth hole, a sharp dogleg right with sand at the far corner and a 26-yard-wide amoeba-shaped green amid three large bunkers. Shot placement is everything on this one.

The 10th hole plays a little trick in that the right bunkers near the green don’t abut the putting surface, but are about 20 yards in front of it. It’s important information to know, an inside joke on first-timers.

The second hardest handicap is on the 12th, a rough par 4 with lots of water between your second shot and the green. Chances are, you’ll lay up to launch your shot over an interrupted fairway onto the green, making a one-putt required for par. Oh, and by the way, it’s narrow, too.

The verdict

Planter’s Row is a challenging course that mixes it up a bit, so it’s anything but tedious. The golf course is not excessively long – 6,625 at the tips and 5,920 from the whites – so keep that in mind and leave the driver in the bag. Given that trees pin in nearly every fairway, a 3 wood will keep you golfing instead of playing ping-pong through the woods.

Angie Taylor grins sheepishly. “Before we go to the park, the rule is that the blocks all get picked up and put back in their bins. Of course, once we get back, they get dumped right back out again. At least the room is clean for a half-hour a day.” Though she hates the constant mess, Angie recognizes the benefits of block play for her children, and has decided to, for the most part, just look the other way. “I figure, once they’re in college my house will be clean. And in the meantime, they’re not watching much TV!”

Angie’s children, ages two, four and seven love playing with their blocks, and they own several sets of varying types. And, as they play, they are developing skills and learning concepts.

Cause and Effect

Everyone loves to build a good block tower, then knock it down. Angie’s two-year-old, Seth, is working on his fine motor skills and concentration. “He will build towers for an hour or more,” says Angie. “And he seems so focused the whole time. It’s one of the only things he does with this much concentration.” Learning to balance the blocks on top of each other is teaching Seth concepts of gravity and balance and increasing his hand-eye coordination. Of course, when he knocks over his big brother or sister’s towers he learns a whole different kind of cause and effect!

Concentration

Seth isn’t the only one learning concentration skills. The older children spend lots of time making their creations just right, as well. Becca, the seven-year-old, lines her Lego houses up and spends lots of time with the finer details, such as window and door placement.

Fantasy Play

All three children engage in long, complicated imaginary play with their blocks. They build cities and towns, then drive matchbox cars through or invite action figures to move in. Becca says, “We like to make wild west towns with cowboys. And sometimes we do a map of our neighborhood. My favorite is the swimming pool.” Becca has integrated a piece of blue construction paper into the neighborhood, where Fisher Price People are enjoying a splash. She says that sometimes Seth comes along and destroys her villages, but she’s decided to just pretend that he’s King Kong. After the Seth devastation, she rebuilds the houses and schools.

Bradley, age four, sometimes joins Becca in her grand city development schemes, but he often prefers to help Seth find innovative ways to build and destroy. Both boys are big fans of cause and effect. Brad has found that using his helicopters, planes and large cars makes some really cool crashes. He spends increasingly longer amounts of time getting his towers and structures just right…then practicing destruction in varying amounts of force, to see how far he can get the blocks to fly. Though it might just look like aggression and devastation, Bradley is learning spatial concepts, geometry and physics.

All three kids agree that playing with blocks is pretty cool.

The Taylor family owns many different types of blocks:

Brightly painted wooden blocks Log-style blocks Both small and large plastic brick blocks Nesting blocks – hard plastic and a softer, fabric set Large cardboard blocks

At the beginning of the season many fantasy football experts made their predictions and backed them up with solid facts and expert knowledge. However, at the end of the day life and football aren’t always predictable so you watch, collect, analyze and synthesize data on games, players, coaches, teams and trends each season so next year you will have even more insight into how to dominate your leagues and win big.

So far the 2009 NFL season has produced some interesting twists, as well as fulfilled some of my expectations, but who knows what will really happen when we still have most of the second half of the season to follow.  In September I made some pretty clear predictions about what teams would succeed and fail, in a few cases it seems I was dead on in my thinking, in other cases things have not gone as I planned. Here are a few examples:

<b>My Best and Worst Predictions for the 2009-2010 NFL Season</b>

<i>My Best Prediction:</i>
The Vikings and Saints would win their divisions.

<i>My Worst Prediction:</i>
Tampa Bay and the New York Jets would win their divisions.

<b>My Thoughts on the 2nd Half of the 2009-2010 NFL Season</b>

As we draw closer to the Super Bowl I think we are going to see a few key things happen. First, Dallas will win the NFC East. Second, Philadelphia and San Francisco will win the two NFC wild cards. Third, the NFC representative of the Super Bowl will be New Orleans or Dallas. Although New Orleans is the best team in the NFC right now Minnesota or Dallas have the strength and skill to beat them.   

As far as the AFC is concerned I have been surprised at how well the Colts have played this year. Houston has also shocked me with their unbelievable inconsistency. I predict the AFC representative in the Super Bowl will be the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals have really been a surprise this year, however they do need to watch out for the Colts or the Patriots

<b>The Best Games in the 2009-2010 NFL Season</b>

So far this year the best games played have been the Patriots vs. the Colts on November 15, the Browns vs. the Lions on November 22 and the Packers vs. the Vikings on October 5. All of these games were memorable and exciting.  Coming up I predict the Vikings vs. the Bengals on December 13 will keep everyone on the edge of their seats. This game will show us if the Bengals truly have a chance to make it to the Super Bowl or if Favre has the chance to end his career with a Super Bowl win.

The Cowboys vs. the Saints, scheduled for a rare Saturday game on December 19, should be a fantastic showdown. There is a chance the Saints will enter the game undefeated and the Cowboys are a team that could hand the Saints their first loss of the season. The Christmas day game featuring the Chargers vs. the Titans will be a treat. Even though the Titans haven’t lived up to RB Chris Johnson’s prediction that they would win 10 games in a row, they are still contenders for the playoffs.

<b>Football: An Irresistible Addiction for NFL and Fantasy Sports Fans Alike</b>

As the Super Bowl draws closer I expect to see even fiercer competition and any teams planning to step up their game in the 2nd half of the season will emerge in the next few weeks. As I said in the beginning life and football aren’t always predictable and sometimes the most exciting experiences come from what no one saw coming. This is why so many fantasy football fanatics are addicted to watching the games on TV and participating in fantasy leagues. I can’t wait  to see what the final outcome will be this season and whether my predictions are correct or not I will enjoy the season to the fullest.  

For more information about fantasy football or NFL news visit the Stinkball.com blog at http://www.stinkball.com/blog.

NFL Power Rankings Week 14 – Top 32 NFL Football Teams

All Saints Day came this past Sunday for Who Dat? nation. New Orleans pulled off an unimaginable comeback win and remain the NFL’s cream of the crop. For the ninth straight week the Saints own the No. 1 spot and the Colts are No. 2 in WEEI’s NFL Power Rankings. The teams in this week’s Top 5 stay the same — however the Chargers jumped ahead of the Bengals one spot after their seventh-straight win.

The Patriots dropped to their lowest spot all year after another poor second-half performance against the Dolphins. Tom Brady and crew sit at No. 12 and hope to bounce back at home Sunday against a poor Carolina team. The Patriots have been terrible on the road, and with that loss to Miami they’ve all but eliminated themselves from getting a first-round bye.

As for some other notables, the Super Bowl XLIII champion Pittsburgh Steelers plummet two more spots and now are looking up from No. 15.

Eli Manning and the New York Giants made the biggest jump and enter the Top 10 at No. 9 after a huge NFC East win against the Cowboys. Now, the Giants will face another division foe when the Eagles come to town next week.

1. (Last week, 1) 12-0 Unbelievable win for the Saints, as they continue to cruise into the playoffs. They have intelligent players that continue to make big plays. Robert Meachem’s strip and return for a touchdown is the type of play you only see on Super Bowl teams. Patriots fans have seen this before, and Saints fans are witnessing this now.

2. (2) 12-0 The Colts can soon start preparing for the postseason. It will be interesting to see if they decide to rest their players once they clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Historically they have done so under Tony Dungy, but now the decision lies in the hands of Jim Caldwell.

3. (3) 10-2 The Vikings lacked a balanced offense because their run game was non-existent. I wouldn’t count on Adrian Peterson having that type of performance ever again. However, the Vikings are still one of the best teams in the NFL despite the loss to Arizona.

4. (5) 9-3 Every year this happens with the Chargers. It’s like clockwork. Seven-straight wins and there is no slowing down. The showdown for the No. 2 seed in the AFC is just two weeks away when the Bengals travel to San Diego to face off for that first-round bye.

5. (4) 9-3 After receiving an early Christmas gift on the schedule getting the Lions in December, the Bengals have their work cut out for them the next two weeks when they travel to Minnesota and San Diego.

6. (7) 8-4 The Cardinals offense is one of the best in the league, but their defense has to get the props in the game against the Vikings. Arizona’s D held Peterson to just 19 yards rushing — not too many teams can hold Peterson to 100 yards rushing.

7. (9) 8-4 Awesome to watch Michael Vick get into the end zone in Atlanta. The Eagles have a tough stretch their last four games — they’ll face the Giants in New York, Denver, San Francisco, and the Cowboys in Dallas.

8. (10) 8-4 Green Bay is in a great position to win a wild card playoff berth, but they have to run the ball better to balance their offense and eliminate penalties-especially on defense. Aaron Rodgers has played great of late and the Packers can be a tough team to beat in the NFC if Rodgers continues to play at a high level and gets some protection from his line.

9. (17) 7-5 A win against the Eagles on Sunday will put the G-Men in the driver’s seat for the NFC title because they’ll have the best division record in the NFC East. A loss will group them in a cluster of NFC teams fighting for a playoff spot.

10. (8) 8-4 The Cowboys get criticized every year in December, and if they want to prove their doubters wrong, this would be the season to do it. They’ll face the Chargers — who get better in December — and the Saints, who haven’t lost a game all year.

11. (11) 8-4 The Bronco’s have great depth at the half back position with Knowshon Moreno and Correll Buckhalter and they compliment Brandon Marshall and the receivers well. Denver will face their toughest test all year when they travel to Indianapolis on Sunday.

12. (6) 7-5 Terrible play calling, the inability to score in the red zone, and a mediocre pass rush are just a few reasons why the Patriots are clinging to the AFC East lead.

13. (16) 7-5 Four wins in their last five games has the Jaguars in the playoff picture. The Jags controls their own destiny. However they’ll face three straight playoff caliber teams down the stretch.

14. (13) 6-6 No excuses for the Steelers in their embarrassing loss to the Raiders. It is tough to believe this team is the defending Super Bowl champions. The Steelers are lacking intensity and that championship swagger we saw last year.

15. (14) 6-6 Joe Flacco is a solid young quarterback, but he obviously needs to make better decisions on the field. His decision to throw the ball across his body on 2nd and goal is a mistake rookies shouldn’t even make. Fourth-quarter interceptions eliminate your team’s chances of winning, and Flacco threw two on Monday night.

16. (12) 5-7 We finally saw Vince Young make a few bad decisions in the loss to the Colts, but I believe the Titans still will finish the season strong, and end 2009 proud of the way they played the second half of the season.

17. (20) 6-6 With a little help, the Dolphins have a chance of winning the division with a 4-2 record in the AFC East. However, the Wildcat just isn’t the same without Ronnie Brown.

18. (15) 6-6 The Falcons desperately need Matt Ryan to return if they want to make the playoffs. Atlanta is a loss away from missing the playoffs this year because nine wins won’t get the job done in the NFC.

19. (21) 6-6 Slide Sanchez Slide! The growing pains continue in New York for rookie QB Mark Sanchez. The Jets are in the playoff hunt, but can’t afford any more losses and they still have to face the Colts and the Bengals.

20. (18) 5-7 The Texans showed a lot of promise this season, but their playoff hopes are all but over. Their inconsistency and inability to close games killed them this year.

21. (19) 5-7  Alex Smith is showing signs he can be a solid QB in the NFL. Great performance by Smith turning in his first 300-yard performance of his career on Sunday.

22. (22) 5-7 When a team has lost four straight, the Rams are the best medicine. The Bears finally got a win, but played sloppy. This type of performance against stronger teams won’t get them a win like it did on Sunday.

23. (24) 3-9 The Redskins were just one chip-shot field goal away of doing what no team this year has been able to do — beat the Saints. It should come as no surprise that the Skins will be working out kickers this week in Washington.

24. (23) 4-8 The Bills had a chance to win their game against the Jets and that’s all they can really ask for right now. Their defeat marked their tenth straight loss in a prime time game — Buffalo’s last win on national TV was back in 2001.

25. (25) 5-7 This time the Panthers were the ones catching the interceptions, not throwing them. The result was a win. I’m sticking to my prediction that Jake Delhomme won’t play the rest of the season.

26. (26) 5-7 Great performance by Matt Hasselbeck for a team that is finally starting to get healthy. The Seahawks are enjoying their first two-game winning streak this year.

27. (28) 4-8 JaMarcus who?!?!  Bruce Gradkowski’s comeback win against the defending Super Bowl champions showed he can compete in this league. Unbelievable win for the silver and black.

28. (27) 3-9 Matt Cassel was just 10-for-29 against the Broncos. Cassel has looked like a backup quarterback for most of the year and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for the former Patriot.

29. (29) 1-11 The Rams have a couple of things to be encouraged about going into the offseason. Steven Jackson is a young elite playmaker in the NFL and Chris Long is starting to show signs of becoming a dominant player.

30. (31) 2-10 The Lions franchise quarterback has been beat up pretty hard this year. Detroit needs to figure out a way to protect Matthew Stafford before he suffers a more serious injury.

31. (30) 1-11 Five interceptions in one game is a great learning experience for the Bucs young quarterback Josh Freeman. He is learning, and will have a good career.

32. (32) 1-11 The Browns lost their 10th straight home game on Sunday but did show some signs of life. A 16-point fourth quarter and just a seven-point loss to the Chargers should be something Cleveland fans should be proud of.

If you watch TV or follow celebs to things like the Emmy’s, you might have started to wonder HOW they look so damn good. Yea, they have money so they can afford to work out with a personal trainer, and they can afford to get things like liposuction. But is this really what they ARE doing or are we just assuming that’s what it is? Chances are they aren’t actually as skinny as they may look like they are, and what’s cool about this little trick is that you can do it too! And you don’t have to be a celeb that makes $50 million dollars a movie either!

One of the things you could consider looking into are these seamless shapewear and body shapewear options. Ultimately, these are products which you can buy in a store online that will “shape” your body. That means you can get rid of all those little annoying parts you hate such as back flab, or cellulite. Note, these don’t help you LOSE weight, they simply make you appear as if you’ve lost weight by using an innovative material that squeezes in all that excess body weight that makes you look “fat”. Sorry, don’t mean to be so blatant, but it is what it is!

These body shapers are a super quick, efficient and cost efficient way of looking your best – and it doesn’t include any surgery, any pain and any discomfort. In fact, most women that wear these products actually claim that they are really comfortable, more comfortable than anything they have ever tried before! This is great if you want to wear them to a party, get together, or if you want to wear them at work. Some people believe that in order to look good you HAVE to be in pain. I simply do not agree with that! These work quite easily as well, and it’s actually pretty easy to understand how they work.

These products are made out of sceptically engineered materials that “compress” specific parts of your body that need, well, to be compressed to put it lightly. This means getting a sleeker looking silhouette while also gaining comfort and confidence! Body shapers in general are not a new discovery, however, these seamless shapewear and body shapewear options are. By the way, if you are also looking for something more in the fashion department – a little something extra to add to your wardrobe, you can also take a look at support tights, which do the same thing for your legs that they do for the rest of your body.

They also give your legs the support they need when it comes to being on your feet a lot. No more aches and pains, no more pins and needles! These fashion tights come in all sorts of sizes, colors and patterns. So if you want to incorporate them into your style, you can do that as well! You can literally be as quiet and classy or wild and wacky as you want to be by matching these fashion tights up with your personality, what you are wearing that day, or you can even go with a theme if you are invited to something like a party.

We’ve all heard it -

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”.

And that’s true, as far as it goes. Your actions – your habits – that you take first thing in the morning set the stage for your day. Are you going to spend it listless, hungry, and fighting caffeine and nicotine cravings? Or will you be energetic and vibrant, of a postitive mental attitude to attack the day?

Here are the steps I take first thing in the morning to get started right!

Water – remember those 8 glasses a day you’re supposed to be drinking? Well, you may wake up groggy and thinking you crave coffee, but before you reach for that cup of joe, grab an ice-cold, tall glass of water. After a night of sleep, you wake up slightly dehydrated, but don’t yet feel it. Those cravings are frequently for water, but your caffeine addiction hides them. The cold ‘wakes up’ your metabolism, forcing your body to heat up to warm the water in your stomache. The water is used by the body, and the best side effect is it helps curb both cravings as well as hunger. After a couple of days of forcing yourself, you’ll find you want the water first, and frequently want more than one glass. Then, the coffee is an enjoyable part of the morning, no a necessity.

Move – I’m not a morning person. No even close. But the second habit is to get moving. (and not just down the stairs to the coffee maker – see #1 above!). The best thing to do is wake up 30 minutes early tomorrow, find a yoga show on TV, and do your best. First thing, don’t wait! You will feel awake, relaxed, and ready to go by the end, with the blood pumping and energizing your brain. Can’t do it? Making excuses? Then at least do 10 push-ups and 10 sit-ups. You’ll get the heart pumping and probably want to stretch a bit too. Pretty soon, you’ll be on to your yoga show.

Vitamins – There are dozens of books and hundreds of quality websites on vitamins and their benefits. I take 4 different ones in the morning right now – a C-vitamin is an anti-oxident, good for your brain, and a slew of other benefits; a B-complex vitamin which is good for your immune system, nervous system, and your skin; a multi-vitamin; and fish oil for my Omega 3’s for brain health as well as helping keep my soft parts (like cartiledge) built up and healthy. Learn more about vitamins, and pick your daily cocktail!

Breakfast – last, but not the least important! Eating a breakfast has benefits all the day, especially helping you feel full and not craving food (which frequently leads to bad snacking). Whole wheat English Muffins or bagels, oatmeal, or (my favorite) Brown and Wild Rice with a sliced avocado and a lot of pepper! Eat in the morning for quality FUEL, but think about it and work to make it delicious so it’s something you want to do, not just make yourself do.

Like many things related to Healthy Weight Loss, common sense, moderation, and a little bit of knowledge can help you and your exercise routine maximize your results. Remember, anything you do for 30 days consistently becomes a habit that your body craves! Eat smart and Healthy and see the results sooner!

Digital camera reviews are abundant not just online but also in the newspapers, magazines and even TV shows. We often wonder why most digital camera reviews always praise all the digital camera out in the market, that’s why we end up getting confused on which product to buy or get our loved ones.

Here’s one thing you should never trust regarding digital camera reviews – never trust press releases or reviews that are directly from the manufacturer or advertising office that is directly connected with producer of the digital camera. Why?! Well because these digital camera reviews are never too truthful, or they just give out the good points about their products. I mean, what would you expect, supposing you own your own line of digital cameras and to boost your sales, you release digital camera reviews about your products. Of course you wouldn’t point out the bad things or the glitches of your product in your digital camera reviews, because that way you will never be able to shoot up your sales. Press releases or digital camera reviews from manufacturer are always half-truths. Haven’t you had any experience with that?! I mean, that just doesn’t go for digital camera, remember that brush-blower thingy that you bought over the internet that says it would work tremendously for your hair, but ended not working for your hair after all. Press releases are press releases, meaning that they are aimed to get people to buy the product or to give the product a better name.

On more thing that you can never fully trust are home shopping networks and advertisements. As much as press releases, they pretty much pose the same claims about their products. But hey, don’t trust me, you can always get them and return them after proving to yourself that it doesn’t work. Never mind the time and effort that you’ve wasted, you chose to listen to a half-truth digital camera review, that’s what you get for that.

The best digital camera reviews available are those found in specialty magazines (computer based and technical magazines), special websites catering to techie stuff and unofficial digital camera reviews. Why?! Well because! Because these digital camera reviews are always truthful. These reviewers and critics are never afraid to list down the good as much as the bad points of digital cameras. These digital camera reviews usually points out the difference between the products that a certain manufacturer has released and how it is worse or better than the previous one. These reviewers and critics are also knowledgeable in their craft, so its say to safe to say that they know what they are talking about when it comes to digital camera reviews. One more thing, most of the time, these digital camera reviews are actual first hand experience with the product itself and not just some advertising agent asked to come up with flowery words to capture you and your wallet.

Another best source for a digital camera review is one that you can write yourself. And how can you do that?! Of course, you first need to buy your own digital camera, try it out and compare everything that you do with it to the things that it claims to be. (be careful to read the specs, options and features that you need to try out, be on the lookout for words such as weatherproof, meaning that they are splash resistant as to waterproof that are water resistant. You don’t want to get your newly bought weatherproof camera wet, just to prove to yourself that the things they claim are not true). After doing so, then you can write your own digital camera review or reviews, depending on how many things you’ve learned from your digital camera. Be sure to indicate that your review is an on-hand experience with the product and not just some wild guess.

The most honest digital camera reviews are the best reviews you can look for and trust. Anyway, you can always call customer center or return your digital camera if they don’t live up to their claims.