text:
Category Archives: Sociology
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication: Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship
Stumbling and Mumbling: Noise, signal & news
Danah Boyd: iewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace
CNET News.com: Yahoo hires economics, sociology researchers
BBC News: Two cautioned over wi-fi 'theft'
Police increasingly use Oyster card data
Oh dear… All of my pet subjects come together in one story: The Freedom of Information Act, Radio Frequency Identification technology and the theory of the "surviellant assemblage".
Journalists at the BBC have used the Freedom of Information Act to discover that police are increasingly using data collected using London Underground's Oyster cards in their investigations.
The RFID-based smartcard tickets have a unique identifier and can be used to track users' movements. This is very useful for transport management, but also very useful for police investigations. Police have requested data collected by the cards 61 times in January alone, compared with just seven requests in all of 2004.
Global and national elites
Robert Reich on the world's rich are splitting into two seperate elites: one national and one global. [ADDED 8.1.2006]
The unique perspective of (NBC) television
One of the classic texts of the much-derided discipline of media studies is Kurt Lang and Gladys Lang's 1953 study of how the selective reporting by a television camera crew distorted viewers's perception of a parade.
By following the star of the parade along the route, Lang and Lang's reporters gave the impression of a mile upon mile of screaming supporters welcoming General Douglas MacArthur to Chicago. Of course, the crowd only cheered as the general drove by, but the people at home saw continuous pandemonium.
Television viewers saw a very different event than those watching the parade in person. Without any intentional bias by the journalists, the medium creates a distorted representation of the live event.
Obvious as this may be to media-savvy people today, this was an important observation five decades ago.
And it's worth recalling in light of something rather different that happened at another televised parade yesterday, when NBC sanitized a Thanksgiving Day Parade gone wrong.
NBC did not interrupt its broadcast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade yesterday to bring viewers the news that an M&M balloon had crashed into a light pole, injuring two sisters.
n fact, when the time came in the tightly scripted three-hour program for the M&Ms' appearance, NBC weaved in tape of the balloon crossing the finish line at last year's parade — even as the damaged balloon itself was being dragged from the accident scene. At 11:47 a.m., as an 11-year-old girl and her 26-year-old sister were being treated for injuries, the parade's on-air announcers — Katie Couric, Matt Lauer and Al Roker — kept up their light-hearted repartee from Herald Square, where the parade ends.
Ah, the pursuit of objective truth.
(Until Google gets around to scanning that bit of the library, see Lang and Lang, "The Unique Perspective of Television and Its Effect: a Pilot Study," American Sociological Review 18(1): 103-112.)
Continue reading
The sociology of disasters
In another example of how sociology is useful for understanding events in the news, Kieran Healy looks at Hurricane Katrina from a sociologist's perspective:
… natural disasters are never wholly natural, because some kinds of people will be more likely to suffer and die than others, depending on how life is organized when the disaster hits. As everyone knows, social order is under severe pressure in New Orleans at the moment, and the media coverage is slowly coming around to analyzing the differential impact of the disaster. The fact that those who have been left behind, or turned into refugees, are disproportionately Africian-American, poor, or elderly is simply impossible to ignore from the media coverage. Seeing pundits and commentators react to these facts is, in a way, a barometer of their sociological imagination—their ability to see the systematic relationship between social structure and individual experience.
Healy, who recently reviewed a book on the sociology of disasters, praises the sociological imagination of conservative columnist David Brooks, whose writings, including this one, often suggest he knows more than a bit about sociology.
Guardian journo gets an A-Level
Guardian journalist Tom Whipple — who is 23 and has a 2.1 in Maths from Cambridge — has the results of his participant observation into AS-Level Sociology. He got a high A.
Whipple avoids the temptation to write a hand-wringing article about A-level inflation and goes to visit Patrick Baert, a sociologist at his alma mater:
"There is a culture among journalists, a culture of targeting education and mocking education. I find it quite sad, because it is very demoralising for teachers. It is very easy for journalists to target these courses, because very few people have statistical techniques at hand to show whether it is in fact easier."
He was quick to see the faults in my exercise. "Your experiment kind of ties in with the sensationalist way of dealing with these subjects. What you would need to have done is to take another AS-level in the same time period to make a comparison. You are now 23. You have been through a lot of education. You have maturity, so I suspect you would probably pick up other AS-level subjects quickly as well."
There is truth in this. I may not have studied humanities for six years, but I am, as the course taught me, a product of the 1988 Education Reform Act, one of the assessed generation. Since starting school I have sat, at a conservative estimate, 60 public exams. I may not be experienced in the arts, but I am experienced in the art of exams.
And here's the startling bit:
… I have a degree in mathematics: a proper, core subject. I have since struggled to find any everyday applications for vector calculus. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle has remained resolutely irrelevant to my normal existence, its use confined solely to the more esoteric of pub quizzes. And yet, in the two months since completing my sociology AS-level, I have repeatedly found it useful.
When I hear news items about the underperformance of boys in exams, I now know that the differences are almost insignificant compared with those between classes. When I hear Hillary Clinton arguing that explicit computer games influence children, I now know that there is a history of research into the negative effects of on-screen sex and violence, most of it inconclusive.
This is not something frivolous — information to provide ammunition for dinner party discussions. For democracy to function, everyone should know these things. Traditional education is very good at teaching us the background to the second world war, and rightly so, but it is far less willing to provide us with the critical tools for living in the modern world.
So is sociology useful and important? Yes. Could I have just turned up off the street and passed the exam from common sense? No. And did my knowledge of revision techniques make a difference? Almost certainly. My experiment, as Baert pointed out, had many flaws.
Nevertheless, Whipple is probably lucky the AS-level exam didn't include a section on research ethics. Sociology and journalism tend to agree that undercover research should be avoided wherever possible.
Who's afraid of interpretivist sociologists?
As part of this summer's installment of the annual media ritual of bashing Britain's system of secondary-school qualifications, the Guardian has sent 23-year-old journalist (and maths graduate) Tom Whipple undercover to take the AS-Level sociology exam. Next week, the paper will reveal how he did.
As someone with a postgraduate degree in this maligned discipline, I find this tale of what's going on at the secondary-school level rather depressing.
The article does include some funny stuff I can relate to. In the process of taking the necessary secondary school courses, he discovered he was carrying out a covert participant observation of a discipline with lots of jargon.
And then there's this:
Think of sociology as the slightly hairy offspring of politics and economics. Perhaps the best claim it has to legitimacy is that, like any decent humanities subject, it has a good, honest academic schism; positivists on one side and interpretivists on the other (actually, this is one of many schisms, but let's keep it simple). Positivists are the sort of sensible chaps you'd go to a pub with. They think people should be studied using scientific methods. Take, for example, the use of official statistics in research. Positivists would say they are extremely useful, thank you very much.
Interpretivists are the sort of people you would abandon your pint in the pub to avoid. If you asked them about official statistics, they would look at you and say: "What is a statistic? Isn't it just a social construct that reflects the questioner's prejudices?"
And then, as your eyes glaze over, a barely pubescent guy in the corner of the pub puts down his Socialist Worker and, attracted by the controversy, comes over to explain that you're both wrong. Actually, statistics are "an instrument of the ruling classes used to propagate and legitimise an exploitative capitalist system". He's a Marxist.
We can safely assume that our maths graduate is a positivist (or "naive empericist", some might put it). But we interpretivists who want to study the social construction of statistics (see, eg Best 2002) aren't so scary and boring.
We help empericists understand why there are limits to their claim to carrying out objective research modeled on the natural sciences — why people can't be studied like electrons.
What you probably don&rquo;t get in A-Level sociology is the idea that analyses of "social construction" aren't about uncovering bias or "prejudices".
All accounts and narratives are selective and an effort by people to assign meaning to phenomena. This doesn't mean they are lying, or telling un-truths. It just means that truth is arrived at in a selective social process that is necessarily partial. The best description I know of is that the sociology of knowledge is the emperical cousin of epistemology.
Rather than uncovering the logical rules for deriving knowledge, sociologists who worry about this sort of thing examine what people who create narratives — natural scientists, journalists or government statisticians — actually do, what social constraints condition them to behave in that particular way, and what the wider consequences are.
The debate about statistics in sociology is actually a very good example of why all this is important. Statistics are central to the functioning of modern state and corporate bureaucracies and therefore understanding how they work is essential to understanding how contemporary governance works.
OK, I probably just proved his point.
Private policing: some other concerns
Eamonn Butler at the Adam Smith Institute's blog says:
Naturally, the police, and academics at Britain's state-funded universities, are fulminating against private security and say it doesn't cut crime. But would residents fork out £1,000 a year if they thought there was no effect?
Perhaps. But the academic critique of private policing I'm aware of doesn't focus at all on the instrumental question of its effectiveness. Quite the opposite, actually.
The major concern of some academic critics of private policing is that the authority of private security services is based entirely on enforcing property rights and that they are not accountable to anyone other than those who pay them.
As more and more previously public spaces are being sealed off and privately policed (think hoodie ban at Bluewater shopping centre), more and more public forums are subject to private law (ie "Do as I say or get off my land") enforced by private police, rather than public law enforced by democratically-accountable authorities and limited by the sort of human rights legislation that civil libertarians ought to be interested in.
The dystopian scenario, expressed by Mike Davis in his study of Los Angeles, City of Quartz, would be a world in which the wealthy live in bubbles of secure, privately-policed gated communities while lobbying to reduce tax funding of the (less effective) public police services everyone else must still rely on.
Now, like every academic debate, there are many critics of this view, which is admittedly over the top. But that's what theoretical ideal types are for: spotting the essential logic of a particular trend.
ID cards: why they matter
Thought the British blogosphere was as one in opposition to the introduction of national identity cards? Nope. Monjo provides some dissent by posting in defence of ID cards, interestingly by deploying the very slippery slope argument many use to reject the same policy:
…I wonder mostly what benefits the ID card could bring. I think there must be a lot of fake claims for social security, I think there must be a lot of banking fraud, identity theft crimes are one of the fastest-growing and economically most damaging areas or crimes we now face. I also see a lot of inconvenience in having to carry varying identity documents anyway: national insurance number, driving licence (well if I could drive), passport, documents to prove my address, etc. There is a lot of rigmarole in opening up bank accounts, applying for passports, and numerous other daily concerns for millions of Brits.
The important thing is to realise this is a mere first step. The scheme can (and will) be extended to become more encompassing over time. For instance, the cards could eventually contain digital signatures (for online purchasing), or be used, in combination with a thumb print scanner, to enter buildings, get into one's own home, or start a car. Combined with GPS, car insurance, road taxes and car theft detection could be revolutionised.
There is the possibility for so much. And it doesn't bother me. I don't even care about the cost. If it is done over someone's lifetime it may be £2500 per person in today's money, but that's only £30 a year. Even if we assume it may not have any direct financial savings, there will be indirect ones — things people haven't imagined yet. The fact each card will be unique and will be linked to a centralised database should also secure the system against forgery. Though who guards the guards?
There is a lot to disagree with here. First, there is the issue of financing ID cards with a fee. Monjo may not, but I care about this cost. Paying for a compulsory ID card is the functional equivalent of a poll tax. If the Government wants to do this, they should at least pay for it out of general taxation.
More substantially, though, Monjo is right to criticise the vague Orwellian invocations used against the ID card scheme. In the age of the decentralised "surveillant assemblage", as Kevin Haggerty and Richard Ericson called it, the notion of a monolithic Big Brother is outdated and unhelpful way to conceptualise contemporary surviellance. Far more agencies than just those of the state will make use of a centralised database.
It's also a mistake to frame opposition to centralised databases of people around a liberal-individualist concern about privacy. The big problem with surviellance technologies today is that they facilitate "social sorting" — the use of databases to create classes of people for the purposes of precision marketing, selective electioneering, or all sorts of economic discrimination that undermine the equality of citizens. In other words, you don't matter nearly as much as the database categories you will fall into.
A central database linked to biometric identity cards will create a definitive primary key linking individuals' bodies to all manner of data about them. This will facilitate social sorting by making many existing databases interoperable.
David Lyon, a sociologist at Queen's University in Canada is one of the leading academic researchers on the social consequences of surviellance technologies. Everybody should be reading his paper on ID cards and social sorting (PDF). Here's the rub:
With the use of biometric ID cards, the codes that determine the status of those who hold (or do not hold) the cards are increasingly related to bodily and behavioural characteristics. This further abstracts from the narratives of ordinary life and struggle experienced by those who are most vulnerable. As Didier Bigo (2004) suggests, biometric ID cards produce not so much a panopticon as a banopticon. In other words, they are not meant to put all under scrutiny, but to single out the exceptions as quickly as possible. Profiling to discover differences, the banopticon channels flows of information in order to control at a distance any who deviate from the coded norms.
So Monjo is right: the ID card system will facilitate all sorts of things in the future. While some of those will be benefitial and convenient, however, some are likely to have negative social consequences. Enthusiasm about possible future applications of the centralised identity register can be an argument for ID cards, but worry about them is equally a good reason to oppose the plan.


text:
Gulbis has a new coach!
I heard his new coach is an argentine.But how in the world you have a Adidas team as capable as they are,and look for somebody else?
I think he's top 10 in talent,but an underachiever and lazy rich kid,that needs somebody to tell him what to do.
Does anybody know anything about his new coach?
His name is Hernan Gumy.
he used to be 39th in the world.
According to wiki hes Marats coach.
But good news that Gulbis got a coach.
He's not top 10 talent, he's slam winner talent but lazy like you said, needs mental toughness.
I know he has been a let down to say the least.
Mac says he has top 25 written all over him but Mac is way off, he has top 10 written all over him.
If he could find a complete state of physical, mental and social well being he could be the type player who could take it to the next level.
Even if he does not get Connors for a coach he should hire him for two weeks
of changing his mentality.
Did you ever once see Connors throw in the towel in a match?
Even when Gulbis is up he does not believe in himself so as soon as it goes wrong he looks lost.
I don't think Jimmy should coach tennis players on form and technique but he should work them one on one for a couple of weeks about three times a year
and show them how to dig and fight.
Jimmy should be the highest demand sports psychologist in tennis.
Take Safins old rear end, he still has game but no mental toughness, get him to spend a month with Connors and push himself like he never has and he could win another slam.
If Jimmy would have had near the talent of anyone of the greats he would be the Goat, no questions asked.
Connors has so much to contribute and no one is knocking down his door begging him to help because they don't want to be exposed and made tough.
I think the best coaches nowadays were all mediocre players,with exception of a few,and you don't need to be a 5.0 player to coach,because everybody at the age of 16 already know the necessary,but don't have somebody to tell them what to do,then they get lost.If i coached him,the first i'd tell him would be that the match is never over til the last point,then to keep the ball in play,and he's gotten better at that.Then i'd make him to die on footwork drills and endurance,at 12 o' clock where is hot,and i'd make him work on the inside out forehand which he doesn't have a good one,probably because of his footwork,and take serious every single overhead that he is horrible at.I'd make him put volleys away instead of the drop ones when somebody is on the baseline.
Gulbis VS Tsonga.Let's see if Gulbis got his head in place now.Not that i think he'll beat Tsonga,but it would be nice.
What a great match Gulbis played against Tsonga,he was close to win it all match long,but Tsonga played better in the tie-break.I guess with the new coach he'll come alive.
|All times are GMT -8. The time now is 08:41 AM.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2015, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
© 2006 - Tennis Warehouse

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Our Members Say
- HasTowelWillTravel
- Reviews: 375
Tutzil Nah Cottages: Simple but friendly at the edge of the wilderness
There are precious few places to stay near Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Refuge. In the park there are campgrounds (bring your own gear, and all your own food), and some rooms. Your best bet is to stay in the village of Maya Centre, and of the few places there, Tutzil Nah Cottages is a safe bet. The rooms are simple, part of a concrete structure, with a simple bathroom (PVC showerhead, no hot water), fan and bed. But it is affordable (US$22 a night), clean, and you feel almost part of the community, hearing kids playing down the street and chickens clucking the day away. And the three brothers who run the area can help you arrange trips into the park, which is the whole reason you're there anyway. So, while it is not the Ritz, it was still a comfortable 3-day, 2-night stay for us at Maya Centre.
- bsfreeloader
- Reviews: 656
Nu'uk Che'il Cottages: Mayan Immersion
For those interested in learning about Mayan culture, or just looking for a clean, friendly place to stay near the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, I highly recommend the Nu'uk Che'il Cottages in Maya Centre. Nu'uk Che'il is run by Ernesto Saqui, an avid conservationist who served as sanctuary director for almost fifteen years, and his wife Aurora, a well-known artist and one of the Garcia Sisters, the inventors of slate carving in Belize. Among other things, there is an on-site herbal center, a medicinal trail, and a botanical garden. Ernesto and Aurora also can arrange a homestay with a Mayan family for more complete cultural immersion.
Sort by: Most recent | Most helpful
- 1
Sponsored Listings
Instant Answers: Cockscomb Range
Get an instant answer from local experts and frequent travelers
Explore the World
- Lagoa do Bonfim Hotels
- San Sebastián
- Guildford Hotels
- Utah Hotels
- Dublin Hotels
- Bandar Jissah
- Province of Bukidnon
- Riordan Hotels
- Sint-Idesbald Hotels
- Los Alcázares
- Greens Landing Hotels
- Church Point
- Knocklong Hotels
- Province of Leyte Hotels
- Holiday Poconos Hotels
- Kampong Selayang Hotels
- Shüttdorf Hotels


text:
Dennis Seidenberg confident in Bruins defense without Johnny Boychuk
|10.25.10 at 5:22 pm ET
WILMINGTON — The Bruins' blue line was all the rage on Monday. Johnny Boychuk talked about the fractured forearm that will require a cast and keep him out four weeks, while Adam McQuaid spoke of his readiness to seize the opportunity that's been put in front of him. With Boychuk out, McQuaid in and the Bruins' defensive pairings shaken up, one veteran is confident that the team will get along just fine.
"He played on the top pair with [Zdeno Chara], so it's going to be tough to replace a guy like Johnny, but I think McQuaid is going to do a good job," Dennis Seidenberg said. "… I think we're deep enough to replace a loss like Johnny, but I think we've just got to play our system and support each other well, and we'll be fine."
McQuaid said on Monday that he was going to do his best to fill the "big shoes" of Boychuk, but replacing a top-two defenseman is more than a one-man job. Each defenseman will have to make slightly bigger contributions, whether they be in the form of minutes or otherwise. Boychuk had averaged 20:23 of ice time through the Bruins' first six games.
Seidenberg was correct in noting that while he expects his fellow blueliners to pick up some extra slack with Boychuk out, how much more each man can give depends on the player.
"Johnny was logging a lot of minutes, so everybody has to pick up a little bit," Seidenberg said. "I don't know if Z can pick up any more minutes than he played last game [31:48], but I think the other guys can definitely chip in a little bit more and help."
Seidenberg remains on a pairing with Mark Stuart, though on Monday Andrew Ference made the jump to the top pairing with Chara, leaving McQuaid with Matt Hunwick on the third pairing. The team may continue to tinker with who plays with whom, and Seidenberg is open to anything.
"Playing with Z is always good. It makes stuff a lot easier, like I've said a lot of times before," Seidenberg said. "But again, I think everybody's going to play with everybody, and you just have to communicate out there."
Latest from Bleacher Report
- Brad Marchand's Hot Streak a Big Reason for the Boston Bruins' Recent...
- Prospect Depth Allows BOS to Not Rush Pastrnak
- Seth Griffith Fitting in on the First Line with the Boston Bruins
- Bruins' Depleted Defense Returns to Reality in Loss to Wild
- Bruins' Patrice Bergeron Records 500th Career Point
- Bruins Players Dress Up as 'Frozen' Characters
- Looking at Bruins Defensive Pairings Without Chara


text:
Baby Toy Reviews
Top Baby Toys! They're never too young to play! Bright toys, appropriate for even the littlest fun-seekers are what make these the top baby toys.
First Builders Fisher-Price Firetruck Freddy
from MEGA Bloks
MEGA Bloks First Builders Fisher-Price Firetruck Freddy is a push toy, which includes blocks for added building play value.
Sit-Me-Up Floor Seat with Tray
from Fisher-Price
The Sit-Me-Up Floor Seat with Tray is a compact take-along floor seat offering babies the right amount of support to help them sit up and play.
First Builders Mike the Mixer
from MEGA Bloks
The First Builders Mike the Mixer is an 11-piece building playset for toddlers.
Playskool Roll 'n Gears Car
from Hasbro
The Playskool Roll 'n Gears Car is a creative, compact toy that helps kids develop motor skills.
Newborn-to-Toddler Play Gym
from Fisher-Price
The Newborn-to-Toddler Play Gym is a three-in-one play gym that stays with baby from birth through the toddler years.
Deluxe Take-Along Swing & Seat
from Fisher-Price
The Deluxe Take-Along Swing and Seat is a compact swing for babies, which includes vibration, melodies, and nature sounds.
Woodland Friends 3-in-1 Musical Activity Gym
from Fisher-Price
The 3-in-1 Musical Activity Gym from Fisher-Price is a playful activity gym that features bright colorful forest animals and keeps babies busy with toys, sounds, and music.
Playskool Stack 'n Stow Cups
from Hasbro
The Stack 'n Stow Cups are a stacking toy which click into place to store for easy on-the-go fun.
Woodland Friends 3-in-1 Musical Mobile
from Fisher-Price
The 3-in-1 Musical Crib Mobile from Fisher-Price is a crib mobile, stroller mobile, and take-along musical toy all in one. The multi-use motorized item grows with your baby offering security while…
Lopsie Wopsie Tutu Cute
from Aurora
Lopsie Wopsie Tutu Cute is a sweet, soft toy bunny that is ready to hop right into spring.


text:
Important Payment Notice
Advance Registration for summer 2015 and fall 2015 begins April 14, 2015. In order to register, your account must be paid in full, or you must have made payment arrangements with the College. You may submit payment via LOLA, or you may bring cash or check to the Business Office located on the first floor of Building F.
PLEASE NOTE: Beginning summer 2015, students who have not paid in full or have not made payment arrangements will have their classes removed the Friday prior to each General Registration.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Finance Department is to provide a functional financial operating system for Bossier Parish Community College.
Business Office
Finance Department


text:
I am going to share a fun little paper flower project today. This mini rose wreath is made from just 6 roses that have been attached to a 5 inch foam disc that I purchased at the dollar store. You can easily punch a hole in the center of the disk with a glass cup or jar to make the back for the wreath. I then used a ribbon to cover and finish the outside and inside edges of the foam adding top strands for hanging. The blooms and leaves were simply glued directly to the surface to create this beautiful paper flower wreath. Of course you can use any paper flower for this mini wreath, but if you would like to recreate this look, just download the paper rose printable at the end of this post. (PLEASE NOTE: These PDFs have 2 pages, one to print on the front and the other on the back of the paper. Also, this double sided printable works best printed on a laser printer using text weight printer paper. The preview does not show the complete design, but when you download and open it in Acrobat you will see exactly what you will be printing). For instructions on how to make the paper roses you can find them here and for a video tutorial, see this post. Enjoy! ~ Lia
Make Your Own Felt Bunting Flags and Lemonade Stand
Summer is on it's way and so, to coax it along a little we are... Read more.


text:
What do 11 super-fun golf courses, 250 kilometres of scenic Pacific Northwest highway and Condé Naste magazine's Top North American Island award for eight consecutive years equal? If you guessed...
Are you looking to shave strokes off your game? Here are two tips that can help send the ball on the right track this season.
Golf season might have arrived early in many parts this year, but that doesn't change the importance of preparing physically for a return to the links.
To properly execute a chip shot — anything from within about 30 yards — Ed Boni says it is important to use the bounce of the golf club. Without getting too technical, the bounce is the angle between the ground and the sole of the club when the shaft is in a vertical position.
Edmonton's 80-plus area golf courses are playing the old TV game show, Let's Make a Deal, this season. For starters, the majority of courses held their green fees to last year's prices. Silver Sands — located west of Edmonton in Fallis on Highway 16 — even lowered its prices.
"A good golf swing starts with your set-up and your posture," said Blair Oko, a CPGA professional at his Blair Oko golf academy. "Yet it is one of the most neglected parts of the golf swing. "A good set-up comes down to getting into an athletic position, which is the same thing for most sports, whether it's a tennis player getting set to return a serve, a baseball player getting set to field a ground ball or a hockey goalie getting into position to stop a puck.
Probably the most common ailment of amateur golfers is the dreaded slice, which spins off course and doesn't travel very far, except sideways. Cam Martens, teaching professional at the Windermere Golf and Country Club and Canada's top teaching professional in 2012, has what he calls a "simple solution."
"The key to better putting is to control the club face. One way to do that is to grip your putter more in the palms of your hands and not in the fingers as you would when hitting a shot with a driver or an iron," said Kyle Brandt, head professional at Belvedere.
Want to hit the ball further? Who doesn't?Kyle Crawford, head pro at the Broadmoor Public Golf Course shows you how."Proper rotation gives you more distance," said Crawford. "The first thing you want to do is have your feet balanced so your feet don't roll over. When your feet roll over, it creates a side-to-side swaying motion and not the rotation motion that you want."After you stabilize your feet — and good golf shoes will help — you want your back knee to touch your front knee so there is no gap between your knees during the follow-through.
Frankly, the chances seemed about as slim as getting back-to-back holes-in-one: Ask some of the top golf instructors in the world to give Edmonton Journal readers a tip on how they can improve their games. Yet acclaimed golf teachers like Dave Stockton and David Pelz were only too happy to oblige.
Fore! Three. Two. One. The countdown is on. After one of the latest starts to the golfing season last year, Edmonton could be on the verge of one of one of its earliest openings this year.
With a touch of spring adding bounce to their steps, golfers poured into the Edmonton Exhibition Centre over the weekend to renew acquaintances with the game they love. Shedding cobwebs on the driving range and testing their patience on the putting green, duffers and scratch golfers alike crowded into the annual PGA show, a fairway-lined oasis in the midst of winter.
EDMONTON — There are lots of things to like about virtual golf simulators, which allow golfers to play the outdoor game indoors. "For one thing, I don't lose as many golf balls," laughed Peter Mueller, as he played at the north side Golf Den with three of his buddies.
With the cooler weather returning to Edmonton and area, this will likely be the final local holes-in-one column of the season. At J.R. Golf Course, Sharron McLaren had been struggling with her new clubs, so she decided to use an old 11-wood she had purchased for $5 from a discount bin and promptly went out and aced No. 6 from 120 yards.
With the golf season winding down ... sigh ... so is the Journal's local golf column. But not at all winding down, however, are the number of holes-in-one.
Blair Buttar, the Glendale's assistant head professional, hit golf's magic number, shooting a 12-under 59 at the Leduc Golf & Country Club. "It was crazy. Every putt I stood over went in," said Buttar, who had 12 birdies and no bogeys.
Like a dentist's office or a night club, Royal Mayfair's Mike Belbin had all the shots in the 36-hole Alberta PGA's Fletcher Tour championship played at the Blackhawk Golf Club. Belbin had it all while firing off a course-record 6-under 65 that included five straight birdies over a tough stretch of holes on the back nine in Wednesday's final round.
Before we get to this week's holes-in-one — and once again there were plenty — I have to top off this column with a shot that is much more rare than an ace: an albatross. Edmonton Golf Association president did it on his home Raven Crest course when he knocked in a 17-degree hybrid from 247 yards on the par 5 10th hole.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Tiger Woods felt rusty and tired Tuesday at The Players Championship —... »
CAMBRIDGE, Ont. - Canadian golfer Brooke Henderson isn't just happy to be in the field at top-flight... »
Royal Mayfair's Jeff Daniels makes the toughest shot in golf - the 30- to 40-yard bunker shot - look... »
Robb James, a CPGA teaching professional at the Victoria Golf Course and Driving Range, says looking... »


text:
Return Game & Effect of Dominant Eye
Are there any eye Specialists that play Tennis? After 25+years of research one of my many observations has to do with the fact there are very few players balanced out stroke production wise on both wings. My theory has to do with which eye is dominant. For example on the forehand side if you see better out of the right eye the player will unconsciously turn his head to get a better look at the ball. This means his turn will not be as natural on that side so his backhand will be better naturally. So, I have found contrary to Wegnerian philosphy the position of your feet is critical (open or closed stance) and the position of your shoulder turn allows for an Agassi type of shoulder **** which means less manipulation of the hands like Roddick's awful backhand on the swing. I would like to validate with a little more science if there is any out there. As teachers we need to overtrain the turn on the non dominant side.
Dominant Eye
issue is well-discussed in the
Serious Tennis
which I recommend in general
I've heard it said that the best batters in baseball tend to be cross-dominant (such as a right-handed batter who is left-eye dominant). Cross-dominance in baseball gives the dominant eye a better view (or perspective) of the incoming pitch. It makes sense that the same sort of thing would be applicable to tennis.
I'm left eye dominant and tend to hit my FH (righty) much better than my BH. This makes perfect sense with what's been said already (X-dominant), but I have no idea how to "train" myself to hit a BH better. This may be why I favored the 1HBH, b/c the ball is out in front, but I never could control my topspin drives. So, now I live with a less threatening 2H BH...
lol - i'm right-handed, left eye dominant and have a better backhand than forehand - what the hell does that make me??
My right eye is crap. It sees well but doesn't look. (does that make sense?) Like if I close my left eye, I'll still continue to look with it (I'll see all black) and my right eye will look "through" the black. Difficult to explain. Anyway, I have problems seeing 3D (like 3D movies, 3D tests at optometrists, 3D images,...) and I think it does make my game more complicated. (I totally suck at smash, I see 2 balls while looking at it when it's high).
So I have trouble timing well on the BH and on very wide ball on the forehand.
It could be a problem with the optic characteristics of your eye, a problem with the optic nerve (frm the eye to the brain) or even a prob in the way your brain interprets the image from your right eye (& the way it incorporates that image with the image from your left eye).
Best to get input from an eye guy.
Eye Dominance!!
Is there an easy test to find out which eye is dominant?
Easy Test
Here's your test: http://www.usaeyes.org/faq/subjects/dominant.htm
I would guess most right handers are left eye dominant ...but that's just a guess. The above article says that's not always the case.
That sounds right actually. Confirm it with the link I posted.
I hate to inject thread drift, but as I recall astigmatism is more important than eye dominance. My eye doctor told me that the main reason so many kids can't play hand-eye games is because they have uncorrected astigmatic conditions. Maybe I misremember?
Anyway, I was born lefty, and was converted to righty by my grandmother. I am right eye dominant. I play right handed, have a powerful forehand, but my backhand is more consistent and was always my bread and butter stroke after my serve.
married woman Cams
Tried both tennisparent and jtreed's suggestions. JTReed is correct - the eye that is OPEN when the object does NOT appear to move is dominant.
And what a startling result! My right eye is way more dominant, with or without glasses. I am right handed so that theory does not apply to me.
And I have astigmatism too.
If right eye is dominant and I am a right-hander, I assume forehands will be easier for me than backhands, correct? That is the case with me. I just don't see the ball well on the BH even with a good shoulder turn. I have a good excuse now.
Are there any exercises to make the non-dominant eye more dominant?
Use the thumbs & index fingers of both hands to form a suitable window (round-ish or diamond-shape is fine, but not really important). Hold this window at arm's length and, with both eyes open, look at some distant object that fills up a fair portion of your window.
When you close your dominant eye, the object will shift (quite a bit) to one side of your window.
yea im right handed and right eye dominant and my backhand is better than my forehand (does that make sense?)
Check this website out for how to create the window with your hands.
|All times are GMT -8. The time now is 10:53 AM.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2015, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
© 2006 - Tennis Warehouse