The past few years has shown less and less younger people playing sports like golf. But what is the real reason for this? It certainly isn’t down to kids not wanting to use the electric golf trolleys.
One of the major reasons a lot of young people do not wish to take up the sport is the fact that their dad plays it every other day. It can also be said that if a youngster is going to play golf they are bound to be picked on if they are seen wearing some of the outfits golfers have to wear on some of the courses. As far as I remember the kids at my school that played golf (and there weren't many) were only friends with the other kids that played golf.

I do not understand why people see golf as a old mans sport and not like all the other major sports like football and rugby. Golf in fact is classed as a high profile sport its just no one of the younger generation is that interested. In a way this is not true as I know a young boy who loves the game and enjoys playing it every Saturday morning when he is not at school. The slight problem is that he wants to give all of this up toplay football and go to gardening club. Is gardening really more interesting that playing golf? Is it that children find the game boring and a bit strange? Although not liking the sport myself I also do not like football or any other of the major sports so i'm certainly not biased against the sport.

Golf would far more benefit children than a lot of the sports out there purely as it has standards. One of the best things golf has is that the players really don't swear, throw tantrums and everything else footballers love to do which is great as it teachers kids the real way to behave when you are playing a sport. As well as this, other than the huge promotional money they bring in the only other money is if they actually win a tournament rather than getting paid stupidly high amounts of money every week.
So charge up those golf batteries kids and get playing!

Here are my personal top five courses from places all over the World. Get those electric golf trolleys ready, here come the best of the best.

5. Shinecock Hills Golf Club
A stunning course that has hosted four US opens so far. Really very challenging, easily going to struggle to get your usual handicap on this course. The course itself was first designed in 1891 with further amendments occuring in 1930, with no changes happening since it just goes to show a perfect course has no faults.

4. St Andrews (old)
Quite possibly the oldest golf course in the world with golf being played here way back in the 12th century. Although this course is the home of golf it apprently doesnt treat newcomers very well. It is a course that you have to get to know and love before you actually enjoy playing here.

3. At number three is Cypress golf club
the vast majority of people will never get a chance to play on this course as it only has 250 members but the last few holes have been called the best in golf. Having never played this course I have to say I have no idea how good or bad it is but it certainly had to come into the top five.

2. Royal County Down is number two
This course has been voted the best course in the UK, locaded in Ireland it was designed way back in 1889 with huge modifcations made in 1908. This took the number two slot simply because it is a fantastic course with some of the best golf I have ever played.

1.Number one is the fantastic Pine Valley
This course had to take the thrown purely because it is the best looking course I have ever seen. The only problem with this course is the huge 10ft deep bunker containing no sand, in other words its a no go area! If you get the ball into this bunker then you are most certainly stuffed.

Thats it, the top five golf courses in world have now been chosen. No need to charge up those golf batteries when you have the caddies at these places to drag your clubs around for you.

If you play golf, you are over 40, and you relate to any of the following, there will definitely be something of value in this article for you.

- Your golf scores are steadily getting worse.
- You have to mentally step through the last hole you played to calculate your score, and you often hear yourself saying “Put me down for a 7 or 8 - I’m not sure what I really scored!”.
- Your drives are at least 20 yards shorter than they were in your prime.
- You need a lie down after thirteen holes.
- You start thinking about the 19th hole after you have only played about 5 holes.
- It takes you longer and longer to get over a game of golf.
- You keep thinking about stopping playing golf.
- You often make excuses not to play
- You don’t have fun playing golf anymore.

Tip 1: Get to your course nice and early
When you are young, and life is one big rush, you can slide to a halt in the car park, pull your clubs out of the car trunk, pull your golf shoes on as you are rushing to the 1st tee, and still hit a 300 yard drive down the middle of the fairway without any warm up or practice. You simply can’t do that when you are middle-aged, so stop trying to! Give yourself time to prepare for a round of golf, both mentally and physically.

Tip 2: Follow a recognised golf fitness plan
Flexibility and suppleness is what you need, so don’t choose a routine that adds a lot of bulk. Yoga and Pilates are good, but there are now lots of exercise programs that have specifically been designed for golfers, so I would suggest you pick one of those. A quick Google search will find several for you.

Tip 3: Make your swing less complicated
The more moving parts your swing has, the more there is to go wrong! My suggestion is to have a look at the new Stack and Tilt golf swing - again, just search for Stack and Tilt in Google.

Tip 4: Work on strategy and course management
This tip applies to younger golfers also - think and plan your way around the golf course, and stop trying to make golf shots that Tiger Woods would struggle to make! If you are over the ball, and you doubt your ability to pull off the shot, don’t hit the ball - stand back, and choose a realistic shot. It might be boring, but that will soon be forgotten when you start knocking six to ten shots off your score.

Tip 5: Don’t neglect the mental side of your golf game
Just purchase The Inner Game of Golf by W. Timothy Gallwey.

Tip 6: Take the time to visualize every single shot
Visualization is used in every type of sport, because it works! The evidence is overwhelming, and well-documented, so make sure it is something you have in your arsenal.

Tip 7: Purchase an electric golf trolley
Don’t think that electric golf trolleys are only for old golfers - they aren’t! I made this mistake for several years, and when I finally swallowed my pride and bought an electric golf trolley, my golf scores improved by an average of 7 shots per round, and I felt much less tired after a game.

I hope you at least give these tips a go (especially the one about electric golf trolleys), because they will make a massive difference to your golf game.