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Located in the Santa Clarita Valley roughly 25 miles north of Los Angeles Robinson Ranch is a hidden treasure.

Robinson Ranch Golf Course

Established in 1999 there are two courses to choose from, the Valley and the Mountan course. The design is the result of a father and son collaboration between Ted Robinson Sr and Jr. The two courses are set on 400 acres, among spralling oak trees that are hundreds of years old. These two 18 hole courses will challange even the most skilled golfer. The 25,000 square foot club house with it's rustic ranch decor over looks the Valley Couse holes 9 and 18. After your round you can sit back and watch the groups come in while you enjoy a refreshing drink at the Sycamore Bar & Grill.

The Valley Course offers four tee boxes so it can be enjoyed by any level golfer. The Gold Tee's play 5,408 yards while the Black Tees are at 6,903 yards.  At Robinson ranch there is quite a bit of natural habitat so you may want to bring a few extra golf balls. All habitat areas are deemed to be lateral hazards so if you drive does happen to stray off line you can simply take a drop and your distance.

The Valley course allows you to settle into your round with the first hole being the number seventeen handicap hole. Aim at the 150 yard marker and you should have a pretty simple shot into the green. Moving on to the second hole the Valley Course will get your attention. The drive on this hole demands precision. You must land your ball between the sand trap on the left and the 150 yard marker or you run the risk of your ball bouncing into the creek on your right. The front nine of the Valley Course is the easier of the two nines.

Once you make the turn you will be treated to one of the most challenging and beautiful nine holes of golf in California. Like hole one, the tenth is a simple driving hole. You can take driver down the middle if you feeling confident, or just hit your 200 yard club towards the bunker on the left. The par 3 eleventh hole is a short but challenging hole. Standing on the tee of this par 3 you would think the hole had been there for a hundred years. One of the great things about Robinson Ranch is how perfectly the golf courses fit into the natural surroundings. The oak trees line the fairways and frame the greens beautifully.

When you round the corner from hole twelve on your way to the thirteenth tee you will see a sign that says "Welcome To Death Row". The final six holes of the Valley course "Death Row" is a beautiful stretch of holes. If you have a good round going and you are playing from the Black tee's you will have to survive the 254 yard par 3 fourteenth hole to keep it going. When you reach the eighteenth tee box you will be perched high above the fairway and you will be able to look over the course and the surrounding area and appreciate the beauty.

Robinson Ranch Valley Course Fly Over

The Riviera Maya, located on the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula along Mexico's Caribbean coastline, is home to a diverse collection of golf courses designed by some of the world's most recognized golf legends and course designers. From white sand beaches to Mayan ruins and tropical jungles, the Rivera Maya offers players of all abilities a unique and unparalleled golfing experience while being surrounded by unmatched beauty

See the original article here:
Grand Coral Golf Club in Mexico's Riviera Maya offers half-off deal

There are certain things in life that you say yes to simply because you love your spouse.  One time when we were first married, my husband joined the Big Brothers, Big Sisters mentoring program.  He was the Big Brother to a 10 year old kid named Vince.  One Saturday morning he decided to take Vince golfing.  The course was only a par three and he begged me to come along and golf with them.  He figured this would be a fun way to spend some time together.  I humored him by accepting the invitation, but little did anyone know that this was going to be nine holes of sheer torture.

At this point in my life, I had been golfing a total of one time.  Ever.  In my entire life. And that included the one golf experience I had when I went and did mini-golf when I was nine.  I reminded my husband of this fact before we left, but he insisted that I would be fine and I couldn’t possibly be any worse than Vince.  I had to at least sort of agree that I probably was better at golfing than a ten year old who had never even held a golf club before.  Not true.

On the first hole, it took me at least four swings to make contact with the ball. At first, everyone thought I was just being goofy.  But they soon realized that I was not kidding.  I really couldn’t hit the ball!  I finally hit a wicked slice that was so far off the fairway that we couldn’t even find the ball.  Vince, on the other hand, teed up and hit the ball about sixty yards without blinking an eye.  My husband kind of scratched his head at this development, but on we went.

The second hole was not any better. I did make contact with the ball off the tee, however, it didn’t go very far, which only meant that I was going to have to hit the ball again.  After we lost my ball on the first hole, I basically gave up and didn’t play the rest of the hole, but this time I had to keep going.  And it was ugly.  I can’t be certain, but I am pretty sure that digging a giant hole in the ground with your club while trying to hit the ball is not a good thing.  When I was done with hole number two, the greenway looked like the surface of the moon.  The craters I managed to dig out were impressive.  I think I ended up taking a thirteen on that hole.  Vince got a seven. Obviously, I badly need golf advice.

And while I was pretty embarrassed by how bad I was, I was also starting to get a little irked at the same time.  I consider myself to be a pretty athletic and coordinated person and the fact that I could not play better than a ten year old was beginning to get to me.  The rest of the round became a constant pursuit of redemption.  I had to prove that I could beat a ten year old novice golfer.

The next hole was better, but not by much.  I did perfectly fine until I hit the ball into a tiny pond that you almost have to be trying to hit in order to land in.  Of course, I just took my ball out of the water and played it like normal because it was just us, but still, hitting the water hazard when it’s smaller than the green was kind of humiliating.

However, the pinnacle of my horrendous golfing display came on hole eight.  Despite the fact that the course was a par three that didn’t cost very much money, it was perched on the side of steep mountain foothills.  The view was actually quite breathtaking.  I ended up hitting my ball close to the edge of the cliff, which was no big deal until I went to hit it down the fairway and I actually let the club go out of my hand and it sailed over the side of the mountain.  My husband thought I did it on purpose just for a laugh and I honestly wished that was the case.  I could not believe I had just done that!  It was like something on a bad YouTube video.  Only complete morons did things like that!  I spent the next thirty minutes delicately climbing through scrub brush on the side of the steep hill so that I could retrieve my rental club and avoid the loss of my $50 deposit.  I like adventure as much as the next girl, but it was not fun having other groups of golfers play through while giving me their looks of disgust mixed with laughter. I think after I got my club back, I sat out the rest of the game, which, oddly, no one seemed to mind.

Since that horrible day, my husband has asked me to go golfing, but only to be polite and I have never said yes.  I would like to claim that my hideous performance those many years ago was actually part of some sneaky, evil plan to make sure that I would never be asked to accompany my husband golfing for the rest of my life, but sadly, I was that terrible completely without any ulterior motives.

On the bright side, Vince felt like a million bucks at the end of nine holes.  He didn’t have a lot of opportunities to participate in recreational activities and going golfing on a real course and playing way better than someone twice your age was pretty cool.

And while I haven’t played a round of golf since that day, I have returned to the driving range a few times.  I don’t whiff at the ball as much as I used to and my slices aren’t as severe.   Of course, the only reason I have gone back to the driving range is for the biggest advantage of all: not having to hit the ball again!

Tiger Woods woods seems to have his game moving in the right direction in 2012. In December Tiger won at Sherwood Country Club in the Chevron World Challenge. This week Tiger has moved to the top of the leaderboard after a third round 66 at the Abu Dhabi Championship.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Tiger Woods shot a 6-under 66 Saturday for a share of the lead after the third round at the Abu Dhabi Championship.

The 14-time major winner played a consistent round to move to 11 under for the tournament.

"It just seemed like I didn't do a lot of things right but I didn't do a lot of things wrong today, it was just very consistent," Woods said. "You know, made a couple putts here and there ... I stayed away from trouble and tried to keep the ball towards the fat side of some of these pins and I think I did a pretty good job."

Woods is tied with newcomer Robert Rock, who birdied his final two holes to earn the 117th-ranked Englishman a first-ever pairing with the American star on Sunday.

Rory McIlroy (68), Peter Hanson (64), Francesco Molinari (66) and Peter Lawrie (68) are two shots off the pace. Four more players, including overnight leader Thorbjorn Olesen (71) of Denmark, are a shot further back.

Woods, who was two shots back after the second round, started climbing up the leaderboard Saturday with an opening birdie, followed by another on No. 7. He stepped up his game on the back nine, running off four birdies in a bogey-free round that was memorable not for stunning shots but Woods' ability to sink clutch putts and keep his ball in play.

The former world No. 1 grabbed a share of the lead after he narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 10th and settled for birdie. He briefly took the outright lead with a birdie on No. 14 and rolled in a six-footer for birdie on the 18th. The crowd roared with every birdie but Woods held off from his trademark fist pumping.

"There's too many guys up there right now. There's a ton of guys with a chance to win," Woods said. "You know, we have not separated ourselves from the field. The field is very bunched. I need to go out there and put together a solid round of golf, and I can't go out there and shoot even par and expect to win. I've got to go out there and go get it."

Rock, who got his first European Tour win last year in Italy in a playoff with Sergio Garcia, admitted he was star-struck at the prospect of facing off against Woods, calling him "the best guy I've ever seen play golf."

Article From PGATour.com

Good balance is the key to making solid contact with the golf ball. In this video you will see tips which will help you maintain good balance and hit better golf shots.

Steve Stricker Wins In Hawaii

Steve stricker showed he is one of the most consistant and well rounded players on the PGA tour by winning the first event of the season at Kapalua, HI. Stricker posted a final round 69 to win by three shots.

Last summer at the John Deere Classic, he lost a five-shot lead on the back nine and had to birdie the final hole for a two-shot swing to beat Kyle Stanley. A month earlier, he had a four-shot lead at the Memorial and hung on to win by one shot.

"I've been there before. It's not a great feeling, either," Stricker said. "It's just the nature of our game. I realize that, and I've gone through it before. It always seems close, and you always have to perform to get it done."

The way his left arm felt four months ago outside Chicago had him questioning whether he could.

He had a cortisone shot before the Tour Championship. He had another one the week before Christmas, along with other therapy and a series of massages. The idea is to manage this injury, and he feels a lot better about that after his 12th career win.

Laird ran off three birdies on the front nine. Simpson made an eagle on the par-five fifth. Byrd make three straight putts, one for par, as they crept closer to Stricker.

Stricker was angry with himself as he stood on the back of the sixth green as Byrd made a short birdie. He stared at the ground, shaking his head. Perspective soon followed.

"I was kicking myself on the back of that green," Stricker said. "I had just made two dumb plays. I was kind of beating myself up a little bit, not feeling too good about what had just happened. But then walking down 7, I said, 'We're still all right.' If I would have told myself early in the week, I have a lead going down the seventh hole in the last round, I would take it.

"So I tried ... to make myself feel good."

Birdies helped him feel even better, starting with the five-iron to 25 feet that he poured in the cup on the par-three eighth. Another birdie put his lead back at three shots, and no one got closer than two shots the rest of the way.