Winter weather challenges golfers in a variety ways. Cold, wet weather makes the course play extremely long and the extra clothing needed to keep us comfortable also can restrict our range of motion. Balls become buried in the soft ground and extra sand is used to help firm up soft, saturated areas. Most golf courses encourage “Winter Rules” which helps even the playing field where the course would be at a great advantage. Many golfers hang up there clubs and wait until a springtime like break in the weather reappears. Others don there winter gear and continue to play, in spite of the lousy weather.

I grew up in Oregon where winter weather seemed to last from late fall well into the spring time. Not to play was an option but I was too impatient to wait for a sunny day. I had to get my golf fix so I needed to learn how to beat the rain and cold. The first thing we did was play “Winter Rules,” which basically meant we could improve the lie of the ball six inches not nearer the hole unless it was within a club length of a tree. Some tournaments allowed the rule only within your own fairway. Because a ball collects mud when it lands, the rule allows you to mark, lift and clean the ball, then replace it to within six inches of where it came to rest. I strongly recommend playing “Winter Rules” to all my students as it will make it easier and more fun.

Preparing to play in the winter takes some common sense but you also need to make some adjustments in your thinking too. It’s not much fun to play when your body is chilled and your hands are cold. Make sure you wear a hat to keep the heat in and some under garments that hold the body heat. Hand warmers are a good idea and make sure you have some good rain gear to keep you dry. I make sure to pack my umbrella and an extra towel so my grips don’t get slippery. Golf shops also sell waterproof gloves that can help you grip the club with out it slipping.

So you’re playing “Winter Rules” and you have your warm clothes and waterproof gear. What next? The next thing you must do is adjust your thinking. If your normal seven iron travels 150 yards but you calculated that in the summer or in warm weather, you have to understand that with the cold and wet conditions plus the fact that you have more layers of clothing on, the distance you hit that seven iron will go a lot shorter. I automatically factor a loss of ten percent. On some really cold days it very well could be more. If you don’t factor that in you most likely will over swing and try to force the distance. This is the most common fault all golfers fight during the winter. The clothes restrict the backswing and slow the club head speed so right there the ball will not go as far as during warmer weather. The ball does not roll when it hits the ground and the cold air prevents the ball from traveling as far. Make sure you give yourself enough club.

It is challenging playing in these kinds of conditions but you don’t have to stop playing. I recommend a stretching program during the winter. This will keep your swing long and help you when you do start playing to regain some rhythm more quickly than if you ignored your flexibility for a few months. Keep in mind to contact your PGA Pro to jump start your season and get you back on track more quickly!

Log onto my web site at delonggolf.com to schedule a lesson or call me at 925 997-3683.

Go ahead, sink your teeth into a delectable chocolate-fudge brownie. Plunge into a cool lake on a hot day. Pamper yourself with a long, sensuous massage. All three experiences promise you fantastic payoff-instant gratification. A surge of pleasure and satisfaction floods your senses seconds after you indulge yourself.

You can give your skin the same kind of quick satisfaction. In just about the time it takes you to finish a sinful dessert, DMAE complex can produce a visible and gratifying improvement to the skin. If you’ve shied away from so-called treatments because the very word conjures up visions of spending days carefully applying this and dipping in that until you finally see results, DMAE will change your mind. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it works.

DMAE is a great little acronym that’s easier to say than the tongue twister dimethylaminoethanol. Mixed in a cocktail with other nutrients like Lipoic acid and Esther C when applied topically, combined with DMAE it will quickly and dramatically improve the appearance of sagging skin. As an added bonus, DMAE boosts the effects of other antioxidants, resulting in increased smoothness, brightness, and line reduction.

What, exactly, is DMAE? Unlike other antioxidants, DMAE is an antioxidant membrane stabilizer. Because of its unique structure, DMAE actually intersperses and becomes part of the cell plasma membrane. When this occurs, the membrane is more able to resist stress and therefore is stabilized. DMAE also gives protection from free radicals-by preventing the other portions of the cell membrane from being attacked by free radicals, therefore can act as an antioxidant. Thus, DMAE is an antioxidant membrane stabilizer so it prevents breakdown of the cell plasma membrane and the resulting production of arachidonic acid and a bunch of pro-inflammatory mediators. When mixed with other amino acids and nutrients, it has a dramatic firming effect on the skin.

Why Your Skin Goes South
Before we look into how DMAE firms the skin, it is important to understand why skin sags as we get older. Aging, particularly of the face, is characterized by many changes in the skin, including wrinkling, discoloration, mottling, broken blood vessels, and a decrease in radiance. But the face doesn’t show age just because of changes to the skin’s surface. Another very significant factor is the loss of firmness. As we age, the chemicals and nutritional precursors that give muscles that hold the skin maximum tone start to diminish as a result of years of free-radical damage. When a plastic surgeon performs a procedure designed to tighten the skin, he does not really focus on the skin itself as much as on the muscles underneath. He works deep below the skin’s surface, pulling those muscles back into place, suturing them so that they heal in a new position. The overall effect is a more youthful look, because the muscles have recovered their beautiful tone.

The only way to help reverse the aging process and to stabilize it is to improve your eating habits, exercise at least three times a week, have fish once or twice a week and use DMAE internally as well as externally. The result will be better general health and an optimal nutritional environment for the skin.

Q. Tom, we are seriously considering buying a home here in the Diablo Valley but are hesitating because real estate values may drop more. We left the Phoenix/Scottsdale area 18 months ago when my job ‘moved here’–I know home prices in the desert are still dropping significantly. Should we wait out the market here a bit longer?

I know Arizona home values got spanked real hard, no doubt about it. However, you have already answered part of your question above – your job ‘moved’ here to the Bay area. And that’s what it is all about—jobs! The Bay area job market appears in many ways to be getting stronger; also, unemployment benefit claims nationwide decreased last month. Those are positive indicators that the economy is improving. Jobs give people the confidence to buy homes and the stronger job market in the Bay area continues to fuel demand for homes in many communities. My advice regarding “timing the market” is, don’t be greedy. By waiting, you may miss a fleeting opportunity to find a home at a great price and a fixed rate mortgage near 5%; neither can stay at these incredibly low levels forever. As always, I recommend that you hire a full-time professional real estate agent with skills and knowledge that will serve you well.

Q. I plan to sell my condominium in San Francisco this spring and then buy a family-sized home in the I-680 corridor. My long-time real estate agent here in the City will handle the sale of my current home; however, she also has asked if she can ‘refer’ me to a professional agent in the area where I intend to buy. Can you explain why it is in my best interest for my SF agent to formally refer me to another agent?

Great question! There are actually several reasons – first, your current agent in San Francisco wants to insure that you get the best possible representation when you purchase so introducing you to a professional Realtor is a natural extension of her service. Second, your SF agent will no doubt be coordinating the timing of your condo sale and vacancy with the closing and possession date of your new home … the better the rapport between the two agents, the more seamless the transition will be for you and your family. Third, referring clients in exchange for a referral fee is standard business in the real estate industry; in your case, in exchange for introducing you to a great agent in the I-680 corridor, that Realtor will pay your SF agent a referral fee of typically 25% of the buyer’s agent gross commission upon the successful closing. It costs you nothing and the new agent is happy to pay the fee in exchange for getting you as a new client.

Q. Dear ALIVE Magazine Reader, this is my question to you! Is this monthly real estate Q&A column interesting and beneficial to you? I would love to get additional feedback from you regarding its content and overall value. The following are your 1 & 2 options regarding a reply:

• Email tom@tomhart.com just to let me know you read the column monthly
  (I promise your email address will not be distributed or utilized in any way.)
• Email tom@tomhart.com with comments and/or opt to receive my monthly email newsletter to stay up to date on Diablo Valley real estate market trends & statistics.

Tom Hart

You can contact Tom at 925-355-1187 or tom@tomhart.com

Pitchers and catchers report this month, so a new baseball season is upon us. It appears the A’s and Giants may have the best two pitching staffs in Baseball, so who knows. It is about time for a Bay Bridge World Series again. Let’s see if we can do it without an earthquake this time.

Here are this month’s questions:

1. Who was the female star of the 70′s disaster movie “Earthquake”?
2. Who was the MVP of the 89 Bay Bridge World Series?
3. Who was the TV broadcaster who nearly lost his mind when the quake hit?
4. Dropping that subject for a minute, what Oscar nominated movie director played “The Shadow” on radio?
5. What potent liquor was brewed up by Hairless Joe nad Lonesome Polecat in the “Li’l Abner” comic strip?
6. Who was the first astronaut to go into space?

January Answers:

1. Ann Rutherford
2. Rick Monday
3. Betty White
4. Second Avenue
5. Black Beauty
6. John Edwards

WIN LUNCH ON BEN!
The first person to email or mail, no calls please, the correct answers to all of the above questions will win a $25 gift certificate at The Uptown Cafe in downtown Danville, compliments of Ben Fernandez!
Entries must be received by February 20, 2011. In the event of a tie, the winner will be drawn at random. Please email your answers to info@aliveeastbay.com, or mail to ALIVE East Bay, 199 East Linda Mesa Avenue, Suite 10, Danville, CA 94526. Employees and family members of employees of ALIVE East Bay are not eligible. Restaurant may be changed without notice.

What is one of the secrets of a happy life? I believe most happy people would agree, it has to do with caring about others as much (or more) than you care about yourself. When we place your attention on others, we really don’t have time to worry or even notice our own problems.

The one thing that can really make one despondent, however, is hearing news that some very caring individual has passed away.

So it was this past week when I learned of Jack LaLanne’s death. I was engaged in an otherwise cheerful conversation with my wife, Peggy, when the news broke that LaLanne had died. Both our smiles inverted.

We had the honor of featuring a personal interview and story about LaLanne, by Antonia Venezia, in the March 2007 issue of ALIVE, when LaLanne was a spry 92. Since that time and for all of his years prior, Jack LaLanne lived and preached an active and vital lifestyle that has been the model for today’s fitness culture in the United States and around the world. Jack LaLanne was an American original. He was a patriot and, as Antonia called him in her article, he was a genuine, “nice man.”

By all accounts, I would also say that Jack LaLanne was a supremely happy person too, probably because he cared so much for others. It was what his life was about, as he taught America how to get in shape and how to be happy doing it.

In honor of Jack LaLanne and with respect and condolences to his family; his wife Elaine and children Yvonne, Danny and Jon, we are including in this issue of ALIVE, a revised version of the article and interview that appeared in our March 2007 issue.

In a way, this publication is a proper and fitting place to pay tribute to a man who was, after all, so very much alive. We will miss you Jack. Thanks for being the person you were.