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We would all love to be able to get within 100 yards of the green when we tee off. Unfortunately this luxury is not always possible and most of us will have to reach for a long iron or fairway wood several times during a round of golf.

This is often a frustrating situation to find yourself in. Even though on a par 5 it would be quite common, when teeing off on a par 4, we are aiming to get within an easy shot with a 7 or 9 iron or the green.

So when you find yourself having to take a shot with a fairway wood or long iron on a par 4, it is often because you have made a mistake.

So one of the first things to do is take stock of the situation and try not to get angry with yourself. This only leads to lack of concentration and more mistakes. And you don't want to be taking 2 shots with your long iron or fairway wood!

The second thing to do is to take a normal address position when setting yourself up for the shot. Treat this shot like any other shot and don't let using the long iron or fairway wood intimidate you. Fear will also create more mistakes and frustration.

Next position the ball slightly back and take a full backswing. Because of the design of fairway woods and long irons, you need to hit the ball at the bottom of the swing, instead of the descending blow of the much shorter irons.

Also, while setting up your swing, think about aiming to clip the top of the grass. Unlike shorter irons, your long irons will not create the deep divots and you will achieve a greater impact.

I believe that the main thing to do is not to panic when you find yourself in this situation. Fear arises from lack of familiarity with having to use the long irons and fairway woods, so take time to use them at the driving range.

Also, if your driving range has a grassed section, spend plenty of time creating a set up that will work for you when you hit the golf course. Next time you are reaching for the long irons or fairway woods, it won't feel like the first time!

Find out more about hitting with long irons and fairway woods, and get some tips on how to hit with these clubs more effectively.

swimming pools are a wonderful addition to any home. They create an instant place for fun, relaxation, and exercise. plus, water is extremely beneficial in any landscape. However, in feng shui, swimming pools can often create negative influence. That's because swimming pools possess a great deal of energy in feng shui terms. It is also because swimming pools are often located at the rear of the home, and that is extremely inauspicious according to feng shui.

Even so, there are some instances when pools are a benefit to the homeowner. This would include a pool that is correctly sized, shaped, and positioned. In feng shui, certain pool shapes and sizes can create problems, such as poison arrows, which are harsh points of energy directed at the house.

On the plus side, pools positioned in certain locations can actually benefit homeowners. These are pools that are placed according to flying star feng shui. At their best, pools can be positioned to tap the "wealth star" -- the secret location of prosperity that is tied to the direction of the front door. Another benefit of flying star placement is to overcome negative energies, as pools can offset negative energy from poor star placements.

Look at placing your pool in an auspicious location and follow feng shui's design criteria to make sure your pool gives you great feng shui! Positioned right, swimming pools can add tremendous wealth luck to a home! If not, though, it can be a very negative influence that can harm your wealth. To be sure about your pool, though, consider checking in with a feng shui consultant.

The Top 6 Feng Shui pool Rules

1. Select a shape that is auspicious.
The best shapes for pools are round, oval, kidney, or curving. This is because none of these shapes have any hard edges or points that can create a poison arrow effect that square-shaped pools often do. Other good choices include octagons and figure-eights.

2. Keep your pool size proportional to the size of the home.
Pools are better if they are not overly large. If they are too large for the home, they can "overwhelm" it, imparting much negative energy. Better to go with a smaller pool than one that is too large.

3. Place pools at the sides of the yard.
If possible, it is better to position swimming pools at the side of a yard rather than directly in the rear. If that can't be accommodated, then do try to avoid having a pool that is directly in line with the rear center of the house. Pools that do can become menacing, as water behind you is considered bad feng shui.

4. Pools that embrace a home bring good luck.
These pools appear to wrap around a home or curve toward the home. These are a good design choice as they don't have hard edges pointing at the house.

5. Locate pools in a favorable sector for feng shui periods 8 and 9.
Until 2043, pools should ideally be located in the North, Southwest, East, or Southeast sectors.

6. Incorporate the five elements around your pool.
Pools should be mixed with the other elements, such as metal (handrailings, pumps, electrical equipment), wood (plants, arbors, gazebos), earth (rock, cement surroundings or deckings), and fire (lighting). This helps to ensure that the pool is well-balanced and harmoniously incorporated into the landscape.

Kathryn Weber is the publisher of the Red Lotus Letter feng shui e-zine and the ebook APPLIED FENG SHUI, The Science of Determining and Applying Authentic Feng Shui to Your Space In 9 Easy steps. For more information, logon to http://www.redlotusletter.com and receive this special report "16 Feng Shui Secrets for Greater Prosperity" FREE.

kweber@redlotusconsulting.com

To keep ourselves in good shape we indulge in sporadic exercise regimens and fancy diets. And when it doesn't work, we become depressed, and binge ourselves to a more round shape. The question is, can we control obesity effectively through diet and exercise?

Our body requires a minimum number of calories each day, called the basal metabolic rate, to maintain its vital functions such as breathing, maintaining the heartbeat, and keeping the brain working properly. It's all common sense -- to lose weight we must burn more calories than we consume. The goal in any weight loss program is to keep our metabolism elevated as people with a high metabolic rate burn more calories throughout the day compared to those with a low metabolic rate.

The successful strategy in the battle of the bulge is to make a winning combination of dieting and exercise. dieting, whatever fancy label it carries - low-carb-high-fat or high-carb-low-fat - can only bring short-term results, but to retain the weight loss, exercise just cannot be done away with. The commercial dieting programs slash the calories drastically and slow down the metabolism (the body is put in a 'starvation mode') and cause muscle loss. Eventually, the weight loss stops and any increase in calories that follows rebounds vengefully with an immediate fat gain.

Unlike restricting diets, exercise aerobic and weight training - raises your metabolic rate and creates a caloric deficit without triggering the starvation response. Aerobic exercises raise your heart rate and increase the amount of oxygen that is delivered to your muscles. As your fitness level soars, you will notice that you can do more physical activity without becoming out of breath. To get the most out of aerobic exercise, start by doing a short warm-up, such as walking or riding a stationary bike, and stretch briefly. Then, do vigorous exercise for 20 minutes a day, 3 times a week or more. Vigorous-intensity activity is any exercise that provides 70% or more of your maximum heart rate.

You may have noticed that some bikes and treadmills at the gym have a setting that says fat burning zone, where the setting for intensity or speed is moderate. The reason for this is that the body burns a greater percentage of fat at a slow pace (or after about 90 minutes of exercise). How much fat is burned during exercise depends on the ability of the cardiovascular system to deliver enough oxygen to the cells in sufficient time. Aerobic activity does not involve short spurts of energy. If you gasp for air, chances are you are probably working anaerobically, or without a sufficient oxygen supply to the muscles. Types of aerobic activity include walking, jogging, swimming, bicycling etc. The key factor to keep in mind is the more muscle groups you use, the more fat you'll burn.You can maintain a continued increase in metabolism even several hours after you stop people who exercise on a regular basis develop more fat burning enzymes than people who don't exercise at all. By doing just twenty minutes of fat burning exercises you get those fat burning enzymes working.

In contrast, anaerobic activity involves short spurts of energy. Anaerobic exercise uses muscles at high intensity for a short period of time. They help us to develop stronger muscles and improve the cardio respiratory system by increasing the maximum amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise. They also build up the endurance to withstand the buildup of waste substances such as lactic acid and increase the ability to remove them from the body.

When one is strength training it's possible to get smaller and heavier at the same time. Muscle is a much denser tissue than fat. Following this type of routine, its possible to gain about two kilos of muscle per week and lose about two kilos of fat per week. The end result is that the number on the scale might not move much at all, it may even go up. It's at this point that a lot of people will chuck the weight training because they don't understand the physiology of what's happening. The scale can be misleading at such times. Just keep going; you're actually doing great.

Uma Shankari is a Bangalore-based freelance journalist. She is passionate about writing. She writes regularly on development issues, health and fitness, yoga/meditation, life and relationships. Read some her articles on Here