While you were playing GOLF... Your Brand was being hijacked

Todays marketing tips centers on the Search Engine and URLS. BP recently purchased many domain names, and consequently caught a great deal of heat on the popular media, having to do with "GULF," "OIL SPILL", etc... Regardless of what you think of BPs other corporate communications (or lack thereof) during this period, the buying of URLs that "tell your message" (or almost as important, keep your competitors or adversaries from telling theirs) works, plain and simple.

Take the time today. Explore your business terms that are important to your brand and market perceptions---do you control these? Do you control the search terms if people head to GOOGLE or Bing and do a search?

If you need help in doing this, we can help. Define and dominate your search terms!

Todd Hunnicutt

REAL INTERNET SALES

THE SEO EXPERTS

Ultimate springtime golf fitness tips for "real" golfers

By Tim McDonald,
National Golf Editor

For those of you unfortunate enough to live in the North, you must be salivating at the thought of the spring golf season.

Hold on, Tiger. You ain't the man you used to be. You can't just jump up and go straight to the golf course after a long winter of sloth and mold.

Now, you will find any number of charlatans willing to sell you their total golf fitness regimens. These sleazoids always assume you're a golfer interested in a cleaner, healthier way of living and golfing. I've seen you out on the course, and I know that's not the sort of thing you're "into."

So here is my total golf fitness regimen for the "real" golfer:

• For God's sake, you have to strengthen your core! This involves eating really hard food, like jawbreakers. Eat a bag of those and have your neighbor punch you in the gut to see if your core is all it can be.

Options: Month-old fudge, Purina Dog Chow, pine bark.

• You also have to really work your obliques, I mean really work the hell out of them. Here's the perfect exercise for that. Lie flat on your back with knees bent slightly wider than your hips. If you have really fat hips, you're either going to have to really stretch your knees like in a cartoon, like The Elastic Man from India, or just skip this exercise. In fact, if you have really fat hips, just skip playing golf, nobody wants to see you out on the course.

Now, you slim-hipped people reach your hands to the ceiling like you're crying out for the Lord Jesus Christ to spare you from your miserable existence. You can hold light hand-weights, or not. What do I care? Lift your head and chest toward the ceiling and rotate to reach both hands just outside of your fat, right knee. Repeat on the left side. Now, take a breather. Ask Christ for forgiveness.

• Breathing exercises: Breathing properly and deeply is critical, especially for those tense moments on the course when normally you would start crying.
This deep-breathing exercise involves attending your local adult movie house, or calling up one of those sites on your Internet browser. Follow your instincts. It's either that or follow mine, and then you're looking at jail time.
• Horizontal abduction/adduction: I can't give you much help here, because I always get "horizontal" confused with "vertical," and I have no idea what adduction is. Who came up with that word, anyway? It's a stupid word and should be eliminated from the English language, if it's even English.

• Standing hip rotation: Don't do this. It makes you look like a girl.

• Alcohol fitness: How many times have you lost $2 Nassaus because while you were getting hamboned, your playing partners were just holding up that bottle of Jack Black pretending to drink?

Well, no need to waste good liquor. You can still drink and maintain your competitive edge. You just need to build up a tolerance. Stand upright in a dark closet, with a wide stance, and suck it down. Keep drinking until your wife leaves you.

• Aerobics: Ha! Don't make me laugh. This is golf!

• Putting: Don't bother to practice putting. Putting in golf is overrated. I play golf maybe 200 times a year and I've yet to meet anyone who can putt. You either make it or you don't. If you miss, just keep putting until the ball goes in the hole. Simple.

• Seniors: As we age, our bodies react differently, so seniors must prepare for golf differently than young punks. An important thing to remember is that there is an inverse relationship of increased ear hair to laughably short drives off the tee.

So keep those ear hairs trim and neat. If you're proud of your thick mane of ear hair, don't sweat it. If you're short off the tee, you're probably small in other areas, and I think you know what I'm talking about.

• Excuses: A healthy psychological outlook is a must for Better Golf. If you can convince yourself that the snap hook you hit into the weeds over there is not your doing at all, you'll retain the confidence needed to excel in the game.

The first time you smack one of your all-too-typical lousy shots, turn to your playing partner and snarl," "Will you stop that!" Look at him, looking all hurt and everything. Who would have thought golf fitness could be so much fun?

• Torque development in the downswing: This is so important, I can barely contain myself. This is vital to any golfer who has ever wanted to improve his score. You could even say it is absolutely critical in terms of reaching your full potential as a golfer and knowing what it is to be truly human.

• Alignment and posture: Face the target squarely and stand erect, with your rump jutting out slightly. Feels a little silly, doesn't it? Can you think of another situation in life where you would position yourself in such an odd manner? I can't.

Furman Claims Fifth Place Finish At Bryan National Collegiate

Browns Summit, N.C. - Furman (301-304-310=915) posted a final round 310 to finish in fifth place Sunday afternoon at the Bryan National Collegiate at the par 72 Bryan Park Players Course in Browns Summit, N.C.

Jaclyn Hilea (74-75-77=226) shot a 77 on Sunday to lead the Paladins with a 10th place finish. Fellow freshman Stefanie Kenoyer (73-76-79=228) placed 15th at 12-over-par. Sophomore Corrine Carr (82-77-75=234) paced Furman on the final day with a three-over 75.

Furman finished nine strokes off the pace set by tournament champion Florida (298-301-307=906) in a field that included 13 of the top 40 teams in the nation. Top-ranked Duke (294-304-310=908) claimed second place just two strokes back of the Gators. Auburn took third place while Arkansas finished fourth.

Arkansas' Stacy Lewis (70-69-77=216) held off Duke's Amanda Blumenherst by one stroke carding a final round 77 to finish at even par for individual medalist honors.

Furman will return to the course April 7-8, at the Canes/Cardinals Classic in Miami, Fla.

Furman University selected for youth golf program

Furman University and the Ladies Professional Golf Association have teamed to offer young women an even playing field.

Not by altering the landscape of the Furman Golf Course, but by potentially altering the landscape of the Greenville community.

Through Girls Golf, a national initiative administered through the LPGA and the United States Golf Association, Furman will welcome young women from ages 7-17 to its 170-acre course to teach them the fundamentals of the game.

Jennifer Shillington of the Furman Golf Club will serve as the site director for Girls Golf of Greenville, organizing camps and events.

"We are really just trying to introduce the game of golf to the girls," Shillington said. "If they want to take it to a high school or collegiate level or to a professional level, we can provide them with those opportunities.

"Also, if they just want to do it for building friendships and experiencing competition in a fun way, it is going to allow them to do that."

Shillington, a certified LPGA Teaching Professional, said Girls Golf was designed for those who already play golf, but more importantly, for young women who may never have been exposed to the game.

"We just want to get them involved with a game that can show them team building and competition and a lifetime of enjoyment," Shillington said. "It's a game that they don't have to play at a competitive level, but it can be something that they can just enjoy."

Shillington believes golf can offer young women additional benefits.

"Definitely for young women it is going to help them in a business sense," she said. "It is going to put them on a little bit more of an even playing field with the men in business organizations.

"It's going to help them with their self-esteem. We are going to be providing grants, scholarships and other financial support, for ones who can't afford college."

For more information on this program, visit its Web site at www.girlsgolfofgreenville.com.