yoga98603

There are over 32 000 golf courses around the world and the number is growing every day.

We all know that golf is the business worlds unofficial sport and that a golf courses outline is pretty much designed with luscious green fields, putting greens, bunkers and then of course the 19th hole. The 19th hole is where golfers gather and also lovingly nicknamed the watering hole. It is where the days game is discussed in earnest whilst enjoying a drink or two.

The Golfer
South Africa has generated a new type of golf player: the sophisticated golfer. And where better to play a game of golf than in the Cape Winelands. In recent years the game of golf has had an interesting effect upon this district. Less than an hours drive from Cape Town youll be met by lush green valleys, vineyards and dramatic mountains that surround this area. A long leisurely drive through the green countryside, basking in the sun while enjoying a relaxing game of golf proves to be better than an apple a day when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle.

The Cape Winelands truly is the golfers paradise. Here you can play 18 holes of golf and then at the 19th turn into a wine connoisseur while discussing the days game. The 19th hole will never be the same. The exquisite wines of Cape Winelands truly make this golfing experience something to remember.

Combining Golf with wine
Forming part of this refined golf experience is the Alluvia wine estate. Surrounded by several world class golf courses within easy driving distance, Alluvia wine estate is the perfect base for any golf lover. A holiday combining the world of golf with the wine culture of the Cape Winelands is sure to make anyone envious.

Alluvia has gone the extra mile for their golf enthusiasts by constructing a PGA golf green and bunker on the estate. If you need a bit of help to perfect your backswing, the professional service of Sydney van Rensburg is available at your beck and call. Now you can improve your game whilst overlooking onto the Banhoek Valley and sipping on a top class Cabernet Sauvignon.

If you are planning on enjoying a stay at the Alluvia wine estate, be sure to book ahead to avoid disappointment.

There are many other golf courses within a 30 minute drive from Alluvia. Some are designed by famous players like Gary Player and Peter Matkovich, these golf courses are sure to give even the best players a run for their money. One of the better courses is Erinvale golf and Country Club, a beautifully crafted course with challenging holes, set against the foothills of the Hottentots Holland Mountains with panoramic views of False Bay. Gary Player was once quoted as saying that he thought this would be one of the best golf courses in South Africa. He was proved to be right.

Day Tripping
More than just a vineyard lifestyle, Alluvia is a luxury wine estate with five star accommodations to give you that head start. Situated in the Stellenbosch Winelands, you would be close to many other tourist attractions. You can spend a day or two in Cape Town, going to Robben Island or up Table Mountains cable car.

Enjoy a day trip to Stellenbosch where you can learn about the South African heritage at the many museums found in Stellenbosch. Or if you want to learn more about the nightlife, be sure to join in at one of Cape Towns many clubs, pubs or discos. No matter your taste, there is something for everyone in this area and all well within easy drive of Alluvia.

Alluvia is truly a golfers paradise. Surrounded with natural beauty, some of the best golf courses and superb food and wine, the Western Cape introduces a new way of enjoying a game of golf.

Author Bio

Alluvia Boutique wine Estate is just outside of Stellenbosch. Surrounded by several golf courses, the winelands golf also offers private lessons on the newly constructed PGA golf green and bunker available on the Alluvia estate.

Like a 4-year-old child at the checkout counter in a supermarket, American consumers want just one more impulse buy to make their buying day complete, and apparently the more expensive it is, the better.

Here is an example: A 68-year-old, semi-retired businessman shells out $600,000 for a recreational vehicle which costs about $550 to top off at the pump. He and his wife are tooling around the country in an effort to have fun while they can.

His comment on the decision is that "This isn't a dress rehearsal for lifethis is it. We're curtailing nothing." Those big tears you see following his comment might well come from any children who see their inheritance fading away into the sunset with dad and mom.

Like a dog in heat, if we have it we tend to spend it in america.

All of this impulse buying is detailed in a recent USA Today article with this headline: "Spending is hotter than the 4th of july". And indeed it apparently is.

Although the median amount of credit-card debt carried by the typical American is about $6,600 (this is not a typo), 13% of respondents in a recent online poll reported balances higher than $25,000, according to CardTrack.com.

"Never have Americans, who have always liked their toys, been faced with a situation where their impulses are so hard to control," says Stuart Vyse, a professor of psychology and author of the upcoming book Going Broke: Why Americans Can't Hold on to their Money.

The fact is that we as consumers can buy almost anything we want anytime we want on the easiest terms we want. Sellers and lenders have no compunctions about selling us what we do not need at a price we cannot afford and at a rate of payment that can eventually drive us into bankruptcy.

Sellers and lenders, especially credit card lenders, have raised this willingness to line their pockets at our expense to an art form. And yes, I understand and agree with the observation that we all need to be responsible for our actions.

What I do disagree with is this: How can doing the right thing with right thinking and right motives justify lending consumers money and credit when they do not deserve it, and then leaving them no smarter but broker and deeper in debt in the process?

All of this unmerited lending is creating and concentrating wealth among America's very rich, and the rich club in America is growing faster and farther away from America's poor and middle classes.

"For the first time in history, more than half of all earned income, specifically 50.4%, is going to 20% of the U. S. population, which amounts to $3.5 trillion in the hands of 23 million households," says Peter Francese, a demographic trends analyst for ad and marketing giant Ogilvy & Mather.

So more than half of the earned income in america is going to 20% of the population, leaving the other half to 80% of the working stiffs that are left to continue buying things they do not need at prices they cannot afford on credit.

A key component of this impulse spending happens because too many Americans think they can afford it when they cannot.

Families are less frugal today, in part because only 25% of households have married couples with children, a significant drop from 50% in 1960 and the lowest percentage in census history. We have a census procedure in this country to learn these kinds of sociological shifts.

There are more working couples without children who have more disposable income and keep spending rather than realizing their good fortune and saving. Leading the spending spree are the seniors mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Seniors have so much spendable income that a Luxury Marketing Council has been created to advise top brands on consumer trends for a growing group of seniors that have at least $1 million in liquid assets. They do not need to sell their home to buy a $125,000 Maserati, they simply write a check out of one of their accounts.

I personally would not encourage this kind of spending among any consumers, and especially on an automobile which is a decreasing asset. If you cannot control your impulse to buy, at least buy land or developed properties that might well appreciate over time.

The USA Today article carried information by Pitney Bowes MapInfo which identified the Top 20 Counties nationwide with the highest average expenditures annually per household. Here are the Top 7:

1) Marin, CA - $68,782

2) Fairfield, CT - $65,263

3) fairfax, VA - $63,569

4) San Mateo, CA - $63,229

5) Morris, NJ - $62,995

6) Somerset, NJ - $62,345

7) Westchester, NY - $61,425

I identify these counties as "high rent districts" which are too expensive for most people to buy a home. One thing is for sure, if you do not make some major money, you are not going to be able to keep up with those earners who can.

Not all of us suffer from this apparent impulse to buy.

The answer to impulse control just might be in yoga. Yoga taught me "impulse control", the ability to feel an urge and delay acting on it. Yoga also taught me that when stability becomes a habit, maturity and clarity follow.

While earning money has a way of increasing financial intelligence quickly, I learned a long time ago that a fool and his money are some parted.

I will keep the $125,000 and you can have the Maserati. I will keep the $600,000 and you can have the recreational vehicle. Eventually, cash is king; the car and the recreational vehicle will eventually end up in the junkyard with a lot of other impulse purchases.

Copyright 2007 Ed Bagley

Ed Bagley is the Author of Ed Bagley's Blog which he Publishes with original Articles on Current and Past Events, including Analysis and Commentary on Lessons in Life, Movies, Sports, Internet Marketing, Jobs and Careers that are intended to Delight, Inform, Educate and Motivate Readers. Visit Ed at . . .
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/MovieReviewArticles.html
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/LessonsinLifeArticles.html