Month: November 2024

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What Makes a Golf Course Design

To some people, the challenge that comes with an exciting round of golf goes beyond having to score more points than their opponents. The challenge also lies in dealing with the obstacle that is the golf course design itself. If you have played a difficult game of golf before, you may have wondered who came up with the ridiculous golf course design that sent your mind boggling.

As you may already know, not all golf course designs are the same. Several factors affect how a certain golf course is designed. One such factor is geography, which dictates and limits the digging or filling of holes within the available terrain. Golf courses are also designed to minimize or avoid flooding during the rainy season.

There are some courses that are designed for novice players, and others are for seasoned ones. While some playing fields are easy and simple enough for people who like to play an occasional game of golf, other golf course designs are so complicated that even professionals find them exceptionally challenging.

Valleys, hills, water hazards, and ravines that are mostly seen in golf courses add challenge to the game. Some of these were pre-existing and some were man-made to make the golf course design more challenging to players. When playing on a course owned by a golf course community, the homes, roads, and other structures also add a bit of a challenge to the design.

When coming up with a golf course design, one of the most important things that a designer has to consider is the drainage. A golf course, being an open field, is exposed to all kinds of elements, including heavy rain that can cause flood, resulting in costly damages. Obviously, some designers are more adept than others, and their skills have made them sought-after persons when it comes to designing a golf course, either private or public.

If you are looking to play in a course designed by one of these designers, read golf course reviews to find out where you can admire and enjoy their impressive work.

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Why Business Coaching is Needed For Practice Managers

The business world is full of dangers and money making is a sensitive issue. To kill a practice morale, all it takes is one wrong step taken by the unsuspecting and the inexperienced. Proper business coaching can help practice managers achieve their desired outcomes and avoid some major disasters. Business coaching mostly benefits two kinds of people: those without any previous business experience and are looking to jump in for the first time, and those who are already running businesses but are looking to expand and improve.

Business coaching can help practice managers in a variety of ways. The following scratches the surface of all the benefits coaching can bestow a business.

Management of cash flow
The flow of income for a business can be comparable with blood for a human body. Once this flow stops, it’s the end of the line for the business. The cash flow is the core issue. Quite often, the practice administrator of a certain medical practice wakes up to realize that there is no money this month to support expenses like staff wages, rents and so forth.

Such incidents not only affect small practices, but they also disturb the larger ones as well. As a matter of fact, smaller practices are more inclined toward cash flow complications because their pockets are not numerous or deep enough to survive harsh situations. Picking up cash flow management skills to avoid problems in the future is pure wisdom. A business coach is helpful because he can assist the practice manager in determining where the pitfalls are in the practice as a whole and why the negative cash flow is recurring. The practice administrator then makes more informed decisions which have greater chances for a favorable outcome.

Business Coaching Enables Accelerated Learning
Coaching and mentoring does promote learning. There is much that can be learned about managing a business from a business coach. Good coaching can quickly give businesses the right velocity needed to achieve their aims. There is no room for trial and error. Learning from hard knocks can be very costly in the business world. Proper coaching will help practice managers to:

1. See clearly what they want.
2. Get perspective on the issues.
3. Get support to move forward.

Promotion of Business Through Networking
During group business coaching sessions, practice administrators and managers meet collectively with other medical practice executives with which they can receive coaching and support from each other within the group. The conversations that ensue can prove enlightening, open and even profitable for all parties involved.

Business Coaching Improves Office Morale

Often times a practice manager is faced with employee morale and other human resources issues that deflate the office morale. Coaching for the manager and even the employee can improve relations and morale for the whole practice. Individuals interacting in the coaching environment will experience release of anxieties and pent-up frustrations in order to open up to possibilities and change. Everyone can benefit by utilizing coaching within the practice. Frequently, those receiving coaching will not only improve relations in the practice, but in every area of their lives.

Business Coaching Promotes the Development of Core Strategies
Countless medical practice executives find it hard to devise a profitable business strategy because they are moving in uncharted territory. Coming up with something concrete can be tough in this situation. Medical practice executives are frequently plagued with questions concerning what to expect, which move to make and what happens after that move.

Business coaching clears up the fog by answering powerful questions. A coach will ask the powerful questions to open the possibilities and opportunities that are there for taking. The techniques that a coach will use with a client will broaden perspectives and increase outcomes by exploring choices and reinforce progress within the client.

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Transferring From One College Or University To Another – Tips For Maximizing Your Credits

When students enroll in a college or university, they usually have no intention of transferring to another school until they have completed their degree; however, transferring colleges is a very common occurrence in our highly mobile society. There are many reasons that students change schools – marriage, job opportunities, military duty, family problems, illness, or perhaps the college or university just turns out to be the wrong fit for them.

Many times students have already spent countless time and money taking classes term after term and have earned many credit hours in various disciplines. Ideally, students should spend the first two years taking mostly general studies classes–or classes that will usually apply toward any degree. Courses that fall into this category are English composition, literature, general biology, general chemistry, general physics, fine arts (music, art, or theatre appreciation), freshman or sophomore history (American, western civilization, or world), general psychology, general sociology, pre-calculus algebra or calculus, philosophy, etc. Classes that fall into the general studies category are usually 1000 or 2000 (100 or 200) level classes which means they are categorized as freshman or sophomore level courses. Some colleges/universities may use other numerical designations for freshman or sophomore level classes.

If the time to transfer comes at a point where major-specific courses have been taken, students should take several steps to ensure that their courses are given the proper equivalencies to courses at the new institution. If a student plans to pursue the same major at the new university as he/she was pursuing at the old school, transferring credits for applicability to his degree will not be as difficult; however, if a totally new major is chosen, most of the major specific classes already completed will most likely apply only as free electives at the new school. Some degree requirements include some free electives so all may not be lost.

Before leaving the old university, students should make sure to:

1. Secure a copy of the college catalog under which he/she entered this university. Course descriptions from this catalog will give a true description of each course offered at that time. College catalogs may be accessed online also, but having a hard copy is always a good idea.
2. Keep the textbooks and syllabi for the courses that they think may be in question.
3. Request an official copy of their college transcript to be sent to the transferring college. Be sure to give a correct, complete address to the transcript clerk so that the transcript will go to the correct department. The college transcript will be the official document from which all your transferring coursework will be taken.
4. Request an unofficial copy of your transcript or print one online to use when meeting with the new college officials during admission processing or major and/or course selection and discussion.

Once students are admitted to the new college or university, they should:

1. Request an official evaluation of transfer credits from their previous college.
2. After all classes have been evaluated for applicability to the chosen degree plan, students should secure a copy of their degree plan showing how all evaluated classes are being used toward the degree.
3. If a student believes he has taken an equivalent class at his/her old school, but is not getting credit for it at the new school, he/she should first consult the department where the courses are evaluated. If an equivalency cannot be determined there, he/she should meet with a departmental chairperson for his/her review. If this person deems the class to be equivalent to one of the needed courses in the degree plan, he/she will contact the evaluation department and inform them of his decision. Most likely, this determination will be submitted on a formal document. The evaluators will need course descriptions, syllabi, and textbooks to make the most informed decision.
4. If it is determined that the class has no equivalent course at the new college, a student may ask the department chairperson or dean of that particular college or school if he/she would be willing to substitute that course for another course required in the degree. If this is approved, appropriate paperwork would have to be submitted for application to the degree plan.
5. Should a student be fortunate enough to get unused coursework approved in the degree plan, he/she should make sure to follow up on the process to make sure that the approval paperwork has gone to the correct source and that the coursework is applying as promised.

After all the evaluations are completed and everything has been done to make sure that as much transferred coursework as possible is applying toward their degree plan, students should dedicate themselves to completing their degree at this latest university/college. Moving from one school to another is counter productive, and more often than not, a great deal of time and money are lost.