96 - Lets Twist Again...

Hot on the heels of my delicious new Mizuno MP-57’s came another golf purchase. Although my shiny new clubs looked fantastic just laying on the couch, aching to be stroked, my lovely fiancée told me I had to get them shifted which meant buying a new golf bag. There is a lot of choice out there when it comes to bags although they can be broadly broken down into four different types, each with their own plus and minus points.

Pencil Bags – These are designed to be as light as possible for when there is no need to lug things like waterproofs around. These are usually the cheapest bag option and are a convenient, no frills way to hoik around a handful of clubs for a quick 9 holes in the sun.

Stand Bags – These bags are carried over the shoulder and have two foldaway legs which support the bag when not being used. Stand bags are bigger than pencil bags and have extra pockets to store clothing and sometimes come with compartments to store water bottles, scorecards and mobile phones.

Trolley/Cart Bags – Usually wider and taller than stand bags to provide even more room for clubs and accessories. As they are designed to be strapped to a trolley or fixed on a cart they don’t have folding legs but will stand up on their own due to having a bigger base. These bags are generally more expensive than the stand bags.

Tour Bags – See the bag that YE Yang was holding above his head after winning the recent PGA Championship at Hazeltine? That is a tour bag. They are the biggest, most expensive and arguably most garish bags available and have everything the best players in the world need.

What I needed was something that was light like a pencil bag, had legs like a stand bag for when I was feeling energetic, could be bolted to a trolley for when I’m not and had plenty of space for all the assorted crap needed for a game in the depths of the British winter. Continuing with the Mizuno obsession I looked around and decided on the Twister III bag (above).

The Twister III is a stand bag with some clever touches. Although it has foldaway legs it has been designed to also fit onto a trolley or cart to offer the best of both worlds. In addition, it has a large wrap around pocket used to store clothes etc that can be taken off to convert it almost into a pencil bag for those trips abroad.

It took some looking but I eventually found the bag in the ‘Staff’ colours of blue and white (everything has to match don’t you know?) It arrived the other day and is fantastic although I did think I needed to buy a rain hood for it until I discovered one tucked in a pocket I had missed on first inspection. Like my clubs, it is almost too good to use but I’m going to bite the bullet and parade it up and down the local municipal.

53 - Counting The Cost...

Right, time to take stock and work out how much I’m gonna need to kit myself out ready for next years rise to Golfing Superstardom. As mentioned previously I’m now almost certainly getting the Mizuno MX-200’s and will no doubt match the rest of the kit to the bats.

A quick scan online shows that the clubs can be found for around £400 with regular steel shafts although in some places it is just 4-PW meaning I’d have to shell out for a hybrid too which is a long term plan that may need to be addressed sooner than I’d have liked.

The new hybrid from Mizuno is something called the Fli-Hi, which got rave reviews from Golf Whine Monthly and can be found for around £90. For the time being I’m sure ‘Dougie’ would be an adequate stand in but I want the new fella in my bag.

A new driver is definitely in order and there is a good chance I could touch lucky with this. The current Mizuno driver is the MX-560, which originally retailed at £300 but is now available at JJB Sport for £170. A quick look at Onlinegolf.co.uk shows that the bad boy can be had for just £80, which is an absolute bargain.

For a similar price I will pick up the award winning Mizuno Twister III bag. There are parts of the bag that can be detached when you don’t need them (namely the big pocket for your waterproofs) meaning that if I’m lucky enough to play somewhere where the sun actually shines I won’t have to break my back lugging it about.

Finally I want a new putter. I’m torn here, do I go for an Odyssey Klingon Warbird like Lucky’s (which is superb) or plump for a Mizuno Bettinardi which consistently receives praise in magazines and blogs? They cost about the same though so I’ll just decide closer the time and add the £120 to the running total.

So, adding it all up I reckon I’m gonna need about £770. Kinell. I already have a war chest in my account but it isn’t £770!!! There had better be some tremendous offers on in the January sales or I’m screwed…