178 - It's Yer Money I'm After Baby...

After the last article about my mate having around £200 to spend on his new obsession I got thinking about what he could buy if money were no option. I realise that there is probably no limit to how much that could be spent so I decided to have a poke around my favourite online emporium; www.onlinegolf.co.uk to see what my mate could get without a lottery win.

Driver: TaylorMade R9 SuperTri TP - £340. This driver, which combines Moveable Weight Technology and Flight Control Technology with 3 moveable weights in a 460cc head, marking the ultimate unification of TaylorMade’s major driver technologies with maximum size to deliver enormous distance and forgiveness from the tee on the golf course

Fairway Wood: TaylorMade R9 TP Fairway Wood - £215. This fairway wood has a new classically shaped clubhead, similar to the R9 Driver, which looks fantastic at address, and with TaylorMade Flight Control Technology, you can change the club into 8 different positions to optimise your performance on the golf course.

Hybrid: TaylorMade Rescue TP 2009 - £165. A shot into the rough can be saved with this essential addition to your golf bag. With an extremely low centre of gravity for an easy launch, and Ultra Thin Wall technology for greater weight distribution, this is a club every golfer needs to recover from a misplaced tee shot.

Clubs: Yonex Golf 3I Nanospeed (right) - £783. By incorporating the Isometric Face and 3D Power Weight system across the iron set, these irons now offer a greater sweet spot and substantially increased forgiveness from the clubface. The long irons feature an innovative wide cavity and long sole which pushes the centre of gravity deeper into the club head for a higher launch. In contrast, the centre of gravity is progressively shifted closer to the club face across the mid and short irons to provide a more accurate feel and enhanced distance control.

Wedges: Callaway Golf X Series Jaws Wedge (below) - £85 each. This astounding wedge benefits from aggressively-sized MACK Daddy Grooves, which have been designed with maximum conforming width and depth grooves to give you shot-stopping control and spin, and enable you to take aim from virtually any lie on the golf course.

Putter: TaylorMade TP Agsi Kia Ma Putter - £225. This marvellous putter is 100% milled from 304 stainless steel to ensure every detail is rendered beautifully and perfectly; has adjustable Micro-Moveable weights to change the putters’ weight and customise the feel to suit your preference; and an AGSI+ Titallium face insert to negate backspin and promote forward spin to provide great roll and control, as well as a soft and solid feel.

Bag: TaylorMade TMX T2 Cart Bag 2010 - £180. A total of 10 pockets, including dual accessory pockets and a velour-lined valuables pocket, give this bag space to store everything you could possibly need on the golf course, from spare golf clothing to a number of golf balls in case your round doesn’t go quite to plan! With a golf towel clip, integrated golf umbrella sleeve, and Fast Action Snap Technology accessory compatible, this magnificent golf bag ensures your golf accessories are always within easy reach.

Trolley: Clicgear Cart Trolley Version 3.0 - £180. Clicgear offers a full sized three wheel golf pushcart that glides smoothly down the fairway and yet still folds up incredibly small. At only 13 x 15 and 24 when folded, it won’t take over your car trunk or garage.

Balls: TaylorMade Penta TP Dozen Golf Balls - £35 per dozen. This is the first Tour golf ball to feature 5 solid layers, with each layer engineered to optimise performance in five key shot categories that skilled golfers need. The 5 layers of Penta TP golf ball include the core, inner mantle, middle mantle, outer mantle and cover, and each of these plays a critical role in optimising the performance of each of the five key shots.

So there you have it, driver, fairway wood, hybrid, clubs, wedges (x2), putter, bag and ball. Total for that admittedly pretty awesome kit? A whopping £2,293! That doesn’t include clothing, an electric trolley, rangefinder/GPS or a brolley!!! My friend’s £200 looks even more pitiful now.

77 - Second Monday Rant - The Arms Race…

If you look through golf magazines they give a disproportionate amount of column inches to drivers in my opinion. If for example Callaway put a new groove in the sole of their latest driver it is front-page stuff with a comment in the editors piece and a whole spread hastily assembled showing why this groove will revolutionise your game. Tosh.

I’m convinced that most of the ‘developments’ dreamt up by the equipment manufacturers make absolutely no difference whatsoever to the average muni-hacker. The only reason there is a change is to convince us mugs to part with £250 a year for a club that, on the whole, performs exactly the same as the one we already have. There are exceptions to this rule though.

Nike has recently brought out the STR8-FIT adjustable driver that can be configured eight different ways to force the ball to hook or slice (below). Not to be out done in the driver arms race, TaylorMade have released the all new R9 which has movable weights and an adjustable shaft which, like the Nike club, forces the ball to bend one way or the other from the tee.

I’m all for anything that makes golf easier but where do we draw the line? With these drivers it is possible to hit the ball straighter and further despite not actually being a better player.

Now 28ers can smash the ball 250 yards up the fairway as straight as a die after picking up the game just a few months before. Those with handicaps in the teens unwilling to spend a fortune on the new drivers will struggle to keep up off the tee.

I know that there is more to golf than driving but mastering that first shot is one of the fundamentals of the game. The new breed of adjustable clubs makes the tee shot that bit easier thus giving the advantage to people willing to shell out the sort of money usually used to buy a set of irons on just one driver. Why not go the whole hog and pay someone to hit the ball for you?

Surely it would be better to spend the £300 (the price of the STR8-FIT and R9) on lessons from a pro to help hit the ball properly rather than just go out and buy the latest technological gimmick? For that kind of cash the pro would be able to look at not only your driving but your iron shots, short game and putting too. To me that is a much better use of the cash but the problem is that we live in a society where shortcuts, workarounds and quick fixes are the norm.

Soon we won’t even play golf, we’ll simply reach for the Wii controller and hit perfect shot after perfect shot. No doubt Nike and TaylorMade will then come up with a £300 controller incorporating ‘revolutionary technology’ that will allow us to undo the last shot until we are happy. Is that really progress?