Clubbed To Death? Your Wallet May Think So.

Anyone who takes up golf will have one immediate and expensive concern to take care of – the equipment. And we are not talking about offensively garish knitwear and those hats with sun visors on them although, if you are interested, those will cost a pretty penny too. No, think more along the lines of the equipment you will need in order to actually play the game. If you are going to play golf with any kind of regularity, and any kind of seriousness, then let’s just say that golf clubs – in both senses of the word “clubs” – will take up quite a bit of your disposable income.

This piece, though, will concentrate on the clubs that you carry around with you, the ones you use to hit the ball. A casual glance may have you believing that these are very simple items, made from metal, wood or some combination thereof, with a rubber grip. But if you are to fit in down at the country club, you will need state-of-the-art clubs to play with. The latest clubs are all the result of a lot of research and some extremely technical design work, built to optimise the distance you can get on your drives, the spin on your approach shots, and the accuracy in your putting game. These are the kinds of club that Woods, Mickelson and Els use and, although they won’t make you play like the professionals, they will give you some of the advantages those guys have.

The fact is, for a decent beginner’s set of golf clubs you will be looking at potentially getting no change from an outlay of $300. This will be a set that contains three woods (unfortunately, not Tiger – he would help anyone’s game), five irons, a driver, a putter and two recovery clubs (usually a pitching wedge and a sand wedge). There are more clubs available, and the average professional will have a few more in their bag so that every situation is covered. But those guys can afford to pay a caddy to carry their bag, and pay them handsomely to carry more weight. Unless you have that kind of money to spend, it is worth taking into account that the average beginners’ sets will suit your needs admirably, and individual clubs can always be added as and when you feel the need (and as your caddy’s upper-body strength improves).

Why Put Things Off When You Can Go Off Putting?

For many of us, a holiday is an opportunity to get away from things and sit by a pool, catching some sun and having a quiet period of relaxation and contemplation. Some of us do not deal so well with staying still all the time and need to have a bit more to do with our time. These are the people who benefit most from golfing holidays. You still get the time away from things – perhaps more so, because there are few places more suited to splendid isolation than the far end of a golf course – but you also get to have a bit of gentle exercise rather than getting bored on a sun lounger.

There are some great destinations for a golfing holiday in the US. Florida in itself is home to several fabulous courses, with very limited prospects of having to cut short your game due to rain if you go at the right time. Check with your travel agent to see where and when you could go and play a few rounds, and especially ask them about Naples – the famed golfer’s paradise – and the world renowned Doral golfing resort. Arizona, too, is home to some great courses, and both of the above states have a lot more going for them than just (!) golf, so the whole family can come along.

If you fancy stretching your search a bit further than US courses, there are some excellent golfing holidays to be had further afield. In Europe, there is a love for golf that challenges that of the American golfing fraternity. Britain, for example, is home to some of the most famous old courses in the world, including the Belfry (four time host of the Ryder Cup) and St Andrews, while Ireland has the legendary K Club. Meanwhile, if you want to get a bit more sunshine while you play, the Portuguese Algarve is dotted with excellent courses. Further afield again, you might consider Dubai for a golfing break. There are courses springing up all the time there, while the hotels simply have to be seen to be believed.

Tiger Woods – A Golfer Like No Other

There is something amazing about the world’s number one male golfer in this day and age – and it is not just his race, although this makes him pretty unique. No, Tiger Woods is remarkable for so many reasons that he transcends race, and makes the curiosity value that surrounded him for much of his early career completely irrelevant. Whether you like golf or not, you will undoubtedly have heard of him, and this is not something that could have been said for most of the people who preceded him in golf’s premier ranking.

From an early age it was clear that Tiger Woods was a phenomenon. At the age of two – yes, that’s right, two – he appeared on American television showing his adeptness at putting and a year later he played nine holes at California’s Navy Golf Club, making his way around in 48 shots. Now if you don’t know much about golf, take it as fact that that is amazing. Many adult amateurs would dream of shooting 48 for a nine-hole round. To do it at the age of three is incredible.

Tiger Woods turned professional at the age of twenty – not especially remarkable in this day and age, but certainly one of the younger players ever to do so. By the time he had turned professional he was already marked out as one of the most exciting prospects the game had ever seen – in fact, probably undeniably the most exciting. There was no doubt that in terms of coverage, he gained some extra attention for being of mixed race. But the coverage was far more than anything due to the fact that he just kept winning.

As things stand, with Woods just back in the game after eight months out following surgery on his left knee, he remains the top-ranked golfer on the PGA Tour. Despite the injury – with which he played the entire US Open in 2008, and won – Woods’ place was untouched, and at the age of 33 he has spent 536 weeks (more than ten years) at the top of the world rankings. That is more than the three next most successful men in the rankings put together. Those three men? Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros.

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