Four must-have golf accessories.

Golf, like a number of other activities, is a scalable game.  What do I mean by that?  Well, you can get away with buying a half set of clubs, a bag, glove, a few balls, tees and you are away.  Or you can spend a fortune on the best kit and buy numerous useful (and some useless) accessories to “help” you on your rounds.  When Christmas comes around each year, just have a look in your local golf shop or in any golf magazines and you will see loads of things that you  ”need” and you will start wondering how you ever managed to get around a golf course without them.

Don’t let me put you off accessories as, being a bloke, I love them and have to rein myself in sometimes.  But I do happen to have a couple of suggestions that I think are worth looking into.

Firstly, although not strictly accessories, are step-tees or graduated tees.  These are the tees that are shaped a bit like rook or castle on a chess board and have a wide base to stop you pushing them in the ground all the way.  Because of their shape, they will always give a consistent tee height.  The different height tees are different colours so they are easy to pull out and use the correct one for the club you use at the tee.  Yes, I know you have the versatility of using a long tee pushed a little bit in the ground for your driver and pushed further in the ground when you use a wood or hybrid, but the step tees will always give you the same height each time and take one variable out of the equation.  Also, if you happen to be teeing off hard ground, it is a lot easier putting in a small step tee that trying to push in a long driver tee.

Secondly, get yourself a shot counter.  Not an electronic one – a plain simple plastic job. They are about six inches tall by about 2 inches wide with a hook on top to attach it to your bag.  All you do is turn a plastic wheel that clicks into place and it is job done.  However, I would suggest a slight customisation.  The counters have a plastic moulded hoof at the top and a loop to attach to your golf bag.  These hooks are very fragile and can break easily.  I would suggest drilling a small hole in the bottom of the counter and putting through a small cable-tie.  The cable ties come in various sizes, but you only need a small one.  I attach this to my bag by using a ski pass holder – the type that you clip to your ski suit with an elasticated cord.  It sounds a bit convoluted, but works a treat.

I would strongly recommend buying a ball marking kit.  Again, these cost so little, it is well worth the money.  The kit contains a template that looks like a mini-baseball cap that fit nicely over the ball.  There are two reason to mark the ball.  The first is to be able to identify it as it is inevitable that at some point you will be playing someone with the same make of ball.  The second reason is to put a straight line to aid putting.  When you are on the green, you can pick up the ball and position the ball so that the line you have drawn is in line with the direction you are putting.

The final thing to have is a small 3-in-1 club cleaner that fit in your pocket nicely.  The “three” in this are a small wire brush, a nylon brush and a small pointed spike tool for cleaning the grooves of your clubs.  A towel will get the worst off, but this is a handy tool for cleaning up.

None of these accessories are expensive and although they won’t know shots off your game, I think you will find them useful.

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About Author

A keen golfer returning to the game after 16 years wanting to pass on my experiences for others to learn by my mistakes. For a free starter’s guide to golf go to www.havefunplaygolf.com

Technorati Tags: Ball Markers, Golf Accessories, Shot Counters, Tees