Rent Golf Clubs Online

Rentaclub.co.uk, the online golf service, which has been renting drivers since February, has now launched iron sets to rent, giving golfers the opportunity to hit their best shots with top equipment including the Nike VR Split Cavity Irons used by Open Champion Stewart Cink and the TaylorMade R9 TP Irons favoured by Spanish Ryder Cup star Sergio Garcia.

Golfers will also be able to sample the latest equipment from Callaway, Bridgestone, Cleveland Golf, Wilson Staff, Srixon and Mizuno for just £45 for a five-day trial, putting their chosen clubs into play just 24-hours after ordering online.

Matthew Fagan, Rentaclub.co.uk Managing Director, said: “The site has been incredibly successful since launching earlier this year, and we will now build on that success by giving golfers the opportunity to get their hands on the latest iron sets from golf’s biggest and best manufacturers.”

Rentaclub.co.uk features a simple process for golfers to select their desired clubs. They are then delivered securely next day by UPS to the golfer’s home, or a location of their choice, ready to be put into play.

Rentaclub.co.uk customers receive their clubs in pre-paid packaging, making it easy to return products. On the fourth day of their rental they will be sent an SMS text message reminding them to call UPS to arrange a pick-up the next day from a location of their choosing, including home or work.

Rent-A-Club - the UK’s first online golf equipment rental service

Rentaclub.co.uk, the UK’s first online golf equipment rental service, is giving golfers the opportunity to hit their best shots with top brand equipment, whenever and wherever they want.

The exclusive new service will enable golfers to test drive new products from Callaway, TaylorMade, Nike, Cleveland, Srixon and Mizuno, among others, just 24-hours after ordering the clubs online.

The new website goes live on Wednesday 17th February and features a simple, five-step process with a virtual assistant helping golfers select clubs beneficial to their game.

The clubs are then delivered securely next day by UPS to the golfer’s home, or a location of their choice, ready to be put into play.

Matthew Fagan, Managing Director of Rentaclub.co.uk, said:

“Golfers love talking about new equipment, including the latest drivers, and how it will improve their game. However, new clubs can be expensive, so this is an ideal way to test drive clubs thoroughly on your own course before making a purchase.”

He continued:

“Having returned the club, if the golfer then decides they want to buy the product, Rentaclub.co.uk will refer them to an experienced local PGA professional within the TGI Golf network for a free custom fitting to ensure the clubs are perfectly set up for their game, guaranteeing optimum performance. They will also benefit from a £25 discount off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.”

The service, which has the backing of leading brands, will offer drivers only initially, with models including the new Callaway FT-iZ, Nike Victory Red Tour STR8-Fit, TaylorMade R9 Super Tri (available March) and Cleveland Launcher DST (available late February).

Driver rentals start from £25 for five days, including free delivery, pick-up and return.

Graham Martin, Callaway’s Regional Sales Director UK and Ireland, said:

“Callaway invests heavily in research and development to create equipment that give golfers an advantage. The best way for consumers to experience this is by enjoying playing and testing the clubs themselves, so we are fully supportive of Rentaclub.co.uk.”

TGI Golf, the UK’s leading network of green grass golf professionals and retailers, is also supporting Rentaclub.co.uk, with its 400 members offering free custom fitting services to the website’s customers.

Matthew Fagan added:

“Although renting clubs is a new concept in the UK, it is a well established practice in the USA. From our own market research, we know that golfers here are keen to try new products in this way and that they will appreciate the value, convenience and fun of turning up at their home course with the best new products – and hitting their best shots.”

Rentaclub.co.uk customers receive their clubs in pre-paid packaging, making it easy to return products. On the fourth day of their rental they will be sent an SMS text message reminding them to call UPS to arrange a pick-up the next day from a location of their choosing, including home or work.

Rental prices for fairway woods, hybrids, sets of irons, wedges, putters and full sets of clubs will be announced as the clubs are added to the rental list.

For more information visit www.rentaclub.co.uk

GolfGym Weighted Training Club

Over the past year three PGA Professionals have analysed my golf swing and given me the same critique.  The backswing is, apparently, pretty good.  But like many amateur golfers I have a tendency not to follow right through the ball in a straight swing; and as a result if I’m not careful, my driver shots can be affected by a fade.

Attempting to train myself to swing true, I was told to place two clubs together and swing them several times.  It sounds simple but works.  The weight of the clubs helps to keep my forward swing inline and complete.

The problem with placing two clubs together is you cannot hold the clubs with a proper grip.  I thanked the Pro who recommended this to me last year and was surprised that, as far as he was aware, a manufacturer hadn’t produced a heavy club, as he said this was a tried and tested technique.

Well now GolfGym, a golf fitness company based in California, have produced a weighted club, and it works a treat!

The GolfGym Weighted Training Club comes in two weights: Club 38 weighs 38oz. (2.4 lbs) and Club 28 weighs 28oz. (1.75 lbs).

The GolfGym Weighted Training Club design distributes the weight to perfectly match a standard golf club, with half the total weight in the bottom third of the club.  The added weight increases flexibility and balance; and the weight of the club forces you to keep on the correct swing plane.

In much the same way as the excellent Explainar golf training aid forces you to follow the correct swing plane through a heavy weight system, the GolfGym Weighted Training Club works perfectly for me.  The only difference is the weighted club is portable and fits in my golf bag.  The Explainar is big, expensive and even though I could buy a portable version to fit in the boot of my car, it’s hardly practical to use as part of my warm up on the first tee!

The GolfGym Weighted Training Club comes with a  left or right hand grip that forces your grip, which I’m not overly keen on to be honest.  But that aside, I really can’t praise this golf training aid enough.

It includes a training DVD showing exercises well respected bio-mechanics golf coach Joey D employs with the five PGA Tour Pros he is currently working with.

The Weighted Training Club is part of a complete range of golf training aids from GolfGym and PGA Tour Coach, Joey D. GolfGym has just announced that the Joey D Signature Series is now being shipped globally.

The GolfGym Weighted Training Club costs $59.95

The new revolutionary Nike SQ Dymo Driver

The new Nike SQ Dymo STR8-FIT driver is more revolutionary than its predecessor, the Nike SUMO, and
will replace the SUMO range when it is released, this month; and I can’t wait to get my hands on one!

The new Nike Dymo driver has an adjustable head with an amazing eight settings that can change the club to give a choice of up to 2 degrees closed or 2 degrees open, giving golfers of all abilities a wider choice than any other driver out there.

The Nike SQ Dymo STR8-FIT driver also offers the golfer different lie angles to offer golfers of different heights a better setup.

The Dymo (which stands for Dynamic Moment of Inertia) will replace the SUMO range, which a couple of years ago was revolutionary.  Read more on the Dymo Driver.

The standard Nike SQ Dymo drivers will retail at £250 and should be on sale this month.

For further details on all the options and the entire 2009 Nike Golf range, please visit www.nikegolfeurope.com.

Because of this it’s worth looking out for second hand clubs and golf gear.  EBay always has plenty of new and used golf clubs and accessories but it does carry risks.  I have had both good and bad experiences with EBay and in my experience; they weren’t as helpful as I was led to believe when it came to making a complaint.

Therefore it’s better to buy clubs from a reliable source.  Golfbidder is apparently, Europe’s largest stockist of quality used golf clubs.  They are based in South-West London, but for those golfers not within driving distance, there is always their website – www.golfbidder.co.uk.

Golfbidder has an excellent reputation and every club you see on the website is ready for despatch from the Golfbidder HQ.

For those visiting the shop there is no risk.  But for those using the internet to buy anything, let alone a second hand golf club, it is a concern that the club will be in the condition that you expect and pay for.

Well, Golfbidder give a full 12 month warranty – and a 7 day no-quibble money-back guarantee with all clubs.  So as their website says, “You can test-run any of our clubs – and if you are not happy for any reason, simply return them within 7 days for a full refund.”

The clubs are either auctioned or offered as ‘Instant Buys’; and As I write this post, the website says – Golfbidder has 4730 golf clubs in stock today!

Please let me know of your experiences with Golfbidder, and of any other companies selling second-hand golf clubs online that you can recommend.

If you’re looking for deals on Nike Golf equipment, Online Golf are offering some good deals this month.

They are also offering in a free box of Nike One Platinum Balls with every new Nike Driver including the Sasquatch Sumo Square 5900, a free box of Nike One Platinum Balls with selected SQ SuMo Irons and a free Nike Shoe Bag with every New Nike golf shoes, including Tiger Woods 2008 Air Tours.

Online Golf have an amazing offer, selling the Taylor Made r7 425 Driver for under £100! That’s £200 off the normal retail price. Unfortunately for me the offer is only on right handed clubs.

Offer closes on 28th January.