What’s In The Bag?
You’ll have seen this – a Tour player accosted on the range so an interviewer can ask them how they’ve tweaked the contents of their bag for this particular tournament. These ”What’s in the Bag?” features also form the basis of a plethora of articles in golfing publications, attempting to give us mere mortals insight into the specification and preferences of the world’s greatest players.
Personally, I tend to feel this rummaging around in a pro’s bag doesn’t do much to enhance my enjoyment of the game. We don’t have the time to be obsessed by kick points and bounce angles, so there’s nothing to compare and, for me at least, not a huge amount of general interest. I’d be more interested to dig deeper and get stuck into the pockets. Do the pros carry a six-month-old half-eaten mushy banana at the bottom of their bag, as I tend to do? Have they pinched white towels from the laundry basket at home, or a beer towel from the club bar? And I can’t believe they don’t have at least one random ‘lost and found’ headcover stuffed into the darkest recess of their deepest pocket. I like to think they do.
Which got me thinking about how differently the amateur’s “What’s in the Bag?” feature might read…
Woods
I carry a Callaway ERC II Driver, with 10 degrees of loft. It’s been illegal now for several years, but it was a Christmas present from the wife, so I’m reluctant to part with it. It has several ‘sky’ marks on its top edge at a variety of angles which really don’t help with my alignment, but I tend to find more fairways than with my 3 wood, which has never fully recovered from an incident with a bay partition at Chiswick driving range. I hit the odd one straight though, so I’m loath to buy a new one.
Irons
My irons are pretty consistent. I carry a 3-iron through to PW, although I’ve been missing the 8-iron since October, when I left it at the back of the 14th green during the monthly medal. I also carry two 4-irons, the second one being a club I found on the course but forgot to hand in. It’s been in the bag ever since. I’ve actually grown quite fond of it.
Wedges
Two wedges currently in the bag. One is a 56 degree sand-wedge that I never clean so as to eliminate spin around the greens. The other is a 58 degree lob-wedge, though I discovered recently it’s actually set at 56 degrees too. I can only think that had something to do with a tree root on Captain’s Day last summer. Still, it looks pristine, as I rarely use it. I tend to find it’s much the same as my sand wedge, so I have little use for it.
Putter
Not much to say about the putter, other than I lack confidence in it.
Ball
I always use the cleanest ball I’ve got in the bag. Sometimes this is a Titleist, other times a Callaway or Srixon. I am not averse to a Bridgestone either, or a Precept (oh wait, is that the Lady’s ball?). I am quite particular though and won’t play a cross-out Topflite anymore. I don’t like having to buy new balls as I find I lose those the quickest, so I like to rely on rewarding escapades into the rough. I make sure I carry at least 45 balls at any given time, just in case I have an off day. In truth, I’ve never lost more than half a dozen balls in a round, but I find the extra 5kg of weight somehow reassuring.
Extras
Elsewhere in the bag, I tend to carry as many broken tees as possible, a crusty golf glove that’s been there for weeks since I got caught in that downpour in May, waterproofs and at least three jumpers. When it gets a little warm on the course, I do find it difficult to wedge another one in but unfortunately I never remember to take them out after the round, so they just accumulate. Beyond that, I have one or two empty drinks bottles, a couple of old half-completed scorecards, some green fee stubs, a mouldy course planner for a club I probably won’t ever visit again, and some foreign currency to mark my ball.
Much like the pros, I like to think it’s this level of preparation that makes me the golfer I am.