Now, we have all been there at school, at that age many of us are Brand conscious, there is a pressure to 'fit in', 'be cool' or follow the 'cool one'. Whether it is trainers or the latest gadget.

From an increasingly early age, I think we are becoming more brand conscious.

The key question is 'does brand matter when it comes to golf?'

How does the golfing community feel about this? Is it more of a 'I am considerably richer than you' mentality or perhaps 'street cred' (maybe even a combination). Or does the brand actually make a difference to the quality of the club and thus ease of use and +ve impact on one's game.

One could assume a more expensive piece of kit is better, think of the R & D costs involved in its development. Yet in my local sports shop I have seen £20 Drivers ($30) one end and £200 ($250) the other end of the spectrum.

Crucially could two people of similar ability (i.e. consistently the same) over say 100 drives over a week (to remove anomalies) drive a ball on average the same distance and roughly in the same target zone? One using the £20 club and the other the £200 club. Such a test would produce a heroic piece of data. I hope some of you reading this will take this challenge on and please post your findings.

One thought is, a more expensive club, comes with it an entourage of marketing and branding. Psychologically I guess we feel 'better' and perhaps more confident if we consciously have a more expensive club, and that, combined with the 'street cred' , one hits a better shot as a result. Thus one might conclude the advantages of a more expensive club are psychological which in reality results in a better shot.


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The next blog entry will delve into lesson three of the golfing journey....

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