Don't you just hate it when you are out on the golf course but you are too feckless to swing your club? All your golf buddies are yelling at you, telling you to hit the ball, but you just can't be bothered lifting your arm above your head?

Now you can say goodbye to those lazy-golfer blues with the Ballistic Driver. You don't have to swing at all! Just gently place the club beside the ball, flick the magic switch, and admire your perfect, 250-metre shot straight down the fairway!

It works by detonating a small explosive charge in the head of the golf club. When you push the "activator button", the explosion shoots a metal plate five centimetres out of the club at great speed, propelling the ball in whatever direction the club is pointed.

Originally designed for people who are unable, for one reason or another, to swing a club, it is proving popular in the US with a far broader constituency. "Now you can experience what the pro's feel like while walking up to their ball in the centre of the fairway," says the brochure.

The Ballistic Driver, around £600, is available from GPower Inc of Sunnyvale, California. Telephone 00 1 408 747-0312.