Coming to grips with the proper club selection

These days, if you pick up a magazine, or even walk through the tented village of a professional tournament, there is an increasing likelihood that you will be blitzed by the latest range of gadgets aimed at cutting your handicap and making you a better player. If only life were so simple.

In fact, the Royal and Ancient (R&A) and the United States Golf Association (USGA) - the governing bodies of the sport worldwide - have strict rules and regulations when it comes to the legality, or otherwise, of clubs and so-called gadgets. Modern technology has certainly improved our lot, and that of the professionals too. There is an adage that ordinary club golfers need all the help that they can get, and so the development of drivers with titanium heads and low centres of gravity is benefiting everyone.

However, all clubs must be submitted to, and passed by, the USGA and R&A research and test centres before they are deemed legal.

Questions of legality, though, often arise after a club has been purchased. For instance, is it acceptable to add a substance to the clubface either to reduce spin or to increase spin? The plain answer is no: foreign material must not be applied to the club face in order to influence the movement of the ball. Any coating designed to influence the movement of the ball either by increasing or decreasing spin, or to have any other effect on performance, is not permitted.

But a decorative sandblasting is permissible - but it can not exceed 180 micro-inches in roughness. A very fine milling is also permitted, but it has to be submitted to the governing bodies for inspection.

Another question that is frequently posed concerns the attachment of a piece of tape to a clubface. And, again, the answer is that it is illegal to do so: no external attachments to the clubface are permitted.

The USGA reveal that one of the questions put to their technical division most often concerns putter grips. Is it possible to have two grips on the putter? The answer is yes - provided they are both circular in cross-section "and properly spaced apart (at least 1 1/2 in)". These grips do not need to have the same diameter, but it must be no more than 1 3/4 in measured in any direction.

Apparently, some players used to insert a coat hanger under the putting grip - and this is clearly illegal, as it develops a slightly raised rib which doesn't conform with the regulations.

The development of the broomhandle putter is arguably the club that has come under most scrutiny in recent years. Although there was a body of opinion which wanted the club banned, that isn't going to happen in the foreseeable future. But the length of the broomhandle gives rise to other problems. For example, can a long putter have an adjustable shaft for travel purposes? Here, the answer is yes, provided the adjustment mechanism is not readily adjustable: a locking mechanism is required to ensure the shaft is not readily adjustable. An allen screw placed through the joint of a snooker cue-type shaft will suffice.

As far as gadgets go, the simple rule is that training aids which are capable of being used during a stipulated round are not legal.

And, although, you will see caddies lining up shots with laser range finders during practice rounds, the use of these instruments is illegal during a competitive round. Indeed, it is illegal to use any artificial device or unusual equipment for the "purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions which might affect a player's play".

It is interesting that the USGA and the R&A are backed up by quite considerable scientific weight in their decision-making. The USGA alone has a main laboratory and back-up labs to test biomechanics, impact testing, aerodynamics and initial velocity.

In the space of one year, the USGA will research and test more than 20,000 golf balls. But the question that everyone wants answered - what is the longest ball? - will not be divulged. "That information is confidential," is the only response anyone, even the manufacturers, will get.

Tee Time

The sight of Miguel Angel Martin with a white tee protruding from his mouth during the Murphy's Irish Open earlier this month - when the Spaniard equalled the course record 62 at Druids Glen - is not one that should be encouraged.

At the time, Martin said that his reason for chewing the peg was "top secret". But he is not alone in the habit. US Tour player Hal Sutton has also been known to stand on a tee-box, analysing a shot or purely through anxiety after bogeying a previous hole, with a tee in his mouth.

But an American toxicologist, Dr Christopher Borgert, has warned players not to imitate professionals by adopting the practice. "Like I tell my kids, unless it is food or a toothbrush, don't put it in your mouth."

Although the finish applied to a tee peg is non-toxic, a tee that has been stuck in the ground is a different matter because it may become contaminated with bacteria from "fecal matter or from waste water used for irrigation". And chemicals applied to tee boxes are most active when wet. Once the pesticide dries on the grass, it is extremely difficult to brush it off.

So, the message for would-be imitators of the tee chewing habit is DON'T!

Oh, and if you feel you need some way to relieve anxiety after bogeying the previous hole, then the advice is to "breathe deeply, exhaling slowly" . . . or "move about to relieve tension" . . . or simply "be positive".