 Now, I can honestly say that my current bag setup is as messed up as it's ever been. Testing golf clubs for a living is a great job, but it comes with its problems. And the main one being the selection of my own golf clubs, which is a constant dilemma. And keeping that bag consistent, I've tried all year to do that as best as possible. And so far, I have failed miserably. So on Friday in the Pro-Am, I kick things off. I am on the 10th tee, which means we're going to go with a driver. And these are the two that I need to decide between. So those drivers in question both are from TaylorMade, but they are quite different. To be honest with you, I've got the Stealth 2 HD, a nine degree head, this Pro Force shaft, which is shortened by one inch. And to be honest with you, it's performed really, really well so far. But again, in recent weeks, I took delivery of the new Burnett Mini Driver. Now, this thing has been, I can't really recall missing too many fairways, shorter shaft again. But interestingly enough, the standard shaft that comes in the Mini Driver is a Pro Force. We've got a smaller head. We've got 13 and a half degrees. And what I'm questioning is around the course that I'm going to be playing on Friday at Hollywell. It's not overly long. Is it more about accuracy? And should I be swayed towards the burner over the Stealth 2 HD? We're going to hit a couple off the 10th and I'm going to make a decision. Well, that's just absolutely flown. It's the exact line, hand shape that I'd want. And that's bounding down the fairway. Nine degree head, don't forget. More penetrating ball flight than what I'm expecting to see from next up, which will be the Mini Driver. But if we were basing on one driver alone that doesn't get any better from me, and I'd love to hit that one off on Friday. I mean, first of all, more confidence just because I am closer to it. So I'm thinking that I'm going to find the fairway. I'm not feeling as exposed as I did with the longer shaft of the HD, but I already know. It certainly isn't going to go past that. As you can see, a totally different ball flight in terms of the launch of the... I'm just trying to see how far that's gone down and whether or not that bounds on or not. My guess would be it's going to be a lot shorter simply by difference in launch angle. The Mini Driver with that 30 and a half degrees pops the ball up. Ball speed seemed good. And I really want to go down there and just see where they are side by side. But the feeling is in terms of distance, accuracy, and all out, which was the better shot based on them two. The HD won that one hands down. Well, do you know what? That's really interesting and a bit that always surprised me about the Mini Driver, which is right by my feet. And the ball that we have with the HD is down that left hand side. Probably a slightly better angle as it is from that ball there. But I really felt it was going to be a huge difference because of, like I said, the much lower ball flight out of the HD, I thought it was going to kick on in the firm ground that we've got on the foot. This one has come through the sort of mounds a little, which is again is soft the ground and still made it to here, which arguably is five yards shorter than that of the HD with 90 degree head and an extra one inch in the length of shaft. So clearly there is a decision to be made. Right, we're going to stay in a position that we found ourselves with the drive from the Mini Driver, because it is dilemma number two, and it's probably where I go to next in the bag. I've already mentioned this selection of clubs will be based on the course that I'm playing, which means I'm not going to go with a three-wood, I'm not going to go with a five-wood either, because very rarely am I going to need those two clubs to be honest with you. So the next club up for me is going to be a fairway wood with a lot of loft, and you know that decision is going to come down to either a seven-wood or in this case, the Callaway Paradigm Heavenwood. There's not many opportunities to sort of get up in two on a par five, and this would be one of them, and this is a possible selection that we'd be looking for in this scenario. And that's because it just does that so well, so easily. Are we going to get up is the question? Yeah, we are. My God, I take those two shots on Friday. That's, do you know what? We're probably, we're 10 foot for eagle there on the first hole, if that would be the case. But the Heavenwood is such a good club because 20 degrees of loft, don't forget bigger head than you'd normally see on a seven-wood, and also along the shaft. So for me, in a distance wise, it's sort of a 200, 200-yard plus club, but then you can do a fair bit with it in terms of, take a little bit off in terms of clubhead speed. You can pop the ball up, you can hit that one just a little bit lower. So a really flexible club in the bag. The other option is a seven-wood, which we'll have a play from with an X-ball from the same position. It's a seven-wood from the Gen 6 lineup, and the reason I like it and why it's a, it's an option is because one of those custom fit for it, and that being the main one on that shaft option, is probably a better suited shaft than what is in this paradigm. Let me go and grab that. That shaft, by the way, is a 10-side blue. And yeah, the way this thing looks from above is really nice. And yeah, it's a tough one, a tough decision based on looks. I prefer this thing, but obviously we're looking at performance. So let's see how we get on. God, do you know what? I don't know whether. This thing's providing me more questions than answers, to be quite honest with you, because we've just took a ball that is right by the flag. And I'm so shocked and confused already. I've tried Driver and I've tried the sort of longest fairway wood in the bag. And still, I am very much unsure about which one to play. Now, I think we'll start this thing off by talking about the clubs that are definitely staying in the bag. No doubt about this one, no confusion. I think you can all probably guess it, but the Mez Putter from Lab Golf is a no brainer for me. It's an interesting one because I've been switching out doing different videos for different brands in recent weeks and trying different putters or reviewing different putters. And I hate that because coming back to the Mez, it's almost like starting again. It's very much its own thing in terms of the principles behind this. And every time I get back on the first green or the first port, I sort of have to relearn how to use it. But once I've done that, I just cannot believe how good this thing has been in my hands. That's, gee, that's ridiculous isn't it? Well, all I can say is, it's two reasons why, or that's two reasons why this putter isn't going nowhere. I just hope it manages to do exactly the same in the Pro Amp. So the debate with the wedges is a slightly different one. First of all, I've been using Mizuno S23 wedges for quite some time. I love the way they feel. I love the full shots with these things and I love the versatility around the short game area. But the dilemma is not so much as what wedge, because it is going to be the Mizuno S23. It's what loft of wedges and what do I potentially couple it up with. And this is a prime example of where I've got a 50-60 degree wedge, which could play a very straightforward shot to this pin at Holywell. That straightforward shot would be to lob the ball up in the air and hopefully feed it out to the hole, which wasn't a bad effort. But there is another option that we could perhaps put in and I think you'll know what that might be. Today's video is brought to you in partnership with HotGolf, the online golf mega store, bringing you the hottest deals in golf and of course the clubs featured in today's video. Find the link to the HotGolf website in the description below and check out some incredible giveaways and offers. And it is of course the Trusted Chipper. I've got to be honest, this one got dropped out of the bag for quite some time because I brought it into the bag where my confidence was particularly low with my short game. I then built my confidence up using the chipper and I went back to using standard wedges. Whether I did the right thing or not, I'm not 100% sure because what I do know is I have not really hold out any of these type of shots since I went back to standard wedges and in recent weeks this one has crept its way into the bag but it lacks versatility. So should I go with the 56 and then maybe put this in as well, especially when you consider the type of course that we're playing and the type of terrain the Hollywood is. Obviously it's a lot lower flight that comes off the chipper and on this kind of terrain like I said, there's no or very few bunkers. There may be one, only one bunker on this course up at Hollywood that I can recall. So a lot of the shots are very much like that where you're nothing in the way and as Lewis famously said, only an idiot chips over nothing. And with that in mind, I think what I'm going to do is mix up a 56 wedge but also include the chipper as well. The dilemma over golf ball is an interesting one. I've always been very much an advocate of the seed. Well SD1, SD02, either those golf balls in terms of value for money and versus performance has been superb. It's the ball I generally play. But I've got to admit there's a golf ball arrived on my doorstep just a few days ago. It's a Callaway Chrome softball first of all which is exceptional golf ball but comes with a fairly hefty price tag as well. But it's a true vis and I've never really paid a great need of attention to them. They've got a number of balls that have got several different patterns on them right now and the triple track being one of the most prominent ones of those. I've started using this and I really, really like it. Not for its performance attributes in terms of control, spin, distance, all those things you'd associate a golf ball with but because of this pattern. The first one being is for an alignment aid in terms of your puts. It's very, very good to first of all line the put up and second encourage a little bit of a training aid in terms of a forward roll. I've mentioned that in a recent video. And then the second thing is which I'm really noticing and I spoke to Hannah about off-camera is there's a particular pattern on this true vis and I really like to know what it's designed to do because it's really standing out on the fairway in the putting situation at a dress or whatever position I suppose in being a real sort of strong visual that is very different than just your normal white golf ball at a dress and for whatever reason it's really working in terms of my concentrating on strike. I really want to know what that pattern is and whether it's intended to do that or not but my feeling is for the pro arm on Friday I'm going to put this pro arm true vis in the bag and see if it helps me in any way. A golf ball helping you, I don't know. Right, now we're going to have a look at what is a real difficult situation for me personally and that's irons because I've had the same irons in the bag for quite some time. They've been PXG, I've gone from Gen 3, Gen 4, Gen 5 and Gen 6 irons. For those of you who are eagle-eyed and watch the channel quite frequently will know in recent weeks I've had a different iron in the bag and each time I've gone out they're relevant to what I've been reviewing the same irons have stayed constant that has been a PXG iron but it's the O317CB. It's a forged, I don't know whether you call it a cavity back kind of iron there's certainly a bit of muscle back iron more traditional in terms of more like a blade far removed from the Gen 6 in many ways really in terms of the bulk and the mass thinner top line shorter profile, heel to toe all those kind of things probably what you'd call a better players iron one that I've personally avoided over recent years but one thing I've noticed in recent years is this type of iron has become more and more forgiving I haven't played it in the last sort of three, four weeks or so I'm really loving the way it's performed first of all because of its size and profile really suits my eye in the past I've always been a player that's played blades from 30 years ago and this kind of thing now is really appealing to me now when you consider I wouldn't be thinking about putting anything longer than perhaps a six iron, five iron in maybe and then going into hybrids then I feel as though I can control this kind of club between a wedge and a six iron so it's a real interesting one for me personally anyway this is choice number one or option one what I'm slightly concerned about is just the difference in lofts and how much distance I'm potentially losing in this 0317CB playing into the wind it's won 54 to the flag and I'm using a six iron okay so slightly left of pin but a really good ball flight it's getting there it's not launching too high that ball and to be honest with you from a performance perspective it's done everything it's been doing over the last few weeks which is quick enough ball speeds either I'm finding the center quite often or it's forgiving one or the other I don't really care and it's a nice controllable ball flight I can do plenty with it so that's option one and like I said option two is of course that gen six iron if I can find it in a bag it's just hiding here around the back now this is a bit bulkier they both got exactly the same shaft in but I was custom fit for the gen six in terms of this weighting system and potentially that it's tungsten that's in that back end and potentially it offers more forgiveness more ball speeds and I'm not really too bothered about that to be quite honest with you so what I'm expecting is well I'm expecting this to go a little bit further as being the first thing perhaps a little bit of a flatter ball flight due to the fact that it's stronger lofted than the 0317 well the ball fight not too greatly different to be quite honest with you it's gone more at the flag and it looks to be pretty close near the flag to be quite honest with you so in terms of shot for shot there's no doubt about it the gen six performed better but it's the fact that it went straighter in terms of its overall performance in terms of where it carried to quite surprising that there was no great difference between the two the ball flights weren't too dissimilar slightly higher on the 0317 but then again not necessarily a negative so it's a real tough one for me I'm going to switch up on it two short irons a wedge and a nine iron which effectively have the same loft and just see where we feel over that one but this is a big dilemma for me there's just great control that's I'm going to start this one off with 0317CB again just from my own swing there just stays straight down the left not sure on alignment the ball didn't deviate in terms of a drone or a fade I'm just hitting a 99317CB because I'm expecting the wedge definitely to be stronger and trying to match the two up in terms of that gen 6 happy enough with that but just a real great feel that comes out of these and again I just love that neat profile especially down that shorter end when that's what kind of I am looking for that shaping they did a real good job of in terms of making it all more compact thin top line kind of wedge that you want in your hands right let's try the same shot in the gen 6 and to be honest with you I mean it's still a compact profile in the gen 6 it's something that I do like so I'm not suggesting that this is going to put me off again that's a much higher ball flight it's online which is the interesting thing that's again just going to come up a tad short we maybe pitched ourselves just too far away in terms of distance the interesting thing is on both of the shots that I've played I've been straight up with the gen 6 and I'm just wondering just how much this weighting system in terms of how that was dialed in to fit me at that custom fit is playing a part in that and maybe maybe it's just swaying me towards what I know rather than shift out to something that still maybe I've got a little bit of uncertainty in I'm not even going to make a decision right now I'm going to stick to the end of the video before I decide which iron I'm going to plan for do you know what I don't want to be pleased or absolutely fuming in many ways because I will not do that when it matters on Friday that's incredible this ball here was the PXG ball and seriously that's rolled right past the hole and had a chance of going in but I had to take either of them and both got realistic chances of an eagle putt right decision to be made but we've got to move on to some other deliberations right before we go on to the next deliberation I think I mentioned there's a couple of clubs that are kind of certainties to make the bag and one of them is well what will be my longest iron equivalent if you like and that's going to be a five hybrid which is definitely going in the bag simply because it's become very much a go-to club something I've become really reliant and dependent on typical one par three 165 into the wind what should happen is a nice easy swing it's that 0311XF in a gen 6 model and the all-important part for me is the fact that it carries that 10-side blue shaft which I was custom fit for and goes back to what I said about the seven mud that we had a look at so that's just a bit of a shot tracer on and see if it does as well as I've just suggested it should a curse I still can't believe just how well we've just done on the par five right into the breeze a bit it's just a super ball flight again a little bit of a pull down the left which is something clearly I'm going to have to work on between now and Friday but it does what it says on the tin in terms of 25 degrees I mean launches the ball super high it's got a plenty of ball speed and that one oh fantastic shot but for me that's a no-brainer that's definitely in the bag right so we're going to go back to driver for a bit and another par five and to be honest with you it's a hole that is fairly tight it's not overly long and I would argue that position is key as opposed to distance so I'm just wondering on this hole first of all what would I rather be having hand the mini driver or in fact this and I think my initial thoughts are maybe more confidence in the mini driver which is a bit strange but yeah I am definitely a fan of control and I feel I lose a bit of that with the longer driver shaft in hand but I can't knock this thing I mean that is just again while it's middle of the fairway and I'm almost at well it's slap bang in the middle of the fairway I'm almost frustrated at the fact that I'm hitting this so well it's making the decision really really hard but since I've had this HD head you'll see there's a little bit of curvature in that ball from left to right but it's minimal I've got a lot of control over it and yeah why am I afraid of using this club I should be really confident in this right let's try the mini driver but first of all I tear up lower with the mini driver and again I know it sounds daft but I just feel less exposed in terms of that control element I don't know why that does sound silly but yeah it is what it is right great control do I find the centre of the face and how far are we going to be behind the HD well that's interesting you know if that has leaked down the right hand side well that would result in a lost ball all my waffle about control with the shorter shaft went up in smoke and we've got a ball that I couldn't place any better down the middle of the fairway and the other one with the one that gives me all that great control and confidence it's just been lost well maybe I was a little bit negative on the mini driver we didn't quite lose you but the gorse is very very close and I don't know whether I've just got a bit of a bouncing because it certainly seems to be going that way to me but the thing I've put the camera back on for is that is the mini driver and down in the distance which we'll try and highlight for you now is the driver I mean we're talking we're talking potentially 60 yards difference obviously the fact that it found the fairway and bound it on has made a huge difference anyway but either way you know that is a going for the green in two another chance at eagle and this one is not it's that simple so yeah huge difference there in the distance of performance everything about that but I'm going to play another one of our seven wood heaven wood deliberations from this position and see what it does it's a phenomenal ball flight that you know there's just nothing to split them to at all is there do you know what I thought this was going to be a very simple and straightforward exercise obviously the decision I'm making is not based on just today's performance and a few shots that I've had this is based on sort of weeks and weeks of testing but like I said clubs coming in and out of the bag and there are some bits that I'm still really confused in and probably will report more after the pro amers finish in a part two of this video but going back to the lower end of the bag the mezz is a certainty I am going to go with a 50-60 degree wedge in that Mizzuno S23 and I am going to put the chipper in as well then into the irons from Gap Wedge through to a six iron the like the odd is I will play with the 0317CBs which is probably one that this is and I didn't expect to make and then into hybrids we already know that gen six is going to be there and that was a five hybrid by the way but then that mixed bag in between is the one where I've got the biggest deliberation to make I'm still not sure there's no five or three would there definitely not going in but it's that mix up of seven woods, heaven woods and hybrids it's going to have to wait for a few more days testing it's Tuesday now pro am is Friday I need a little bit more practice but the big decision that has been made is with the driver and based on that last one that I've just hit I cannot ignore just how much more distance I'm getting with that stealth to HD so that's the driver that's going to be in play and the ball that I'm going to use is also going to be that chrome soft truviz I love that pattern and yeah I actually think it could help me shoot better scores yeah a golf ball I know sounds a bit daft but that's what I'm going to go with we're going to do part two of this next week I'll do a report on how I have played in that pro am and then we've got another pro am the following Friday and just how much change there is going to be made into this bag setup I do not know but I leave probably as you do a little bit confused right thanks for watching I'll see you all tomorrow night