There are thousands of tools out there to help you perfect your golf swing, so many that it's difficult to know which you need to use, let alone whether or not they even make a difference. The Assist Weighted Golf Swing Trainer is an excellent choice for golfers of all skill levels, because it's not designed so much to create new habits as it is to smooth out our bad ones.

The Assist Swing Trainer is theoretically used to smooth out your swing and get you more used to swinging on a plane by correcting your grip. Having a good grip will naturally lead your club face a little more in the right direction, and swinging a heavier club will ensure that when you swing a normal club, your hands rotate properly through the ball.

Another upside to this tool is that you'll feel like Superman when you head to the driving range. The experience is akin to swinging a weighted baseball bat or shooting a weighted basketball; using the real thing seems so much easier and more fluid.

As I mentioned earlier, the Assist is different from many tools in that its job is to pull you away from newly-formed bad habits, rather than create good habits -- something much more difficult to accomplish. It is a tool that can be used to work out the muscles key to swinging a golf club or used to fix inconsistencies in your swing, making it a versatile, all-around solid aide in the improvement of your game.

Find this Assist Swing Trainer:

• Click here to find this product at Amazon.com

Find this training club on eBay:

MATZIE ASSIST GOLF SWING TRAINER MENS RIGHT HAND NEW US $54.95   Auction Ends: 4d 23h 19m Make it yours...

ASSIST CLUB SWING TRAINER by MATZIE Works Great US $50.00   Auction Ends: 6h 40m Make it yours...

Matzie Assist Golf Swing Trainer 300000 Buyers SOLD US $69.95   Auction Ends: 3d 4h 31m Make it yours...

Putting is my nemesis. How incredibly frustrating when I stripe a 280 yard drive, hit a dart at the pin, and miss a 4 foot putt. "ARGGGGH! I hate this game."

"Drive for show, putt for dough!" my golf buddy Larry will inevitably say. (Well he used to say that, until I hit him in the shin with my putter.)

However, recently I picked up the Odyssey White Hot XG Marxman Mini Putter, and I've been draining a lot more putts. I've putted for years with a blade, but I've wanted to give a mallet style putter a try. By using perimeter weighting, the Marxman Mini putter incorporates the same high MOI technology that we've been using for years in our big drivers.

The Odyssey White Hot XG Marxman Mini Putter appealed to me because it's not as huge as many of the other mallet putters. I want to keep up with the new technology, but I don't want to putt with a toaster oven on the end of a stick.

In addition, I love the feel of this putter. I've always been partial to Odyssey putters for their inserts. This putter has a multi-layer insert which gets the ball rolling smoothly and online, giving me a lot of feedback.

Finally, having a line on my putter to line up putts is essential, and the Marxman Mini Putter has two stripes running the length of the head that make it very easy to line up my putts and stroke them into the heart of the cup.

It turns out Larry was right about putting for dough, and thanks to him, my Odyssey White Hot XG Marxman Mini Putter has paid for itself.

Find this Odyssey Marxman Mini Putter:

• Click here to find this product at Amazon.com

Find this putter on eBay:

Odyssey White Hot XG Marxman Putter 34 RH US $99.99   Auction Ends: 26d 22h 41m Make it yours...

ODYSSEY WHITE HOT XG MARXMAN BLADE PUTTER RIGHT US $83.99   Auction Ends: 25d 18m Make it yours...

MINT ODYSSEY DIVINE MARXMAN PUTTER RIGHT US $120.99   Auction Ends: 24d 21h 11m Make it yours...

Golf Clubs? Check.

Golf Shoes? Check.

Umbrella? Check.

Golf Balls? Check.

Golf Hat? Check.

Golf towel? Check.

Rain suit? Check.

Kitchen sink? Check.

It's all going to fit in the Bag Boy T-1000 Travel Cover. This bad boy is designed to hold all your extras. It even comes with a removable laundry bag.

The best thing about this golf bag is can handle my longest driver. It's time to end the painstaking ritual of taking ‘The Big Dog' out before packing the old travel bag. Boy, is my 51-incher going to be happy! Poor thing has been ostracized from all his friends for so long, rolling around in my trunk with the tire iron and jumper cables.

All of my kids are well protected, too, as the bag is padded more heavily than a linebacker, and the inside strap holds the bag securely in place.

The only drawback is: although there are four storage pockets on the inside of the bag, it has nothing accessible on the outside. It'd be nice to have an easy access pocket so that I can get to my flip flops, or ball cap, or a clean pair of socks without having to dig through the bag.

Other than that, the bag is a great way to protect your precious investment, and with two inline skate wheels for easy transport, go ahead and load it up. Kitchen sink is optional.

Find this Bag Boy Travel Cover:

• Click here to find this product at Amazon.com

Find this bag on eBay:

BAG BOY HARD TOP HYBRID TRAVEL COVER HCX GREY NEW US $134.99   Auction Ends: 5h 7m Make it yours...

BAG BOY WHEELED TRAVEL COVER T 1000 T1000 GREY NEW US $159.99   Auction Ends: 6h 23m Make it yours...

Bag Boy Hybrid HCX Golf Travel Cover Bag Charcoal US $139.00   Auction Ends: 4d 3h 49m Make it yours...

My ten-year-old niece loves Michele Wie. Now she can't wait to go golfing with her uncle. My brother bought her a mini set of golf clubs, the Nicklaus Premium Junior Set for ages 9-12. At first I was a little skeptical as she swung from her heels and never made contact with anything. Well that's not entirely true; she did catch me in the side of the head while I was bent over teeing up her golf ball.

These clubs come with a driver, a fairway wood, a mid and short iron, a putter, and a stand bag. All the clubs are oversized and designed to get the ball airborne quickly. Sure enough, once she settled down she started making contact, and the ball took off into the air. She giggled and giggled. She was hooked.

I would recommend this set for any child (in the specified age group) who has never played golf before. Even if they don't get the hang of it right away, they'll enjoy throwing the bag over their shoulder and following you around on the practice green or the driving range.

These clubs are moderately priced, but keep in mind they're designed for beginners. My niece grew out of them in a few months. If you want your child to go to the next level, be prepared to shell out quite a bit more. Thank you very much, Michele Wie!

Find this Nicklaus Premium Junior Set:

• Click here to find this product at Amazon.com

Find this youth golf set on eBay:

JACK NICKLAUS GOLDEN BEAR CUB JUNIOR GOLF CLUBS 110 US $49.99   0 Bid Auction Ends: 2d 19h 28m Make it yours...

Hm. Last one during this shopping trip. It actually stopped me from shopping, too.

Least expensive. Least impressive. Darn. It kinda ruined the mood.

The Callaway CX Golf Cart Bag. I glanced over at it and expected to see a great product, because Callaway seldom disappoints. Except for that Callaway ball that seemed drawn to water the last time I played. Yeah, that was pretty frustrating.

But seriously, this bag was really lackluster. Blue and black, sharp looking, fairly standard-- but nothing that set it apart. It DID have separate compartments for the clubs, and a nice really large side pocket for shoes and/or jackets. It does have three other compartments for other accessories...

Wait... four total? Now let's be real. We really don't need that many pockets, I know. In fact, sometimes I'm frustrated when I have to open six different pockets to find something. However, after starting with the three other bags that I've reviewed, this one now seemed to be, well, skimpy.

I may have just been wowed too much by the gadgetry of the Bag Boy, the comfort of the Nike, or the sharpness of the Ogio. But now I just gave a cursory glance over this Callaway -- you know, for politeness -- and then just went home.

As I said in the beginning, if you are looking to stay on a lower price point than some of the others, this may be a good solid cart bag for you. Let's face it. We all can stand to save a little money nowadays.

However...

This is the last thing I'll say about it, but it's also the reason why I would recommend any of the other bags I've reviewed over this one. I picked it up and was amazed at how heavy it felt. It even felt heavier than the tech-laden Revolver. So I checked the specs tags on all the bags I reviewed. The Callaway was the heaviest. At 9.8 pounds, it beat the Revolver by a little bit, and weighed a full 4-5 pounds more than the Nike and the Ogio.

Ok I lied. This is the last thing I'll say. When I looked at who could ship it, I found out that it would ship from Target. This may sound pompous, but I love Target for three things: DVDs, their White Cherry Icees, and candles for my wife. Not golf products.

Find this Callaway CX Cart Bag:

• Click here to find this product at Amazon.com

Find this bag on eBay:

New Callaway Black Grey Rider Cart bag US $47.55   12 Bids Auction Ends: 26m Make it yours...

CALLAWAY 2010 ORG 14 XTREME GOLF CART BAG NAVY NEW US $89.00   8 Bids Auction Ends: 27m Make it yours...

Callaway Hyper X Cart Bag Sil Green New US $66.00   10 Bids Auction Ends: 1h 45m Make it yours...

Attention golf geeks: Have you heard of Nickent Golf's patented brazing technology? Well un-tuck that dry fit, pull up those trousers, and turn your textbooks to chapter three...

Brazing technology is an innovation that fuses steel and titanium without using epoxy. To make the 4DX Fairway Wood, Nickent took a .4 mm titanium crown, which weighs 5 times less than steel, and brazed it with 17-4 stainless steel. Thus they considerably raised the MOI and gave the face a larger sweet spot.

In addition, by using the titanium crown, Nickent was able to add their XW inserts. The XW inserts provide 16 grams of weight to be adjusted in 2-gram increments for directional control and swing weight purposes without using bulky screws.

Isn't learning fun? ZZZZzzzzz...

Alright wake up, kids! Let's get to the good stuff. The titanium face is hot and makes the ball jump like a cat on a hot tin roof. The larger sweet spot and high MOI helps the ball fly off of the club face and go very straight. Consequently, you won't need to have (Nickent's poster boy) Jeff Quinney's swing to reap the benefits of this well-mastered club.

The Nickent 4DX Fairway Wood is a good-looking club with a typical shape at address, all black with only an ‘N' for alignment. The sole has these green inserts, very cool-looking especially ‘if ya gawt uh wee bit of Irish in ya.'

With the club being 177cc's, I like it because it is big enough to use as a driver on tight holes, but still small enough to hit off the deck with confidence.

On the downside, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this club for low handicappers. I like a little more workability in my fairway clubs, and thus would stick with my traditional Titleist fairway wood. That being said, I like the club and I think Nickent brazing technology is pretty impressive stuff. You may now close your textbooks.

Find this Nickent 4DX Fairway Wood:

• Click here to find this product at Amazon.com

Find this fairway club on eBay:

Nickent Golf 4DX Fairway Wood 5W 19 Graphite US $14.99   0 Bid Auction Ends: 5h 26m Make it yours...

NICKENT 4DX FAIRWAY WOOD 3 UST SR3 SHAFT STIFF US $84.99   Auction Ends: 9d 9h 52m Make it yours...

NEW NICKENT 4DX 5 19 LADIES FAIRWAY WOOD LADIES FLEX US $49.99   Auction Ends: 1d 46m Make it yours...

I left the Nike bags, frustrated that I'm consistently drawn to increase Phil Knight's great-grandchildren's retirement accounts. I wandered over to a group of cart bags that really caught my attention. They looked very different from bags that I had ever seen.

I stepped up to the Bag Boy NXO Revolver Cart Bag.

Now let me tell you something. I think gadgets are cool. I love those Brookstone-style stores that sell innovative products. I'm a sucker for those things -- even more than Nike. So this product really instilled a "wow" factor in me and fueled the "ooh I've got to get one of those" urge in me.

The most noticeable feature is in the top of the bag. The 14 full-length, separated slots not only keep your clubs safe and protected in their rubbery-snap-clip slots, but the entire top actually rotates. Er... revolves. Hence the name, I guess.

Cool gadget. That's right. If James Bond had a golf bag, this would be it.

The most obvious benefit to this is that you have easy access to any of your clubs from the back of your cart with a simple spin. No more racking your other clubs as you reach for the nine iron that shifted to the back. There are also "putter clips" which I actually had never seen on a bag (I guess it's been awhile since I shopped) and which I don't think I would actually use. Perhaps it would be beneficial for some of the newer putters that have grips that won't fit into the slots, or maybe a longer belly-putter.

It also boasted 12 pockets with 2 cooler pockets for your "shaken, not stirred" drink and a separate valuables pocket. The ball pocket was easily accessed; it had a rain hood included, and the strap had a very nice little "tuck-away" feature for when it's time to strap it into your cart. The model I looked at was a nice cream and light green, but there were several other colors available -- including a nice pink and black one for the ladies (or for a man confident enough in his masculinity to sport a pink bag.)

The price was similar to Nike's, but in this case I would have felt justified to spend it -- simply because of the "cool factor." Before I left, I noticed some badges that notated Bag Boy had garnered several awards including a Golfer's Choice award, a Golf Digest Gold Hot List Award, and a Golf Design and Innovation Award.

All because of a cool gadget. Money Penny, set me a tee time.

Find this Bag Boy Cart Bag:

• Click here to find this product at Amazon.com

Find this bag on eBay:

I'll try anything to improve my putting. I've tried long putters and short putters. I've tried left-hand low and right-hand low. I even putted left-handed. I've tried an open stance and a closed stance. I've even tried putting with my eyes closed, seriously!

So when KJ Choi won the Memorial a few years ago putting with the Tiger Shark Blue Putting System, I had to try it. It's a great idea. The general concept is to put a grip so big on your putter that there's no way in heck that you can manipulate it with your wrists, which we all know is a very common swing flaw that causes a lot of missed putts.

They advertise this product as "a patented, virtually taper-free design that evenly distributes grip pressure between the right and left hands for sensitivity and stability." This is a fancy way of saying the grip is all one size. I can accomplish the same effect by duct-taping two empty toilet paper rolls on to the end of my putter.

That being said, it definitely gave me a very good sense for keeping my wrists locked and swinging my arms like a pendulum. Unfortunately, the bulky grip takes away from my feel. To me, putting is all about my feel, and I prefer to have better touch and more feedback in my hands.

Don't get me wrong. I would recommend adding the Tiger Shark Blue Putting System to your invaluable stash of training aids to be used occasionally at the practice green. But for the real thing, I'll stick with my old tried and true small traditional grip -- with my eyes open, that is.

Find this Tiger Shark Blue Putter Grip:

• Click here to find this product at Amazon.com

Find this putter grip on eBay:

NEW Tiger Shark Jumbo Yellow Putter Grip Oversize Large US $10.95   Auction Ends: 29d 22h 56m Make it yours...

NEW Tiger Shark Super Jumbo Lite Black Putter Grip US $16.95   Auction Ends: 29d 19h 28m Make it yours...

Ping PAL Putter RH 35 with Tiger Shark grip US $9.99   0 Bid Auction Ends: 1h 37m Make it yours...

Ever notice how when you hit a particular club, well it becomes suddenly very dear to you? They can come and go in seasons. For a while, I felt like playing every shot from my 5 iron. No idea why. I just hit it well every time. So I wanted to drive with it, hit my second shot with it, chip with hit. Heck, why not? Turn it around and putt it in with a 5 iron.

Then my 5 iron abandoned me one day. I hit it fat and left a divot big enough to bury a squirrel. A big, fat squirrel.

I hate that club now.

Tried out a new driver today. TaylorMade Tour Burner Driver (450cc model). I am in love. Over-the-top crazy in love with this club.

I've mentioned this in other reviews, but I'm not an amazing hitter -- especially with the driver. This club felt natural, looked pleasantly like a real club at address (not square or oddly shaped), sounded solid but not too loud at impact, and I'm not exaggerating when I say this: I hit every one long and straight.

Oh funny. Someone out there just asked in their head if I hit only two balls. You're hilarious. 9 million comedians in the world and I'm lucky enough to have one of them reading this review. Well for your information, Chuckles, I hit about 16 or 17 drives. No joke. Everyone right down the middle. Everyone longer than I usually hit.

Oh, there you are again. A crack about the ladies' tees this time, huh? Funny. You should go on the road with that humor.

Look, the point is: I really, really, really liked this club. I could tell it was forgiving. It has that "dual crown" technology that helps with carry and distance. It has a definite lower center of gravity. The "inverted cone" produces a larger sweet spot. Whatever TaylorMade did with this driver, it totally worked for me.

I'm going back and buying that driver. The price is comparable to the other new drivers, and for me, it's worth it. Yes. I'm sold. And when I bring it home, I hope it makes my 5 iron jealous and it comes back to me, too.

Find this TaylorMade Tour Burner Driver:

• Click here to find this product at Amazon.com

Find this driver on eBay:

TAYLORMADE TOUR BURNER 2008 105 DRIVER REG VERY GOOD US $84.99   Auction Ends: 29d 9h 17m Make it yours...

TAYLORMADE TOUR BURNER 08 95 DRIVER STF GR VERY GOOD US $84.99   Auction Ends: 29d 9h 17m Make it yours...

NEW TAYLOR MADE 2009 TOUR BURNER DRIVER HEADCOVER COVER US $19.99   Auction Ends: 1h 39m Make it yours...

Here's how I found this one in a room full of bags: I simply wandered around and allowed the first one that caught my eye to pull me over, so I could test it out.

Stupid Nike. Why do you draw me? Why? Why must I allow myself to be convinced by a corporate giant that I need their products? And then I buy them and must put up with people telling me that I'm jumping on a bandwagon fueled by the popularity of Tiger Woods! Leave me alone! I didn't choose it! It chose me!

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe... OK, I'm alright.

So...the Nike bag. And another Nike product that may be priced too high. I will say that by far, the straps on the Nike Sasquatch Tour Carry Golf bag were the most comfortable of all the bags I tested. It was light, too. It almost convinced me that it would be better to pack my clubs around the up-and-down course that I often play instead of renting a cart.

Yeah. Almost.

The model I looked at and tried on was burgundy, silver, and black. The shelves centered around boasted bags that had different colors of black and yellow, and one appeared to be all blue and silver. Some of the features of this bag were actually very cool. 14 individual full-length dividers to protect your clubs, and ten pockets including a water bottle pocket and a cooler pocket. The stand was quick and solid, and the integrated ball sleeve and tee holder were fairly standard. One feature that was pretty innovative was a waterproof valuables pocket.

Again, I guess it's destiny that I am drawn to Nike products. I just wish that logo didn't cost so much.

Find this Nike Sasquatch Golf Bag:

• Click here to find this product at Amazon.com

Find this bag on eBay:

Nike Golf SasQuatch Tour Stand Bag Black and Yellow US $159.99   Auction Ends: 21d 5h 53m Make it yours...

Nike Golf SasQuatch Tour Stand Bag 016 US $127.50   5 Bids Auction Ends: 18h 1m Make it yours...

Nike Golf SasQuatch Tour Stand Bag 071 ANTHRACITE CITRO US $144.95   Auction Ends: 22h 49m Make it yours...