Daylight Robbery

Exhibit A

When I started playing I was kindly donated a load of knackered old balls. You knw the sort that you find glinting at you when you are searching for yours. You pause momentarily in the hope that it might be a Pro V1 and then you pick it up and realise that it's a Top Flite. You may well throw these balls back in disgust to dupe another errant golfer in the future. I keep them.

Why? I hear you ask. Look the picture left and note the scuff marks. Where I practice on my lunch times is a mixture of stone, dirt and, after a bit of rain, some grass. The damage to this ball was after one shot. As a result you can understand that when I'm working on my swing I'd rather chew up bargain basement throw aways.

Our practice hole has a row of trees on the left and beyond that is what could be best described as a builder's yard, without the builders. Miss left and 9/10 you kiss your ball goodbye. Up to know my shots have missed right, but recently I have been sending a fair few over those trees and my supplies of cannon fodder have rapidly diminished. This weekend I went out to replenish my supplies and bought some

• Noodle + lake balls for short game practice, a bargain at £4.80
• Dunlop Tour 24 balls for £8.99
• A Dunlop clicka tube with 12 balls included, just £3

Now about the clicka tube. I already have one for the heath and I use better balls for my short game practice so thought I'd get another tube. The tube's were £2 on their own, so there was the option to pay £1 more for 12 balls. Well as I'm only going to hit them on the heath I can't see any problem with them.

Now let's return to Exhibit A. The Dunlop Tour balls worked out at 37p a ball the clicka tube balls (Exhibit A)were 8p a ball. Now I knew they wouldn't be very good but I never thought the day would come when I actually feel robbed that I paid £1 for a dozen balls. They travelled half the distance, clunked off the club face and sounded like marbles. They also ripped up much more easily, with at least one set of the gouged marks being the point the club face struck the ball. The Tour balls on the other hand will do the job very nicely. Exhibit A now resides in the bin, but I kept one for posterity.

On a more serious note I was saddened to find out that our club pro shop was targeted by thieves on Sunday night. A smash and grab raid which has left our club pro in a state of shock as it is his business. Makes my blood boil...