Following the success of its original, premium Rapture range, PING has launched the Rapture V2 series, incorporating driver, fairway woods, hybrids and irons. The new range will complement the G10 Series, which will continue into 2009.

The Golf Chrome Weekender bag is part of PUMA Golf's new Chrome Collection of apparel, footwear and accessories for men and women.

Having been voted ‘Best New Product' at the 2008 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, the V-Towel has been launched to the European market by Vicarious Golf.

Motocaddy is distributing in Europe the latest GPS model from Sureshot, the handheld 8800 Golf GPS.

Acushnet has opened two National Fitting Centres in Scotland and Ireland, at Kings Acre Golf Club in Edinburgh and at the GUI Academy at Carton House in County Kildare.

Following the success of Mizuno's Virtual Body sportswear in baseball and athletics, the technology has been applied to golf.

New from adidas Golf is the Tour360 3.0 shoe, featuring the brand's proprietary 360Wrap technology.

After independent biomechanical testing by the Quintic Consultancy, the Spherical Blade Emperor putter has been proven to provide immediate topspin on the ball.

Q-Link has launched a limited edition range of Black Titanium bracelets for the Ryder Cup, which are engraved with either the European Union flag or the Stars and Stripes.

Galvin Green has launched the Emerson leggings and Enzo long-sleeve top to form a new, ‘Skintight' Compression inner-layer suit.

Italian label Conte of Florence has launched its Spring-Summer 2009 range of golf clothing, which is being distributed in the UK and Ireland by Petron Golf.

Tony Wilkinson, formerly of Greg Norman Collection, has been appointed general manager of MacGrgeor Golf Europe, taking on responsibility for the distribution of both the MacGregor and Greg Norman Collection brands throughout Europe.

Ram has released what it claims to be its most forgiving set of irons ever, the Serbera irons for mid-handicappers.

Danish shoemaker Ecco has launched the Casual Pitch Hydromax line of golf shoes for women.

Stuburt has launched its Helium Junior golf shoes, based on the Helium Pro II as worn by David Howell. The shoes come in white/silver/black, in UK sizes 13-6, and with a 12-month waterproof guarantee, all for an SRP of £24.99.

Cobra completes epic demo tour

Cobra has finished a 2008 demo tour that featured no less than 457 events in the UK and Ireland.

SRI Sports in Japan bought Cleveland from Quicksilver last year for over $200 million, and from October 1 2008, Cleveland's European business will join Srixon as part of Srixon Sports Europe.

The PGAs of Europe are to support a new and ground-breaking initiative by the PGA of Italy, to stage a ‘Champions of Champions' tournament exclusively for Full Member countries, to be played at Golf Club Lignano, Italy, on September 18-21 2008.

Swing Zone, the first business to provide an integrated and completely web-based coaching system that will enable golf pros around the world to coach any golfer, wherever they may live, has joined the PGAs of Europe as an Education Partner.

The PGAs of Europe have formed an official partnership with the European Golf & Travel Media Association (EGTMA) in an unprecedented initiative to encourage golf and the media to work together for the good of the sport.

Severiano Ballesteros, the five-time major champion and Ryder Cup dynamo, has signed a four-year agreement with fast-growing Northern-Irish manufacturer MD Golf. The Spanish legend, 51, who retired from competition in July 2007, will act as a brand ambassador and collaborate on club designs.

A sheet of kitchen roll is dipped into a tank of water, and then pulled out; it appears bone dry. The sheet has been treated with Ion Mask water-resisting technology, but even the Ion Mask creators seem taken aback at its efficiency.

Launched a year ago and still going strong, PING's G10 is a 460cc driver with a cast body and fully machined face made from 6-4 titanium. The clubhead is designed with a tall face and deep crown to produce a high moment of inertia (MOI), to offer golfers greater forgiveness and ball velocity. PING's patented variable face thickness technology produces a thin, highly responsive hitting surface that again, is designed to increase ball speed and consistency of strike from all areas of the clubface.

The Innovator is so-called because of its ‘innovative bullet' shaped clubhead, which Benross claims is proven to be structurally stronger than any other clubhead shape. One of the primary functions of the bullet shape is to station the centre of gravity as low and far back as possible, so the club delivers that all-important high MOI. The Innovator also comes with a ‘trajectory control system', consisting of interchangeable weights that are designed to alter the club's launch angle to suit the golfer's particular needs.

The SQ Sumo 5000 features Nike's geometric science to give the club an MOI of 5,000 grams per cm2.

When the HiBore range was launched in January this year Cleveland said the Distance Driven Geometry - of lowering the crown to lower the centre of gravity - produced the only face-centred clubface in golf. Is that a good thing? Well, they say the club offers ‘full-face performance' from its large face and an MOI that is 13% higher than its predecessor, the HiBore XL. Stability foils also aid alignment.

The Insight XTD is designed to give golfers maximum ball speed from centre and off-centre strikes, drawing on Adams' Boxer Technology, a geometric shaping system the company has also used in its hybrids. The Boxer Technology ‘pushes mass away from the face and into the corners for higher MOI', while the club also comes fitted with the Aldila DVS shaft. Designed for golfers with mid to high swing speed, the XTD a3 is the official driver of the Long Drivers of America, while the a3 OS is made for slower swing speeds. The a3 comes in 9.5, 10.5 and 11.5-degree lofts, with the a3 OS in 10.5 and 12.5 degrees.

The titanium Viper Tour Driver has a three-weight technology system that enables golfers to configure the 2-gram toe and heel weights and the 6-gram centre weight to produce a draw, neutral flight or fade. Twin dual-triangular sole cavities increase mass in the back of the sole to allow more weight in the ports.

Tour Edge says the Exotics XCG has the first ever magnesium crown and hosel design in golf. As magnesium carries half the weight of titanium, its use means more weight in the clubhead could be positioned low in the hyper-steel body for a low centre of gravity and high MOI.

Lynx have kept the weight of the Black cat Tour driver low and deep by introducing a multi-step side plate, ensuring this model has the lowest centre of gravity Lynx has ever produced, and its head-shape promotes the club's high MOI. The optimum weight distribution of this multi-material club is designed to promote the maximum transfer of energy from club to ball for greater distance. The club has also been created with shot control and workability in mind, and a fixed screw weight strategically positioned in the rear of the clubhead's heel area ensures the club resists slicing.

Following the success of Hippo's HEX2 hexagonal driver, the affordable HEX TX comes with a V-slot sole design and aerodynamic side slots, which are designed to maximise clubhead speed through impact. The crown of the club is made from very light multi-step carbon fibre, allowing two 8-gram weight ports to be positioned at the rear corners of the clubhead. These measures ensure the HEX TX produces the highest MOI Hippo has ever produced.

A crown super-structure and new weighting technology enable the Wilson Staff Spine to deliver the maximum MOI permitted by the R&A and USGA. Weight from the crown has been ‘scooped' out and repositioned further down the clubhead's perimeter to pull down the centre of gravity, which is designed to provide golfers with a lower spin rate for greater distance and improved stability through impact, leading to greater accuracy and consistency of strike.

The Tour Burner has been designed to help amateur golfers get closer to the Tour pros' launch conditions of high ball speed, high launch angle and low spin rate.

The idea is that ‘QUB3' is actually pronounced ‘Cube', for a club that Ram has built with their square construction principle, to re-position weight in the four corners of the clubhead to encourage a high MOI and greater accuracy.

After extensive research at Titleist's Performance Institute, the brand claims its new 909 series is its most comprehensive range of drivers to date. The 909 DComp is a 460cc, multi-material driver with a deep face and pear-shaped clubhead that is designed to produce a high launch angle with low to mid spin.

Cobra's traditionally-shaped yet powerful Speed LD F is designed for the better player who generates fast clubhead speed.

The 460cc Kasko K2K utilises the brand's Diamond Tip weight technology, with six fixed weights to enable golfers to set-up the club with either a draw or neutral bias. The beta titanium club has a cut-away dome crown to keep the centre of gravity low and deep behind its extremely hard SP700 clubface. The club is available in lofts of 10 and 13 degrees and comes in a range of Aldila shafts and with Golf Pride's colour-co-ordinated New Decade Multi Compound grips.

Petron claims its Boss TTC driver offers the performance benefits and technology of premium drivers, with the primary differential being the price.

The FastBack And DrawBack drivers were launched by Nicklaus Golf in March this year, featuring the company's Dual Point technology. The Dual Point theory is that the centre of gravity is aligned with the ‘optimal face flex point' for maximum trampoline effect, and a 10-gram weight plug positioned low and deep in the FastBack's clubhead is designed to help keep the clubface square at impact. Both models have 460cc clubheads, and the DrawBack is offset to encourage a draw. Both clubs are made from forged titanium and come built with a Fujikura shaft.

Awarded ‘Best on Test' by leading UK consumer title Golf Monthly in July 2008, the Ben Sayers Benny comes in a bullet shape with a deep and low rear weight chamber and strategically positioned weight bars to promote the ideal, high launch angle, high MOI and low ball spin. The result should be reduced shot dispersion and increased forgiveness from off-centre strikes.

New print and plate making technology means T-King Golf, Europe's largest golf tee printer, can print tees at a higher quality and with a wider range of options than ever before. Golf tees can now be printed with virtually any logo or text in up to three colours, with print running right around the shank if needed. T-King Golf has also become the exclusive license holder to print Zero Friction tees in Europe, the tees preferred by many tour professionals.

Rife's new range of putters for 2009 will be on display for the first time at Munich. The brand will also be gathering its recently assembled network of European distributors at the show, with representatives from Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Holland, France and Belgium joining UK and European distributor Ian Waddicar. Rife is building a reputation on Tour as well as in the trade, with their putters being used by Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and Andres Romero this year, all without being paid.

The official clothing brand of the European Solheim Cup team, Abacus will be exhibiting its 2009 Spring-Summer Collection at Munich. The range features the updated Pitch Europe stretch rain jacket, which has laser-cut contrast details, shaped sleeves designed for absolute comfort and the stretch fabric ensures freedom of movement. The 2008 Pitch jacket was part of the Pitch range that won a Golf Europe Product Award for Clothing Function last year, and for 2009 the jacket comes in Black, Blue and Heaven for women, and Black, Midnight blue and List blue for men, and with an SRP of £179.

Among the range of products Softspikes will be exhibiting at Munich will be the Heart Cleat for women golfers. The limited edition Heart Cleat is essentially a customised Pulsar cleat that is pink and white, and accentuated by a bright pink heart in the centre. The Heart Cleats became available in the UK in August, and already a number of players on the Ladies European Tour have been using them. The Heart cleat also features Softspikes' Energised Traction Technology, consisting of a 16-component design that reacts to every movement a golfer makes.

Pride Sports will be taking its new Insignia golf tee to Munich, the game's first two-piece, lead-free tee, which Pride Sports claims is the most environmentally friendly tee on the market. Because of their two-piece design the tees waste 80% less excess wood in production than one-piece tees. The tees are also produced using a non-toxic, lead-free stain. Insignia tees are available in 23¼4" and 33¼4" sizes and come in four colour options: red/natural; blue natural; green/natural; cherry.

In a repeat of its 2007 involvement at Golf Europe, Flightscope will again be providing participating companies on the exhibition driving range with the opportunity to use a Flightscope Kudu ball flight monitor. Flightscope claims the Kudu produces an extensive set of highly accurate measured parameters on ball and club performance, and therefore helps enormously as an evaluation aid. In use at Munich will be the Kudu's latest 5.4.1 software.

UK shoe company Hi-Tec will be using Munich to launch six new shoes for 2009, incorporating the brand's innovative new ion-mask technology, that Hi-Tec claims keeps shoes waterproof and clean like no other treatment. As featured on pages 24-26 of this issue, this patented plasma-based technology was originally developed for military use, to protect soldiers from chemical attack. What is more, the production process is environmentally friendly.

The latest range of 10 putters from Spherical Blade will be exhibited at Golf Europe. All the putters feature the brand's ‘curved face' technology, consisting of gentle convex curves on the putter face which are designed to impart the perfect roll on the ball with more top spin than other putters, thereby reducing bobbling in the early part of a putt's roll. Retailers will be welcome to join managing director Ian Smith and Spherical Blade's distributors to try out the putters for themselves.

PerfectaPutt, the compact putting aid, will be exhibited at Munich alongside Spherical Blade putters. PerfectaPutt consists of two spring-loaded, precision-machined aluminium discs, which have the exact diameter of a golf hole, and they trap the golf ball at the point where it would have entered the hole on a real golf course. While demonstrating whether the practice putt would have dropped, the aid also indicates to golfers whether they have tendencies to push or pull their putts.

S-Series electric trolleys at Golf Europe, the brand new S5, which will be showcased with the established S1 and S3 models. The S5 has a lot to live up to, as the S3 (pictured) uses a 2kg lithium battery that lasts 36 holes and Motocaddy claims it is 8kg lighter than standard 36-hole batteries. The sleek S3 also offers Adjustable Distance Control on its digital control panel, and it measures the distance of golfers' drives, all for £699.99

It's easy for golfers to follow their best friend's driver purchase, and to assume the same specifications will work for them too, but in reality they could not be further from the truth.