Mr Chalk v Mr Cheese!

Testing! Testing!: Mickelson on the range (Pictures: Mark Newcombe/Visions in Golf)

Callaway Golf staff players Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els are right at the top of the tree in tournament performance but have revealed they are complete opposites when it comes to testing equipment and finding clubs that work for them.

While Mickelson is forever tinkering and testing to find what works for him, the big South African has revealed that he judges what he likes chiefly by feel and intuition.

Left-hander Mickelson, renowned for his attention to detail and inquisitive nature, relishes experimenting and spends hours liaising with his Callaway engineers at the Tour trailer. For example, he told Reuters news agency this week in Atlanta (where he's competing at the Tour Championship), he tried as many as 10 different 64-degree Callaway wedges before settling on one that suited him.

Finicky Phil?: 'I want to make sure everything is right before I go hit it'

"I want to know what the loft is, the lie, what the shaft frequency is. I want to make sure of the length and everything is right before I go hit it."

Mickelson, who once used two drivers at the US Masters, said great care was needed in comparing range conditions with those out on the course.

"You can't tell if the club is working from hitting it on the range. It might go a couple of yards too far, a couple of yards too short or the spin rate might be a little bit off and if you're hitting it downwind you don't pick up on it. I want to make sure all that stuff is right before I actually go test it. It saves a lot of time and frustration on the golf course."

Lions share: 'Els takes a laid back approach to equipment'

"It's all about feel," said Els, who switched equipment from Titleist in February.

"They had the computers and the launch monitors out at the testing centre and I did some testing, but not weeks of it. I only need three swings before I say yes or no. I didn't have any problem with the driver or the irons and the wedges were great. But adapting the HX Tour ball around the greens was quite a challenge and to get the right putter, has been quite a challenge."

Nick Raffaele, Callaway's vice-president of sports marketing, was stunned how quickly Els adapted to the FT-5 driver.

"It happened a lot faster than I would comfortably like it," said Raffaele. "What shocked me was when I got a phone call from Ernie saying he wanted to play the driver the next day at Phuket in the pro-am for the Johnnie Walker just one week after signing with Callaway.

"His management said he was hitting it eight yards longer with the driver and he really wants to do this. I said 'Okay.' He finished joint sixth."

Raffaele respects both the Mickelson and the Els approach.

"At the end of the day, they are the ones putting the ball in the hole, they are the ones who have got to make the five-footer for a million dollars. I like both types of player and, of course, there are frustrations with both.

"I would love for Ernie to dive in even more and I would love for Phil to back off a little at times. But I've found there is a happy balance and they both come back to the middle eventually."

Tell us on the forum what it takes for you settle with a club before you buy it. Does it have to perform in the net or on the range - or even on the course 'on approval' or is it the looks, feel or simply the price that attracts you?