Top brands win awards for innovation

Top gun: Yonex Nanospeed i driver gets innovation award

Clubs which could will be in the bags of three of three of the world's leading players were rewarded this week for their innovation at Golf Europe - the continent's leading trade show held in Munich, Germany.

Among several categories including shoes, clothing, accessories and trollies, the top award for hardware went to the new Yonex Nanospeed i driver with its 'Cup stack carbon nonotube' shaft technology, which claims to increase speed and accuracy for long-distant drives.

"We're thrilled to win this prestigious award," Yonex UK's managing director Paul Jepson told me. "It's the sexy part of the market and also part of our heritage and a long-driving brand. We're hopeful Colin Montgomerie will put it in his bag; he's testing it at the moment."

The 460cc club with three weight ports in the head, two of them interchangeable, will sell at between £200 and £250 when it's released in 2008.

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Said Open champion Padraig Harrington recently: “They gave me this club to test five minutes ago and there's no way they're getting it back! I really like it."

Third spot went to the revolutionary Mizuno MP600 driver with weights that can be slid and locked into different positions to achieve different ball flights. The club is currently in the bag of Luke Donald.

Sun Mountain, received first prize in the 'Accessories' category for its lightweight H2O stand bag with waterproof materials and zippers and tapered seams while Swedish brand Abacus won for 'Functional Clothing' category with its Solheim Cup Pitch rain jacket designed especially for the European team and made of stretch material with a slender shape.

Among the other awards, FootJoy won first prize for its ReelFit shoe dial tightening in the heel and TiCad Earlybird caddy won a special award for its lightweight frame and battery.

Anther eye-catching innovation I saw at the show that didn't win an award included the £40 Golf Bone, a device (below right) similar to a traditional pale-carrying yoke, designed by Paul Fields from Sheffield, which custom-fits golf bag-carrying, and makes them more ergonomic.

I also spotted a novel way of identifying your own equipment by adding colour paint jobs to your drivers and putters (above left) through Option Golf and an apparently legal Benross Innovator Stand Alone putter (above centre) which enables the golfer to line-up the putt then walk behind to check the line leaving the club standing up in position!

Benross claims The Innovator (£89.99) is the only vertical and horizontally balanced putter on the market and in tests in winds of up to 25 mph and slope gradients of up to 12 degrees will remain upright still aligned to where you originally aimed.