MacGregor M42 V-Foil Eye-O-Matic driver

MacGregor M42 driver

Price: £199 (graphite shaft)

With players of the quality of Jose Maria Olazabal, Lee Janzen and Aaron Baddeley playing its clubs,

MacGregor Golf still has the clout to challenge the major brands on Tour.

And clout is the operative word when it comes to the M42 V-Foil Eye-O-Matic driver. Each time I struck the ball I got a ringing in my ears as if I’d been cuffed round the head for insolence by a 1950s schoolmaster.

The Cobra SS and SZs are up there on the rostrum when the anti-Noise Abatement Society are giving out their medals for decibel-abuse but this beautifully made brute from one of the oldest surviving clubmakers takes gold every time.

It’s a real show-stopper on the course and the ear-piercing ‘TWINK’ of Surlyn on titanium can interrupt a conversation at 100 paces.

But there’s more to the M42 than the mere sound it makes.

Catch it right and the ball will explode off the face and give you deep distance. Even off the turf – and I love to attempt to reach par-5s with a driver off the deck – allow for a low, left to right ball flight and the M42 won’t let you down.

The Eye-O-Matic face, made of thin beta titanium, is incorporated for maximum spring effect and more accuracy.

The only drawback was that I didn’t find the club, despite the claimed V-Foil technology, as forgiving as I’d hoped. On the edge of, or outside, the ‘eye shadow’ in the centre of the face, it was tough to get airborne, even with my 11 degree loft model. Straight but low was my standard ball flight.

But it’s a great-looking club – as you’d expect with the long-standing engineering quality associated with the brand - and the distinctive green, white and black headcover is worth at least a tenner on its own.

MacGregor has a reputation for building quality clubs and this is no exception. In the right hands it will go long and straight, even off the deck, but it's more intolerant of the mishit than I had anticipated. Not a club for the inexperienced player, even though the price is right.