The Golfalot.com Price Index in the UK appeared to mirror the general economic picture of a bleak midwinter by recording a drop of almost -4%.

Having rallied last month the Index fell sharply in December with falls across every sector. Although it appears golf retailers have followed the general pre-Christmas trend of slashing prices to entice consumers to spend, spend, spend there is evidence that the drops are simply part of a normal tactic of dealing with the off season and shifting stock that will be replaced by new models in the New Year.

The Clubs Sector drove the downward trend dropping by -5% and recording the biggest fall since the Golfalot.com Price Index began in October 2004. Fairway Woods led the crash with a drop of -8.6% which included falls across the Ping range, including the new Rapture V2, and a general downturn across the Callaway range.

Drivers fell by -7.7% with Yonex and Wilson witnessing across the board drops and the TaylorMade range experiencing some major reductions on certain models. Utility Clubs fell by -5.7% after two months of growth, Wedges by -5.3% and Putters by -4.5% with Irons falling by -2.9%.

The overwhelming downward trend in the Clubs Sector can, in part, be explained by the gradual arrival of new clubs in the stores and retailers dropping the price of remaining stock. The market still awaits the imminent retail release of new Drivers and Fairway Woods from Nike and Titleist amongst others. The injection of new products should serve to steady the UK market.

In the Accessories Sector the overwhelming trend was again downwards but, at -1.2%, was less dramatic than the Clubs Sector. The big fall came from Golf Balls where a drop of -6.3% was largely due to noticeable reductions in the Callaway, Wilson and Srixon ranges.

Again retailers and manufacturers will be hoping that the blip is temporary and that the introduction of new products will drive the market back up in the New Year.

Elsewhere in the Accessories Sector Shoes fell by -2.3% with Trolleys and Bags recording falls of less than -1% making them the steadiest performers throughout the December Golfalot.com Price Index.

Across the Atlantic in the United States, December saw a fall in the Golfalot Price Index of -2.1%, with falls in both the Clubs (-2.4%) and Accessories (-1.4%) sectors. Putters managed to buck the downward trend but every other category recorded a fall.

In the Clubs Sector the sharpest falls were Drivers (-3.9%) and Wedges (-4.4%). In the Drivers category Callaway prices fell most noticeably with falls of $70 or more for six of their drivers as the market caught up with the introduction of the new FT-iQ and FT-iQ Tour models that entered the Index in October. Other manufacturers with notable falls on specific models included Cleveland, Mizuno and TaylorMade.

This pattern was repeated in the Wedges category with a decline in price at the premium end of the market with both Mizuno (MPR and MPT series) and Titleist (Vokey 200 and Vokey Spin Milled) showing significant drops.

The other clubs categories to experience notable drops were Fairway Woods (-2.5%) and Irons (-2.4%) and as was the case in all categories in both the US and the UK, small falls affected a broad range of manufacturers across a number of models.

Utility Clubs recorded a small drop in average price (-0.9%) and only the Putter market held firm, in fact recording a small rise of 0.1%.

It was more of the same in the Accessories Sector where the Index fell -1.4% driven mainly by falls in both the Balls and Shoe categories. Golf balls fell -3.1% with notable drops at the premium end of the market, with both Titleist (Pro V1 and Pro V1x) and Nike (One Platinum) prices falling.

The Shoe category dropped -3% as a result of a general fall off in prices across all manufacturers. Trolleys (-1.2%) and Bags (-0.7%) followed the trend of the Index with prices slipping slightly.

It would, perhaps, be too easy to blame the ongoing onslaught against consumer confidence for the fall in the Golfalot.com Price Index. Although the UK Index showed strong growth in the run up to Christmas in 2006 that was the only Christmas jump over 0.5% and there have only been two December increases in five years. Similarly the US Index showed respectable growth as the holiday season approached in 2007 but fell sharply in 2006.

This evidence suggests that for golf retailers Christmas has never provided the cheer that it traditionally brings other retailers as they rush to get old stock off the shelves.

Looking back throughout 2008 the Index on both sides of the Atlantic has proved its resilience in bouncing back from the competition of major sporting events (Olympic Games and Euro 2008) and the depressing affect of the spate of bad weather that hit the UK. When the distorting affect of pre- and post-Christmas sales is removed and golfers ready themselves for the better weather of Spring by replacing, updating and adding to their equipment the retailers will be fully prepared with new stock from every major manufacturer. The trends of a steady 2008 appear to encourage the view that these factors will combine to help the Golfalot.com Price Index stand firm in the face of the economic trials of the world’s leading economies in 2009.

The Golfalot.com Price Index continued to provide strong signals that the golfing sector may be well placed to stand firm in the face of the descending financial gloom with the UK Price Index recording a small increase of less than 1% in November.

The UK rise was driven by the Trolley sector where a number of the cheaper brands fell out of the Index but the upper end of the market stayed consistent to push the sector up by 4% - the second consecutive month of growth.

Utility Clubs continued to fight back following a major collapse in August with an increase of 3.3%, with drops in the MacGregor and Benross ranges being cancelled out by increases for some Wilson and MD Golf clubs.

The Golf Balls sector was the other real success story of November with a 2.8% rise putting to an end a five month run of losses. After months of price cutting Golf Balls returned to normal with increases across the sector, most noticeably right across the Callaway range. The only other sector to increase was Wedges, where the new Nike Victory Red Forged Wedge debuted in the Index, growing by 1.3% and posting a rise for the third consecutive month.

Overall the Clubs sector fell by almost 1% despite the inclusion of new irons from Callaway and Nike, the Irons sector falling by -0.9% with some major drops from Wilson, TaylorMade and Ping products negating the positive impact of the new arrivals.

The biggest fall came from the Fairway Woods sector where a crash of -3.3% was caused by prices being reduced across the sector in anticipation of the flood of new clubs which have not yet made their way to the retailers. Putters also posted a significant drop with a series of small reductions – most noticeably in the Callaway range – to blame for a fall of -2.4%.

Elsewhere Drivers fell by less than -1% while the Accessories sector, buoyed by Trolleys and Golf Balls, grew by 2.2% despite Bags and Shoes both posting small drops.

Across the Atlantic, the Golfalot.com Price Index in the United States showed a positive growth of 0.6%, more than recovering from last month’s small drop. The rise was powered by the new equipment that has been launched by manufacturers over the last 3 months reaching the shelves and positively boosting the Index especially in the Clubs sector, where overall positive growth of 1.1% was enough to offset a small fall in the Accessories sector of -0.6%.

Drivers rose by 1.6% with the introduction to the index of new clubs by Adams (Insight Tech A4), Callaway (FT-iQ and FT-iQ Tour), Cobra (LV5) and Titleist (909D range) more than offsetting falls across the older products in the index.

A similar story was experienced in the Fairway Woods with the new Adams entrants (Insight Tech A4 and Insight Tech A4 OS) boosting the index and the category was the month’s biggest riser, growing by 4%. Utility Clubs also grew by 0.8% with the introduction of the Adams Insight Tech A4 and the Irons category showed a similar trend, boosted by the introduction of the Callaway X22 and Nike Slingshot HL ranges to register a 0.6% increase.

The only clubs categories to fall were Wedges that fell by -0.3%, despite the entry into the index of the new Nike Victory Red Wedges, and Putters that fell by -0.5%. Both these categories saw prices fall generally across clubs represented in the category.

The Accessories sector registered negative growth of -0.6% with only the Bags category bucking the trend and registering positive growth. Bags grew 1.3% largely due to new models from Sun Mountain, Bag Boy and Ogio entering the stores whilst the sector’s big losers were shoes, where a fall -2.9% can be blamed on a number of brands and models registering discounted prices across a number of retailers. Balls and Trolleys also fell by -0.4% and -0.8% respectively.

With both the UK and America showing small increases in the Golfalot.com Price Index for November there is ground for confidence that golf is not about to suffer as badly as other industries from the fallout of the global credit crash. Retailers and manufacturers will be hoping that the positive trends continue as consumers gear up for the holiday season and more of the newly released products find their way to the shop floor.

As the wider economy continued to feel the pressure of the credit crunch and the fall out from the banking bail out continues, the Golfalot.com Price Index in the UK recorded only a small drop this month with the overall performance of the index improving on the previous two months.

The combined loss of -0.5% was over a percentage point better than September as the fairway and utility sectors rallied to make up some of the ground they had lost.

Fairway Woods posted a rise of over 4.5%, making up almost half of the major slide seen in September. Prices stayed constant across the sector with some clubs, including Cleveland’s HiBore W-Series, even rising after last month’s dramatic reductions.

Utility Clubs were the other big mover, a rise of 1.2% providing some much needed respite after the fall of over 6.2% last month. With clubs like the Ram Qub Pro 3 recovery club rising again after the large September reductions the sector as a whole remained fairly consistent. Wedges (+0.9%), Trolleys (+0.9%) and Shoes (+0.6%) were the other winners as half of the sectors in the index made gains.

The biggest losses came in the Driver sector (-2.6%) and the Golf Balls sector (-3.4%). Falls across the Driver sector included big reductions on Callaway and MacGregor clubs, with Drivers becoming one of the few sectors in the Golfalot.com UK Price Index to perform considerably worse than September.

There can be some confidence, however, that the sector will recover as the market awaits the influx of new models over the Autumn including hotly anticipated clubs from Nike and Titleist.

Golf Balls dropped sharply with major falls across the TaylorMade and Callaway ranges meaning that Drivers and Golf Balls have now posted falls in each of the last four months.

The Irons sector suffered the same fate as Drivers with the prices falling as retailers and consumers await the latest wave of clubs, with big reductions on some Yonex and MD Golf models helping the sector to post a loss of -2.3% after gains in the last two months.

Bags and putters experienced slight dips of less than one percent. With the total club sector falling by under one percent and accessories making a gain of 0.4% the Golfalot.com Price Index in the UK would appear to be stabilising again after the slight downturn of August and September.

With new clubs on the way and the manufacturers promoting their new models in a big way it would appear there are plenty of signs to suggest that cautious optimism in the market is not misplaced.

Across the Atlantic the Golfalot.com Price Index in the United State also dropped slightly, falling by -0.5%. The average prices for Drivers (-2.4%), Fairways (-2.6%) and Utility Clubs (-4.5%) all fell however this was offset by increases in the other categories measured which all showed slight positive growth.

The categories that fell were characterised by dramatic falls in price of only a small number of models as retailers anticipate the imminent release of new models from manufacturers.

Drivers saw the Callaway Hyper X and Hyper X Tour fall significantly ahead of the anticipated entry to the index of the new Callaway FT-iQ, and this was mirrored in Fairways (-2.6%) and most notably Utilities (-4.5%) where the discounting by one retailer of the Sonartec HB001 and MD Trans clubs significantly impacted the index.

Irons (+0.7%), wedges (+0.1%) and putters (0.2%) all showed slight increases in the index with Irons benefiting from the entry into the index of the Mizuno MP-52 and MP-62 sets as well as the new irons, the Rapture V2 and S57, from Ping, whilst putters saw the introduction of the new models into the Scotty Cameron Studio Select Range.

All of the non-club index categories saw small increases with Bags, which benefitted from the new Sun Mountain range, up +0.8% and balls, up +0.4%, the most notable movers.

With the credit crunch going global the Golfalot.com Price Index has remained reasonably stable in October with some sectors even beginning to fight back after the Olympic Games and a run of bad weather in the UK caused a slowdown in the late summer. While the predictions that the financial turmoil is about to filter down from the banks to the High Street suggest the rest of the year could be quite traumatic there must be a level of optimism that the launch of a flotilla of new clubs and the approach of Christmas can help the Golfalot.com Price Index beat the financial blues.

With the credit crunch continuing to hit hard elsewhere, the Golfalot.com Price Index in the UK fell only slightly this month with small drops across most sectors leading to a decrease of -1.65%. For the second month in a row Utility Clubs saw a big drop falling by 6.2% but Fairway Woods saw the most dramatic fall with a 9.7% reduction.

After recording a slight increase last month, this month's fall in Fairway Woods was due to large reductions in the cost of some Nike models and the Callaway range. The Srixon M-Steel also fell and, of the lower cost models, Ram saw a series of reductions across its range. The Ram range of Utility Clubs also saw some significant drops with some Wilson and Nike models also tumbling. In the Drivers sector falls across the Cobra Speed range and some noticeable reductions for TaylorMade models contributed to an overall drop of -1.3%. With the downturn hitting across most sectors Bags (-3.3%), Balls (-1.9%), Trolleys (-1.9%) and Shoes (-0.3%) also saw prices fall.

Irons continued to buck the trend and recorded a small rise of under 1% for the second month running. The Putters sector rallied after falling last month to rise by 1.5% whilst Wedges recorded the biggest increase of just under 1.6%. With prices generally holding firm in these sectors Yes and Ram wedges increased in price while Callaway’s series of Odyssey putters stayed consistent after last month’s falls.

Over the Atlantic the Golfalot.com Price Index in the United States bounced back following last month's significant drop with the index rising 5.69% to almost reach the level it was at in July. After causing the downturn last month the Drivers sector rallied to power the recovery this month with a huge rise of 79% suggesting that last month was an anomaly that will not impact on the long term picture. Some price drops in this sector, including the Callaway iMix FT-i and iMix FT-i Tour, were compensated for by new releases like the Ping Rapture V2 and TaylorMade R7 Limited boosting the average price.

The release of the Ping Rapture V2 range also gave Fairway Woods (+2.4%) and Utility Clubs (+3.2%) significant September increases with the new clubs helping to bolster those sectors. It was good month all round for the club sector with Wedges (+0.5%) and Putters (+0.8%) also recording slight increases. The accessories sector dropped slightly with Shoes showing the biggest slide of almost 1.6%, thanks mainly to a significant discount in the Hi Tec range. Bags and Trolley also showed slight dips with both sectors falling by under 1%, with Irons holding steady.

With America recovering from last month's large drop the Golfalot.com Price Index continues to stay strong in the face of growing economic pressures in other markets. The small fall in the Golfalot.com UK Price Index is indicative of both the continuing bad weather and generous deals from retailers as they begin to clear their stock in preparation for the arrival of new ranges from manufacturers in the autumn.

The experience of the US Driver and Fairway Woods sectors shows that the current slow down should be reversed when new clubs are launched. Despite the growing economic gloom elsewhere it seems that the new ranges should arrive just in time to provide some welcome news for the golf retail industry.

The Golfalot Price Index in the UK fell slightly this month with drops across most sectors leading to a decrease of 1.14%. The biggest losses in August were Utility Clubs, falling by 5.2%, and Putters which dropped 3.6%.

Utility Clubs went down with price drops from a few of the cheaper clubs, including Hippo and Howson models, and a large reduction in the cost of the Mizuno CLK Hi-Fi. Putters fell with a couple of big drops across Callaway’s Odyssey series and a large reduction in MD Golf’s Rio model. Bags (-3%), Shoes (-3%) and Wedges (-2.2%) were the other major losers as the downturn hit across most sectors.

Fairway Woods bucked the trend and recorded an increase of just under 1% with last month’s new clubs from Adams Golf holding their price. Irons were the only other sector to increase with a rise of 0.3% as TaylorMade saw large fluctuations across their r7 series.

Across in the USA the Golfalot Price Index experienced a significant fall of 6.53% thanks chiefly to a huge fall of almost 50% in the Drivers market. This drop cast a major shadow over the Golfalot Price Index in the US and, if drivers are excluded, the trend remained downward, but with a drop of only -0.9%.

The fall in the Drivers category was largely due to dramatic falls in the price of both the Callaway FTi 25th Anniversary edition and the TP versions of TaylorMade’s Superquad and Tour Burner, which were heavily discounted by one retailer. The Cobra Speed range experienced a less dramatic but still significant fall of 25%.

The other main category to fall was Irons (-1.5%) where TaylorMade’s r7 Draw Ladies set fell by $300. With Utility Clubs (+0.7%) and Bags (+1.1%) recording the only increases, the remaining sectors all fell by under 1%.

After holding firm in the face of the gloom caused by the economic downturn in recent months the Golfalot Price Index seems to have suffered from slow demand created by a slowing economy, bad weather and retailers discounting current models as they await the launch of new products from the major manufacturers. As manufacturers prepare to launch new ranges over the coming months the Golfalot Price Index may fall further as retailers try to shift stock against an uncertain economic environment before the new ranges arrive in store to boost margins and hopefully raise the Index again.

The Golfalot Price Index in the UK defied the credit crunch and increased this month by 1.66%. The big movers this month were Fairway Woods, which rose by a colossal 9.9% and Trolleys by 7.3%.

Fairway Woods went up as a few of the cheaper brands dropped out and the Insight clubs came in from Adams Golf. Trolleys rose thanks to two new products from Greenhill.

The big fallers this month were Shoes (-7.3%) and Drivers (-2.8%). Shoes fell as some more expensive pairs dropped out, along with just a general decrease across the entire section. Drivers were helped on their way down by price decreases in several Callaway drivers. Balls (-0.9%) and Bags (-0.1%) also fell.

Across in the USA, the Golfalot Price Index may have only had a +0.4% increase, but big movements in a couple of the categories cancelled each other out. Similar to the UK, Fairway Woods increased (5.7%) and Drivers fell (-5.2%).  Fairway Woods went up as a few less expensive clubs fell out and Utility Clubs (+1.5%) rose thanks to a couple of dearer clubs from Adams and Tour Edge coming into the market.

The fall in the Drivers section was also due to a drop in prices of the Callaway FT-5 and FT-i drivers. Shoes (-2%) and Wedges (-1.4%) were the last of the big fallers due to small price decreases across the entire category.

It seems that the inflationary pressures in the economy are starting to force prices up, at a time when we would be expecting them to fall, so demand in certain categories is still good. However with the credit crunch and new ranges due out later this year from all the big manufacturers, then we could expect to see large price falls in the coming months if demand decreases.

The Golfalot Price Index in the UK decreased this month by -0.47%, but this was entirely due to a -4.4% fall in the Trolleys sector as budget models from Go and Skymax came back into the GPI and some Powakaddy lines were discounted to make way for a new model later this year.

If you exclude Trolleys from the GPI then it actually rose by just under 0.3% as most categories rose by just under 1%. The exception to this was Drivers, Irons and Balls which all fell by between 0.6% and 0.9%, but overall it was a fairly healthy picture, even though the word on the golfing street is that the retail climate is getting tougher.

Conversely the USA Golfalot Price Index did not change from last month, but this hid several large variations that cancelled each other out, as 5 categories rose and 5 fell. On the up this month were Trolleys ( 3.5%), Wedges ( 2.9%), Fairway Woods ( 1.4%), Balls ( 1.6%) and Putters ( 1.5%).

 Trolleys increased as there was a $340 rise in one of the most expensive trolleys on the market, the Dynasteer Remote Controlled Golf Kaddy and Wedges went up thanks to a few cheaper clubs dropping out and a large increase in price on the Nickent GenEx ARC wedge.

The 5 categories that fell this month were Drivers (-3.1%), Utility Clubs (-2.7%), Irons (-0.8%), Shoes (-0.8%) and finally Bags (-0.7%). The fall in the Driver section was helped by the large fall in prices of the Adams Insight XTD drivers and Utility Clubs fell due to the fall in price of the Nike Sumo hybrids and a large fall from the Sonartec Transition utility club.

Overall the credit crunch on both sides of the pond seems to be affecting the golf industry less than other sectors and hopefully now the season is in full swing, this trend will be continued.

The Golfalot Price Index in the UK rose this month by 1.1% due to big rises in Irons ( 4%), Bags ( 2.3%), Drivers ( 2.2%) and Putters ( 2.1 %). The new Titleist range of irons drove up Irons, while Bags increased as a few of the cheaper bags on offer dropped out. Drivers experienced a small increase across all ranges and Putters rose following the introduction of the new Ping i-Series and Scotty Cameron Studio Select ranges.

On the downside, despite a few new expensive products coming into the market from Hill Billy and Hillman, Trolleys fell by -2.7% as some of the Powakaddy range came out of the index. Fairway Woods (-1.8%) and Shoes (-1.3%) also fell this month with small changes throughout each category.

The opposite was the case in the USA as the Golfalot Price Index fell by 0.26%. The biggest mover out of all the categories was Fairway Woods which fell by 2.9% due to the expensive Ping Rapture dropping out and the cheaper Golden Bear Mega SQ coming in. Wedges (-1.5%) and Putters (-1.4%) also fell with a few small changes across each section.

On the up in the US were Irons by 1.4% helped in part by new Bridgestone J36 sets coming in. This was the same case in the Utility Clubs ( 0.6%) as a new Bridgestone J36 Hybrid has its first outing. Bags were the only other category to increase, but by only 0.2% with a couple of minor price changes throughout.

So far this year it seems that prices are on the increase with both the UK and USA up over the last 12 months by between a half and one percent. However this is the second month in a row that the USA has fallen, so it will be interesting to see if the recent macro-economic problems are starting to affect the golf industry in that country.

In the UK, the golf season has got into full swing and with shops now full of all the latest models and the economy tightening, the pressure on prices could be more down than up. Watch this space!

The Golfalot Price Index in the UK fell this month by -1.57% with 7 out of the 10 categories going down. The major fallers this month were Drivers (-4.8%), Shoes (-4 %), Irons (-3. 9%) and Fairway Woods (-3.5%).

Drivers fell due to price competition for the new Cobra Speed LD series, while Shoes fell as some of the more expensive Puma shoes dropped out. Irons came down mainly due to the MacGregor MT series being withdrawn and Fairway Woods generally fell across the board.

The only increases this month came from Trolleys ( 3.1%), Putters ( 2.6%) and Utility Clubs ( 1.9%). Trolleys went up on the back of the new Motocaddy Digital series hitting the stores and Putters increased thanks to new models from Callaway and TaylorMade.

The USA Golfalot Price Index also fell in April, but by the slightly smaller margin of 0.92%. Drivers also fell on this side of the pond (-4.6%) as did Putters (-2.8%) and Utility Clubs (-2.7%). Drivers dropped as cheaper clubs arriving from companies such as Hippo and Golden Bear reduced the average cost of a new driver.

Putters and Utility Clubs had a general decease over the whole category. The two big movers upwards were Fairway Woods ( 3.6%) and Shoes ( 1.2%). An increase in price for the Nike range moved Fairway Woods up, while new models from Ecco and Adidas moved Shoes upwards.

Overall the month of April saw both sides of the pond stay fairly steady with only a small drop on both sides. Increased competition as more retailers received stock in stores helped drive prices down slightly, but since the start of the year the UK is still up 0.5% and the USA 1%.

The Golfalot Price Index in the UK increased this month by 2.4% with every category rising from the previous month. The biggest movers this month were Utility Clubs ( 7.1%), Irons ( 3%), Fairways ( 2.3%) and Golf Balls ( 2.2%). The other categories had increases ranging from 0.4% to 1.8% respectively.

The Utility Clubs increase was due to the arrival in stores of the new Callaway FT Hybrids and Cobra Baffler. Irons rose due to new models from Callaway, Cobra and MacGregor coming in.

The new Callaway FT fairways drove the rise in this category and Balls went up thanks to the new PTS Carry and Roll balls from Titleist and the Tour i and Tour ix balls from Callaway. The average price of a set of clubs, shoes, balls, bag and trolley is now £1,207, the highest level since December 2006.

The USA Golfalot Price Index also increased this month by the slightly larger amount of 2.8% thanks mainly to the increase in Drivers and Fairway Woods. For the second month in a row the average price set a new high of $2,182 since the USA Index began in April 2006.

Fairway Woods had the largest increase of 8.2%, thanks to the introduction of the Callaway FT and FT-i Squareway fairway woods. The new I-Mix drivers from Callaway, the new Cobra Speed LD series and TaylorMade Tour Burner drivers also helped push Drivers up 7.2%.

Utility Clubs ( 4.1%) and Irons ( 3.8%) were the other big movers. On the fall this month were Golf Balls, which fell from $22.89 to $22.41 per dozen (-2.1%) due mainly to the introduction of some cheaper balls from Srixon and Slazenger. Trolleys had their normal large change by falling 3.1% as the cheaper Bag Boy LT-440 came back into the market.

Overall the month of March saw new highs for the average price of a set of golf equipment in both the UK and the USA increase as new products replaced old for the 2008 season. Given the wider economic issues, it will be interesting to see if these levels can be maintained as the golf season starts to get into full swing following the Masters in April.

The Golfalot Price Index in the UK had its biggest gain for over a year of 4.6%, as the new 2008 products reached the stores to replace older lines. The largest increases this month were in Drivers (+18.2%), Shoes (+12.5%) and Utility Clubs (+9.5%).

Drivers moved upwards due to the introduction of new clubs from Callaway and Nike. Utility Clubs rose on the back of the new Cobra and Cleveland Hybrids and Shoes benefited from the introduction of a large number of new lines from a variety of manufacturers.

Bags were the only UK category to fall this month, down 1.2%, but this did not halt the larger increase overall as the removal of many older models was offset by new Callaway and Cobra stand and cart bags. Putters stayed static as several of the older Titleist Scotty Cameron models were superseded by newer models.

In the USA, the Golfalot Price Index also had its largest ever monthly rise, with the price of an average set breaking back through $2,000 for the first time since October 2006. The Index gained 8.7% in February with all categories rising as the old products made way for the new 2008 product lines. The largest increases came in Drivers (+15.7%), Balls (+15.4%), Trolleys (+12%), Shoes (+9.1%) and Irons (+8.5%).

Drivers increased thanks to the introduction of new 2008 models from Adams and Nike. Shoes and Balls increased as the old ranges made way for the new, with over 30 models dropping out of the USA Index. Trolleys continued their rollercoaster ride thanks to a few of the cheaper trolleys coming out and the new ClicGear trolley reaching the market. Finally, Irons, Shoes and Balls increased as older models were replaced by new 2008 versions.

Whilst the overall trend in February was up, both Indexes benefited from a change of ranges as has been explained. However this illustrates the philosophy of the Golfalot Price Index, to track the prices of what the keen golfer wants, namely the latest golf gear on the market. Hopefully this upward trend will continue in the months to come, despite the wider economic gloom.

The Golfalot Price Index in the UK held firm in January with a very minor fall of 0.02% over the month, but this did hide a few big moves in both directions. On the increase this month was Fairway Woods (1.2%), Irons (1.9%) and Shoes (2.2%). Shoes increased the most thanks to an overall increase in price for the Bite range. The rise in the Fairway Woods was mainly due to 2 new models from TaylorMade and Irons rose following the introduction of the new Callaway Big Bertha 08 irons.

The big UK fallers in January were Utility Clubs (-3.6%), Putters (-2.5%), Balls (-2.2), Bags (-2.4%) and Drivers (1.1%). Utility clubs were the biggest fallers as some of the older more expensive Adams clubs left the market. In Putters, the main influence was the price reduction of several Scotty Cameron models, whereas in the Bags and Balls category the falls were more general.

The USA Golfalot Price Index also registered a very slight drop in January of -0.40%. Again, this did hide a few big changes. Drivers increase by 4.3% with the introduction of the Callaway Hyper X woods and Wedges went up 4.1% thanks to the new Callaway X Forged clubs.

On the downside, Trolleys fell by 3% due to the lower priced Bag Boy SC-250 trolley coming back in the market. Bags went down 2.3% as a couple of the more expensive Titleist Staff bags feel out of the Index. The other main categories to fall were Balls (-1.62%) and Fairway Woods (-1.6%).

Overall the markets on both sides of the pond held firm in what is traditionally a month of retail sales and we hope the recent stock market turbulence does not impact on the index in future months.