Iain Carter – Bag Tag

The latest player to sign-up to have their Bag Tagged is BBC Radio 5 Live golf correspondent Iain Carter!

Iain has been golf playing since he was 11 years old where he first played with his dad at Cosby Golf Club in Leicester. He now plays at the lovely Hampton Court Palace Golf Club in Kingston-upon-Thames.

Iain has spent his entire working life as sports reporter covering some of world’s finest events in Tennis, Rugby, F1 and of course, golf. Since joining the BBC in 1988, he’s moved through the ranks and now has what he describes as his dream job, succeeding Tony Adamson as BBC Radio golf correspondent.

On top of writing one of the UK’s top golf blogs, Iains dream job includes travelling around the globe to cover the world’s finest golfers which he loves. Iain says “Golf is truly exciting in every aspect and is heading for a great renaissance at the moment. There’s some truly fantastic teenage talents out there at the moment like Ryo Ishikawa, Rory McIlroy and Danny Lee and that’s leading us to what is probably the most eagerly awaited Masters ever.”

Who does Iain pick to win the masters? “Probably Woods but if Harrington can cope with the hype around winning three-in-a-row then I think he could do it, Augusta suits his game perfectly. I’m also fascinated to see how McIlroy will fare-up as I think he’s an awesome talent.”

So then Iain, down to the important stuff. What’s in your bag?

What bag do you use?

I use the lightest imaginable pencil bag from Titleist as I always carry my clubs rather than pull a trolley.

What clubs are in there?

TaylorMade R7 CGB 10.5 degree driver
TaylorMade 3 Wood
Callaway Big Bertha Steel Head 5 Wood
TaylorMade 19 degree rescue club
Wilson Deep Red Tour Irons
Cleveland 56 degree wedge
GEL Topaz Putter

I have lighter, shorter shaft on my new GEL putter which I love. I used to have a pink ladies putter which as you can imagine, resulted in me getting loads of stick wherever I went. It worked out fine in the end though as my wife said that she’d have it!

What else is in your bag?

I’ve got loads of different makes of golf balls, tees, pitch forks, markers, water, a woolly hat, cereal bar and I squeeze my waterproofs in there too. I always carry a banana and apple with me too which I try to remember to take out if I don’t eat it. It can get quite messy if don’t!

What’s the most important piece of kit in the bag that’s not a club, ball, glove or towel?

A pitch fork is probably the most important thing in my bag. No proper golfer should be without one. I’ve got hundreds in there actually!

Do you carry a lucky charm?

Golf Voodoo Kit No I don’t carry a lucky charm as I’m not really superstitious. I once received a golf voodoo doll for Christmas though which my young son took great delight in sticking pins into!

Come to think of it, I got to the final round of the club knockout championship that week so perhaps I should put some faith in lucky charms, or voodoo! My results have definitely deteriorated since my son has stopped playing with the doll!

What’s the oldest thing in your golf bag?

My old Callaway Big Bertha 5 wood steel head is definitely the oldest thing in there. It’s the only wood that I’ve never lost the head cover for.

Which is your favourite club?

My favourite club would have to be my driver. It’s not the brand I like particularly, it’s just that it’s the most consistent club in my bag, the one that inspires the most confidence.

Great stuff, I might have to get one of those voodoo golf dolls for the office, I might win some more matches! Well, being the nice people that we are, we promised we’d give £100 to Comic Relief to find out what’s in Iain’s bag and quite frankly, we think it was worth it…so here’s the proof.