Before I ever set foot on a golf course, I made my own clubs out of boundary wire. I was a kid growing up at Chikurubi Police Camp in Harare, Zimbabwe. My father was a policeman. There was no golf course nearby, no equipment to borrow, and absolutely no reason a boy from a police camp should have been fascinated by a sport played in blazers on immaculate fairways. But I was.
I'd watch golf on television — the silence before a shot, the precision, the drama — and I wanted to feel what that was like. So I improvised. I bent boundary wire into club shapes. I used the ball from a deodorant roll-on as a golf ball. The scrubland at the back of the camp was my course. That was my introduction to the game — long before I ever held a real club.
There was a policeman at the camp named Mr Mandaza — a professional golfer — and we used to stop whatever we were doing whenever he was hitting balls. We'd just watch. There was also Nick Price, Zimbabwe's greatest golfer, who was all over the news in the early 1990s when I was in high school, winning majors and carrying Zimbabwe's name to the biggest stages in sport. For a young boy from Harare, that mattered. It made the game feel like something that could be mine one day.
The Gucci visor years. 2004 — the same cap worn on that first round at Stockwood Park.
September 2004 — The Round That Started Everything
I came to the UK in 2002. In my third year here, everything changed on a sunny Sunday morning in Luton.
My father-in-law George — Sekuru, as we call him in our family — suggested we go out for a round at Stockwood Park Golf Course. My brother-in-law Mutsa was visiting from South Africa. Sekuru had a set of clubs but played only occasionally. None of us were golfers in any serious sense. We were just three men on a sunny afternoon, going to see what this game was actually about up close.
Stockwood Park sits in 120 acres of established parkland just minutes from Luton town centre — an 18-hole par 69 course with tree-lined fairways, good greens, and a layout designed to test accuracy without being cruel to beginners. For a first round of golf, there are worse places to start.
Here was a Black man at the top of a sport that had always looked a certain way. As a 25-year-old Black African man new to the UK, seeing that wasn't just inspiring. It was permission.
— Jabunong, on watching Tiger Woods · September 2004I had been watching Tiger Woods for a few years by this point. He was at the absolute peak of his powers — the most dominant athlete in any sport, rewriting what golf looked like and who it belonged to. It was a sign that the game I'd been fascinated by since I was bending wire in Zimbabwe had a place for someone like me.
I missed nearly every tee shot that day. Shanked it, duffed it, topped it, sent it sideways. I made a complete mess of myself across 18 holes. I left the course completely and utterly hooked. Not on the success — I'd had none of that. On the challenge.
On the green. The smile of someone who has no idea he's just signed up for the next twenty-two years.
The Rule I Made Myself
I went home and did what any sensible person does when they discover a new obsession — I went on eBay and bought a starter pack of clubs.
I can't recall the brand now, but I remember exactly the rule I set myself when those clubs arrived: I would not set foot on the main course until I could make clean contact with the ball.
That meant three months of nothing but the driving range and the par-3 course at Stockwood Park. Not 18 holes. Not even 9. Just the range and the short course, over and over, until I could feel what proper club-to-ball contact was meant to feel like. The first time I hit a shot cleanly — that crisp, connected strike that you can feel through your hands before you even look up — I understood why people spent their whole lives chasing this game.
Building the MacGregor Set — Six Months, One Club at a Time
As I started playing on the main course, something shifted in me. I didn't just want to play golf. I wanted to look like I played golf. I wanted the proper kit, the right bag, the clubs that said I took this seriously.
I fell in love with MacGregor clubs. I couldn't afford to buy a full set in one go — so I built it piece by piece, the way you build anything when budget is the constraint. First the MacGregor V-Foil irons and wedges. Then the MacGregor Tour Staff bag — green and white, and I was enormously proud of it. Then the driver and fairway woods. And finally, the putter to complete the set.
Six months from that first purchase to a complete bag. Every club chosen deliberately, every addition felt like progress. When the set was finally complete, I had something that was entirely mine — built slowly, paid for properly, and carrying the weight of everything I'd taught myself.
The 2005 Masters — When Tiger Changed Everything Again
In April 2005, I watched Tiger Woods win the Masters in a playoff. His chip-in on the 16th hole — the ball rolling toward the cup, hanging on the lip for what felt like forever before dropping — is one of those sporting moments you remember exactly where you were when you saw it.
Tiger played Nike. And from that point forward, so did I. This wasn't a casual preference. This was a commitment. I switched my clothing, my footwear, everything Nike. I still can't bring myself to wear Adidas to this day — not trainers, not clothing. The brand loyalty Tiger inspired in me runs that deep.
Years on from Stockwood. The Nike years in full swing — and the Nike VR Driver, the best club I ever owned.
My strategy for building the Nike set was the same as the MacGregor — one club at a time, built slowly. But this time with a rule: I wouldn't use the set on the course until every club had been bought. The full set had to be complete before it played a single round. I gave myself a year.
By 2008, the set was complete. I played that Nike bag until 2022. Fourteen years. The only dark chapter: the Nike VR Driver was stolen a few years after I bought it. The best driver I ever hit. I never found one that felt quite the same again.
The Current Bag — The One I Actually Adore
The set I play now is the best I've owned since the Nike VR. Built the same way I've built every set — starting with the bag, adding one piece at a time, using it only when it was complete.
- Bag — TaylorMade Tour StaffThe foundation. The statement of intent.
- Driver — TaylorMade M6Brilliant on its day. Still working on our relationship.
- 3-Wood — TaylorMade M6 / 5-Wood — TaylorMade M5Both trusted. The 3-wood off the tee when the driver misbehaves has saved more rounds than I can count.
- Hybrid — TaylorMade M6 3-HybridThe best addition to any bag I've made. Versatile from more lies than I expected.
- Irons — TaylorMade P770 (4-iron to PW)The heart of the set. A players' iron — when you strike them well, the reward is genuine. These irons made me work harder on ball striking.
- Wedges — MG3 50°, 52°, 54°, 56°, 58°, 60°Six wedges. The short game is where rounds are made or lost for the 10+ handicapper. I play 3 at a time — either 50°/54°/58° or 52°/56°/60°.
- Putter — TaylorMade Spider X7 TourStable, consistent. Gives you genuine confidence from 10 feet.
- Ball — TaylorMade Tour ResponseTour-level performance without wincing when you find water.
The Trolley — Walking is Non-Negotiable
I bought a Stewart Golf Q-Follow trolley — a remote-controlled electric trolley that follows you around the course automatically. I am not a fan of buggies. Most of us who play golf in the 10+ handicap bracket spend our working weeks sitting in front of a screen. Walking is part of the game for me — not an optional extra. The Q-Follow is currently out of action with battery issues, so I'm using a PowerKaddy push trolley. It does the job. But I miss the Q-Follow.
After Every Round — The Ritual
When I get home from a round, I clean every single club in the bag. Every iron, every wedge, the woods, the putter — all of it. The grooves, the face, the hosel. My clubs don't live in the garage. They have a place in the living room. Some people find that excessive. For me it's just respect for equipment that cost a lot, took time to build, and that I genuinely care about.
What I'd Tell Someone Starting Out Today
- You don't need the latest driver. For the golfer who plays 15–20 rounds a year, a new driver requires range time to bed in and the gains are rarely as dramatic as the marketing suggests.
- Start with used or budget clubs. Don't spend £500 on a set before you know whether you'll stick at it. Save the investment for when the game has you.
- Build your dream set over time. When new clubs are released, last year's models drop in price. Buying last year's iron set at a discount is smarter than this year's model at full price.
- Get custom-fitted when you're ready. Once you understand your own swing tendencies, get fitted properly. The right shaft flex and lie angle makes more difference than the brand name.
- Buy a good putter and keep it. More shots are taken inside 100 yards than anywhere else. More rounds are lost on the green than on the tee. If you find a putter that works, don't change it.
Where It All Began
I went back to Stockwood Park recently to walk the course and remember where it all started. The same parkland, the same tree-lined fairways, the same welcoming public course that let a 25-year-old with borrowed enthusiasm and no idea what he was doing come and play.
I didn't make great contact on that first round in September 2004. I shanked it, topped it, missed it entirely more than once. But I left the course knowing I'd be back. Twenty-two years later, I'm still back. The boundary wire club from Chikurubi Police Camp is a long way behind me. The P770s are in the living room, cleaned and ready.
And the game still has me completely.
