Golf Club Rentals: Find One That Fits to a Tee

Test drives aren't only for automobiles.

Just ask Tony Jusick, 69, a retired university physics instructor who takes frequent spins with high-tech equipment without ever slipping behind the wheel.

At least twice a month, a FedEx truck pulls up to Jusick's doorstep in Deland, Fla., and unloads a package with the latest advance in the sport he loves. A square-backed driver. A mallet-headed putter. A rescue wood or a deep-grooved wedge.

Jusick makes the arrangements with a few clicks on his computer keyboard. Two to three days later, his golf clubs arrive, and Jusick lights out for the links.

"For a guy like me who's always toying around with new clubs, it's ideal," says Jusick, a 16-handicapper who plays and practices several times a week. "In a way, it's a very American thing. I want choice. And I want it now."

Testing golf equipment wasn't always so easy.

For years, Jusick traveled to golf club "demo days," often held in Orlando, a 45-minute car-ride from his home. A longtime staple of golf club marketing, demo days were dreamed up by manufacturers as a way to spread word about their newest lines.

The idea is simple: Set up shop at a local practice range, and let consumers come to them.

It sounds easy enough. But for tireless tinkerers like Jusick, demo days have several drawbacks. Their schedules and locations are often inconvenient. And the testing format is restricted -- how can you tell if you really like a club after just a few swings on a practice range?

"I'd always go to them," Jusick says, "but I'd ... walk away disappointed. The atmosphere was usually confusing, and the way they were run just wasn't useful for me."

Jusick's approach to club-testing changed a little more than a year ago, when he was surfing the Web and came across a site called GolfClubDemo.com. A subsidiary of ExchangeBlvd.com (EXBV Quote), GolfClubDemo improves on demo days by transporting them to the digital world.

Painless Trial

The only online service of its kind, the site has been described as "NetFlix (NFLX Quote) for golfers," and in many ways, the services are the same.