Golf Digest's Chief Technical Advisor shares his advice for helping you choose the best gear for your game

Advanced: The entire cornucopia of golf equipment is at your doorstep, but even for you I'd still lean toward clubs that offer forgiveness. Still, you are on the verge of being able to play irons that mix perimeter weighting with a more traditional-looking blade design. Don't make the switch, however, unless you believe you are being held back by your current equipment.

*2 KNOW WHAT YOU NEED

A set of three woods and eight irons has been the standard configuration. Not anymore. Assuming you are past the beginning stage of the game, get yourself custom-fit for irons. The fitting procedure may tell you things about your game you didn't know. Like maybe you're playing the wrong shaft. Most average golfers swing clubs with shafts too stiff, and they are continually fighting the club, trying to produce that one shot out of 20 in which everything comes together. How do you know the shaft is too stiff? If you can't feel where the clubhead is during the swing, this may be one consequence, but again, it's what feels right to you. You want to feel in control of the clubhead. Regardless of how good you think you are, I recommend you take a pass on the X-Flex shaft and the 1- and 2-iron. If you put more higher-lofted woods in your bag, you'll likely improve your score without changing your swing.

*3 BIGGER IS BETTER--SOMETIMES

There's a reason the drivers you see in magazines are the size of a genetically mutated grapefruit. Supersize often means a greater moment of inertia. (That's just a fancy phrase meaning big head makes up for bad swing.) Bigger also means the driver likely will be made of titanium and have the springlike effect that provides better transfer of energy from the clubhead to the ball (resulting in more distance). There is a point of diminishing returns, however. Once you get much beyond 450 cubic centimeters (more than twice the size of Callaway's original Big Bertha), the head gets too cumbersome, and any increased distance might only land you farther into the woods. Be leery of the length of your driver's shaft, too. The best players in the world, who can have any length shaft they want, have settled on 44 or 44.5 inches (Tiger has even gone down to 43 inches). Your typical off-the-rack titanium driver has a 45-inch shaft. My advice: Go for a shorter shaft. There will not be any significant loss of distance, and your accuracy will improve.

*4 CONSIDER PRICE WHEN PICKING A BALL

News flash: The average player will not lose anything by playing the best, most expensive tour balls on the market. But the average player likely won't notice any difference in performance using the less expensive models, either. My shopping rule for balls is a simple one: If someone is buying the balls for you, go for the gold standard. If you're buying them yourself, be thrifty. Remember: Most balls today are better than the golfers who choose to use them.

*5 GET ON A LAUNCH MONITOR

Science now tells us the best launch conditions for a driver at 110 miles per hour are 12 to 13 degrees above horizontal with a spin rate of 2,500 to 3,000 revolutions per minute. Slower swing speeds require higher launch angles and more spin. Science also has managed to develop computer launch monitors that can evaluate this information from your swing. (See www.golfdigest.com or your favorite club manufacturer's website for information about where you can find a launch monitor.) Regardless of swing speed, to optimize your potential for distance, you should try to produce a ball speed about 1 11/42 times your swing speed. If the launch monitor shows you're not doing that, you need to change your driver, your swing or both.