It seems hard to believe but the Masters is only five weeks away. Where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday the 2016-17 season was concluding, one which may have been one of the most important in years because of the shift of new players vying for top spot in the Professional Golf Association World Golf Ranking.

Whether you're on the front nine or the full 18, your golf ball makes a difference. If you're at the range, you can always use cheap golf balls or used golf balls by the bucketful, but if you’re still managing to hook, upgrade your ball.

If 2017 told us anything about the world of golf, it was that pro golfers can get just as wild and crazy as basketball players. Check out five of the wildest (and most serious) golf trends expected to change up the game in 2018.

Titleist Pro V1 Golf Balls: What Are They Made of? When golfers choose their golf equipment, they are focused on results. They are impressed by cutting-edge technology only if it cuts a few strokes from their game. That's why so many of these sportsmen and women have chosen Titleist golf balls over the years. The company has never been satisfied with the status quo so they continually develop new technology to improve their products, even those that are already popular.

Golfers, particularly the elite ones on the professional tour, are finicky about their equipment, including balls, so it’s always interesting when one of them decides to switch brands. The most recent example is Sergio Garcia, the spectacular Spaniard who last year won the Masters. It officially ended the albatross he carried around as the best player on the PGA Tour not to win a Major. It also was a year in which he married. But for more than just his historic win and his marriage, Garcia made news in October, 2017 when it was announced he was ending a 15-year partnership with manufacturer TaylorMade in what was to become a move to Callaway early in 2018.

If you are looking to buy a gift for a golfer that just might make an improvement in his or her game, I recommend the TaylorMade TP5 and TP5x ball. TaylorMade introduced both balls to the market in 2017, essentially to compete with the Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x, and the manufacturer had instant success with both if you take into account the men’s PGA Tour and the current world rankings.

When Tiger Woods announced recently he was planning to make his latest comeback, I wondered if the golf world and, to an even greater extent, the sports world cared. This will be the second time Woods tries to launch his return to the game through the Hero World Challenge, Nov. 30-Dec. 3, at Albany, Bahamas.

Bobby Charlton loves golf, in particular playing and collecting balls. The 68-year-old retired resident of Collingwood, Ontario, Canada has been playing recreationally for 30 years. He plays about 75 times a year at various courses in North America, has an eight handicap and usually hits the ball straight.

Image Credit: ew.com Read it, roll it and hole it. Those are the simple words from a caddy to a golfer in my favorite golf movie, The Greatest Game Ever Played. There have been numerous movies that Hollywood has created with golf as the theme, some based on actual events, others totally fictional. The fictional ones probably resonate more – Caddyshack, Happy Gilmore, Tin Cup – if only because they are funny, if not totally outrageous. You don’t have to be a golfer or someone who follows golf to like them.