Skip the Pinnacles and Top Flites: A Golf Gift Guide So You Don't Mess It Up This Year.

You!

Yes, you.

Put down the box of 18 yellow Pinnacles and back away slowly. Don’t you even think about reaching for those irons covers.

If you’re reading this, you have a golfer in your life who wants some golf stuff this holiday season; here’s a quick and dirty gift guide of things that I’ve purchased in the past and loved or have ogled enough on the internet or fondled in a PGA Superstore to know that they’re worth buying.

For the Clothes Horse

Greyson Clothiers - If you think “clothiers” is a fancy word and that the clothes will be expensive, you are correct. However, if you have a fancy, well dressed golfer in your life, you’re sure to find one splurge-worthy item. My wife brought home some Greyson gear following a round of golf with clients, and I really liked it. Everything is understated and the wolf logo is pretty bad-ass.

Johnnie O - One of my favorite golf shirts is a Johnnie O shirt. They make a ton of great stuff across the board. A bunch of it can be worn on or off the golf course, and the surfer logo is another solid one that isn’t slapped all over their stuff.

B Draddy - Another solid lifestyle clothing company. Their cotton shirts are phenomenal and comfortable.

For the Golf Purist

Jones Golf Bags - My wife bought me a Jones carry bag for my birthday last year. I love it so much that my stand bag didn’t see a lot of the courses I played this summer and fall. They make a bunch of different styles and have some cool designs. Be sure to peruse the rest of their site, too. They make an awesome shag bag cooler that holds six beers OR a bunch of golf balls for the practice nut in your house.

For the Range Rat

Superspeed Golf - Full disclosure, I don’t own these, but the only reason is because I don’t have the space to actually use them properly on a regular basis. These are made to help increase swing speed. So put some speed in your beloved golfer’s stocking and get ready to listen to stories in the spring about outdriving everyone in the foursome.

Tour Striker Ball - I do own this. It’s a great practice tool and is small enough that it can live in a golf bag when it’s deflated.

PuttOUT Pressure Putt Trainer - I used to have a practice putting green and it spent so much time curled up in my closet that when I did pull it out, it had more breaks than a green at Augusta National. I ditched it and bought PuttOUT trainer. It’s tiny and folds up to the size of a book. It can also live in the golf bag. I use it on the carpet and it’s superb.

Bubba Whips - These are some classy AF alignment sticks made out of hickory. Sure, you could go down to Home Depot and buy a few reflector rods, but what fun is that?

Online Lessons - It’s pretty amazing how easy it is to send in a video of your swing to a professional and receive feedback within the week. Potters Putting is one great option and he’s always posting deals for putting lessons on his IG account. Skillest is an excellent app to check out, too. A gift card to the app would be a great gift!

Simulator Rental - If you don’t feel like being a real hero this holiday season and buying an in-home simulator, do some research in your area for a local joint that has an indoor swing simulator.

For the Reader (support a local bookstore)

A subscription to Golfer’s Journal - Golfer’s Journal is an outstanding quarterly golf magazine (they like to call it a book, which is a fair description, too). The subscription provides discounts in their shop and full access to all the past editions of the magazine (Number 14 is coming this month). A premium subscription also snags you $100 to Linksoul twice a year ($50 bucks for an annual or digital member).

A Course Called Ireland by Tom Coyne - We’re not too far from traveling again, but you can certainly help the golfer in your life scratch the itch with A Course Called Ireland. Coyne circumnavigates the entire island, playing every seaside course in Ireland. No car, just his feet and the clubs on his back. You could really impress you reader with a pre-order of A Course Called America.

Range Bucket List by James Dodson - Dodson stumbles across a list of golf goals he wrote as a 13 year-old. He decides he needs to check off the remaining items and tell some stories about the items he managed to complete in his incredible career as a golf writer.

The Match by Mark Frost - Any golfer worth his salt knows original Match was played in 1956 at Cypress Point. It was organized by two millionaires and involved two of the best amateurs in the world, Harvey Ward and Ken Venturi, facing off against two of the greatest professionals, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, at Cypress Point.

For the Gear Head

GPS Watch - A GPS watch is one of the best purchases I’ve made in the last three years. I prefer it to a range finder because it allows me to think about my shot as I’m approaching my ball because I can start to figure out my yardage. It gives me distances to the front, back, and middle of a green and also to hazards (although I don’t always trust it). I also think it speeds up pace of play.

Arccos - This is another great purchase I made a few years back. Arccos tracks your shots using bluetooth on your phone. You put a little tracker on the top of each club. They register each shot as you play your round, so you really start to see how far you hit each club and see where you need to improve. For example, it will track where you miss each fairway and green, and the latest updates have strokes gained and it gives you a handicap for driving, approach, chipping, sand shots, and putting. Putting it probably the least accurate, but I really like it. The app can also be a GPS tracked and you can download any course on it.

Club Champion Fitting - I visited Club Champion about four years ago and purchased new irons and a driver. It was a great experience and they have locations everywhere. Ignore the Jordan Spieth endorsement… If there’s no Club Champion near you, any good club fitter will do.

For the Lover of the Small Shop

No Laying Up - No Laying up is five buddies basically living the dream. If you’d like to support original golf content, pick up a towel or hoodie. If you KNOW your golfer loves No Laying Up, get them a membership to The Nest.

Monday Q Info - A single guy tweeting about mini-tour golf. Ryan French is excellent and very nice. He came on my podcast a couple weeks back. Go buy a cool towel.

Be Good Golf Co. - These two guys, one from South Carolina and the other from Tennessee, are just getting started and have some cool stuff on their website. Support them!

Old Line Golf - Matt is a really great guy. He’s also been a guest on my pod, and if you’re a Maryland based golfer he has some great stuff that really leans into the whole Maryland flag thing they have going on down there. While you’re on his site, read some of this writing. He’s excellent.

The Buck Club - This is more of a tricky endeavor. Zac Blair, a PGA Tour player, runs this site. He does original designs and drops, if you follow his Instagram or The Buck Club’s IG. The silver putter cover in the the photo at the top of this post is his Boston design. It has all the banners from the Celtics, Bruins, Patriots, and Red Sox on it. Very cool and worth checking in over the next week for any new cool drops.

Other Stuff

Golf balls - Golf balls can be rather personal to every golfer. Don’t be shy to poke around a golfer’s bag to see if there happens to be any golf ball consistency. If there’s no real trend among the balls, Titleist is always a good bet. Pro-V1 or Pro-V1x are a touch of class and should never be turned down. The Titleist AVX and Tour Soft are also solid . However, Vice might pack more of a punch if you’d like to buy a few dozen balls. You can buy five dozen for the price of two dozen Titleists (100 bucks). I recommend the Pro or Pro soft. Again, if you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t buy golf balls. Some cool wooden tees from any of the small shops above would be way cooler.

Head Covers - Cayce golf is a Boston based company and they make some awesome head covers. Daphne is another great head cover company. I have a zebra (shoutout Middlesex) on my driver.

Golf Course Gift Card - If the golfer in your life doesn’t have a membership, pick a local course and buy a gift card. It helps the club in the winter season and gives your golfer an excuse to play a new course or revisit a favorite. There’s also packages you can buy for multiple courses if they’re own by a company.

I hope this might help you find the perfect gift for the golfer in your life, or for yourself. Whatever.

Keep the change, ya filthy animal…