2012 Holiday Gift Guide

Colorado Avid Golfer

Big- and Small-Ticket Items for the Golfers on Your List

Tend the Flag
Price: $25

<<<Image 1>>>

Intrigued by her booth selling homemade granola and crocheted hats featuring the familiar red and gold “C” of the Colorado state flag, a golfer at a farmer’s market approached Fay Plaza about making a head cover using the same vexillogical pattern. Plaza quickly whipped up a stylish way to show state pride every time you play golf. $25, plus shipping and handling.
oldemangranola.com

 

Pair of Jacks
Price: $25

<<<Image 2>>>

Jack Nicklaus would not have won a record 18 major championships—and most certainly not the 1986 Masters—without Jack Grout, his “first and only” instructor. More than just the club pro at Scioto, where he met the 10-year-old Nicklaus in 1950, Grout was a four-time PGA Tour winner, frequent playing partner of Byron Nelson’s and Ben Hogan’s, and a highly innovative golf instructor. In Jack Grout: A Legacy in Golf, his son Dick Grout teams with newspaperman Bill Winter to tell the compelling story of a family man whose indefatigable devotion to his the game left an indelible mark on it.
cardinalpub.com

 

“Hey, ‘Sprinklerhead'”
Price: $350

<<<Image 3>>>

Your playing partners might give you a new nickname if you wear this innovative GPS golf watch preloaded with thousands of courses. The Garmin Approach S3 features a high-resolution, glove-friendly touchscreen display, lets you adjust to the day’s pin location and provides distances to the front, back and middle of greens, as well as to doglegs, layups and hazards. It will tell you the distance of your drive and—get this—the time of day! $350.
garmin.com

 

Teed Up
Price: $20

<<<Image  4>>>

These shirts probably say more about your golf game than the actual brands they parody do. Created by Bogey Pro—home of “honest golf gear”—they won’t cut it as appropriate golf attire, but they might cut up your friends when worn anywhere other than a golf course. $20.
bogeypro.com

 

Off the Wall
Price: $70-$80

<<<Image 5>>>

Golf balls commemorating the different courses we’ve played make for lovely displays on a mancave wall. Why not free that space for some real art and bring your collection to your fingertips? Golf Gallery Pro’s rotating desk display holds 12 to 16 balls, comes in a variety of colors and bamboos, and can be personally engraved. $70 (12-ball display), $80 (16).
golfgallerypro.com

 

Flight Club
Price: $100,000

<<<Image 6>>>

Some of the greatest golf courses are also the most remote—Bandon Dunes, Ballybunion, Ballyneal (and those are just the ones beginning with “B”). But a private jet brings them much closer. Flexjet, a division of aircraft manufacturer Bombardier, makes private flight relatively more affordable by offering programs that allow travelers to purchase flights in 50-hour increments on aircraft that suits their needs. Aircraft options include light jets like the six-passenger Learjet 40 XR, large jets like the 12-passenger Challenger 605 and the new eight-passenger Lear 85, the largest in the Learjet lineup and the first business jet built primary from composite materials. 50 hours start at $100,000.
Flexjet.com or 888-275-8204

 

Putt For Dough
Price: $650-$1,750

<<<Image 7>>>

A putt can be worth a small fortune. So can a putter created by Lee Thomas. Handcrafted from the woods from around the world (including tulip poplars Thomas Jefferson planted at Monticello), Thomas’ flatsticks are highly functional, individual creations, each customized by wood, weight, inset, grip, engraving, logo and more. It takes him up to six weeks and more than 100 steps (including wood stabilization) to complete one. You might stand over your putt that long admiring the artistry. $650-$1,750
leethomasputters.com

 

Tome Sweet Tome
Price: $199

<<<Image 8>>>

Images of golf’s ancestral homeland never cease to quicken the pulse. Hence, 18 Greatest Scottish Golf Holes and 18 Greatest Irish Golf Holes, a pair of oversized, luxuriously bound limited editions featuring exclusive photography and illustrations from the world’s foremost links, all of which are also available singly as large format, hand-numbered limited edition framed prints. The books run $199 apiece. Visit 18GreatestGolf.com and enter the promo code TEN for a 10% discount, free shipping and giftwrap.
18GreatestGolf.com

 

Rolls Call
Price: $400,000

<<<Image 9>>>

Technologies have evolved. Lines have simplified. Rides have smoothed. Still, Rolls-Royce has maintained its timeless proportions and attention to detail. Inspired by 1930s automotive and yachting designs, the new Phantom luxuriously cocoons its occupants. At your toes rests a lusciously supple lamb’s wool carpet, at your fingertips a state-of the-art “infotainment” system with 8.8-inch display, and above your head enough space to accommodate the tallest passengers—and biggest egos. Custom, seamless veneers, hand-stitched leathers and a V12 engine factor into the MSRP, which starts around $400,000. Available in sedan, coupé and convertible coupé models.
Rolls-roycemotorcars.com

 

Drive a Ferrari
Price: $2,000

<<<image 10>>>

Famous for its Testarossa (Italian for “redhead”) sport coupe, Ferrari has teamed up with Cobra Puma to create the ultimate lightweight, aerodynamic driver with a Ti 8-1-1 body in signature red. Featuring a kangaroo leather grip, regular or stiff Fujikura Motore Speeder shaft and a carbon fiber sole and crown, the stunning driver comes in 9.5˚ and 10.5˚ lofts. Ian Poulter plays one. So can you. Unsheathed from its genuine Ferrari leather head cover, it will generate comments on the tee and drives that go from 0 to 300 in five seconds or less. $2,000.
ferrarigolfcollection.com

 

If the Shoe Fits
Price: $750-$5,000

<<<Image 11>>>

The golf swing has a lot of moving parts; your feet shouldn’t be two of them. Famous for their exotic, colorful leathers and the pro and celebrity golfers who wear them, Par West Golf Shoes fit as snugly as skin, creating the balance and stability that promote a consistent golf swing. Owner Paul Raddatz, a master tanner and cobbler, guarantees a perfect fit, thanks to an exacting measurement process using foam molds that create a precise impression of each foot. Using skins such as alligator, bison, calfskin, caiman, lizard, ostrich and eel, Raddatz crafts elegant variations on classic wingtips and saddles, as well as his distinctive Normandy, Stewart (as in Payne) and Riviera styles. His palette ranges from shades of black, white and brown to rust, royal blue and jade. Depending on the skin and color selected, the shoes can cost anywhere from $750 to $5,000, but the quality (they last for 20 years) and functionality make them a stable investment.
parwestshoes.com or 800-PAR WEST