Last minute golf gifts for under $25

Christmas is nigh, but these gifts can help seal the deal

By Tony Dear

It was the week before Christmas and golf equipment stories were a bit thin on the ground.

News of the Great Golf Ball Rollback had come and gone a couple of weeks before leaving golfers across the country adjusting, at least mentally, to the new norm (which wouldn’t actually become reality for another six years).

The revelation that a big-box store had released a set or irons under its own label and that those irons sold out online in a matter of hours had bewildered many who were now wondering when they might be restocked and whether or not they could possibly live up to the hype. It was too soon for a review of the year in equipment, and too soon to look ahead to the new year and ponder what we might be talking about in Orlando in a few weeks’ time. For a month or more, Christmas gift guides had been helping golfers and non-golfers everywhere purchase that special something for a special someone, and most golf gift budgets would be used up by now.

We were tempted to talk about the TW ’13 shoe, introduced in November, ten years after it had first surfaced. Then the subsequent release of the Masters Edition shoe, which Nike clearly put out there hoping to stop all talk of Tiger Woods in FootJoy shoes. But the news, or speculation at least, that Woods and Nike would be going their separate ways after Woods’s intentionally vague answer – “I’m still wearing their product” – in response to a question about their rumored split had us thinking now might not be the time.

So here is a of list five items each costing $25 or less that you could walk into the PGA Tour Superstore in Westminster or Greenwood Village and pick up as a last-minute stocking filler. None of the following is likely to provoke the sort of hysterical, OTT response worth posting on an Instagram page, but the receiver will smile and nod in your direction, grateful for something he/she is most definitely going to need at some point soon.

Balls
A dozen is usual, but which balls come in dozen boxes for $25 or less? True, you’re unlikely to find a dozen Pro-V1s, Chrome Soft or TP5s at PGATour Superstore or anywhere else for $25, but two sleeves is doable or perhaps a less popular ball might  be suitable for someone who isn’t overly bothered about which brand or model they play. A dozen box of Titleist TruFeel is $25 as is the Bridgestone e6. And  a dozen Wilson DUO Soft will cost you $23.

Gloves
For $25 (well, $25.99), you can get a Titleist Players Glove made with ‘Tanned Ethiopian’ Cabretta Leather or, for $22, a two-pack of FootJoy’s popular all-weather model – the WeatherSof – likely the best-selling golf glove in the world. Callaway’s Tour Authentic, TaylorMade’s Tour Preferred, Nike’s Tour Classic IV, and Zero Friction’s Cabretta Elite are all under $25.

Tees
About 25 years ago my tee pocket was full. I’d never have to buy another one, surely. Indeed, I never did spend a single cent on tees until June, or was it July, when I desperately rummaged around my bag for anything that could suspend a ball off the ground and fortunately found a few where I least expected to. The subsequent $23 purchase of Precision Golf’s 400-pack of hardwood tees (I’ve always been a wood guy) should see me right into retirement and beyond.

Groove Brush
You never really know how effective groove brushes can be until you try one. And then, after wiping away months’ worth of debris and really digging down into those grooves and seeing your ball stop sharply on the green you wonder why on earth you’d never got one before. So you buy a really good one – the Groove It Brush for $24.99.

Gift Card
Duh!