Are Golf Balls that initialed a good holiday gift?

[babyrose20]

Hi All,

I am looking to buy a gift for my boss who is young and a golfer. Is a golf ball set that is initial a good gift?

 

Thanks,

Alin

[HardcoreLooper]

Hi there, and welcome to the forum.  From the sound of your question, I'm guessing you're not a golfer.  No problem there.

The problem with golfers is that they're very picky about the golf balls they play.  Not just the brand, but the model as well.  Your boss could be someone who plays the Pro V1, and you might spend well over $50 for a dozen Pro V1X balls and give him the wrong balls.  So it's a dicey proposition.

If you really want to buy your boss personalized balls, check with other golfers in the office to see if they know what brand/model the boss plays.  And then check out golfballs.com, several of us here have had very good experiences with them.

Good luck!

[MNUte]

I'd generally say no, because golf balls are really dependent on the person. I'm someone who loses at least one ball a round. As a result, I play cheaper balls to remove that stress, whereas I'd feel stressed and guilty losing a ball that was a gift. Then again, a better player who doesn't lose balls often might not lose as many balls, but may be set in their ball preference (e.g. pro V1s as opposed to a different tour ball).

 

In contrast, an initialed or personalized golf towel, divot tool or ball marker have a bit more permanence associated with them.  Here's also a really good list of gift ideas for golfers that go from cheap ($15) to expensive. 

 

https://www.groovyguygifts.com/blogs/news/personalized-gifts-golf-lovers

[Kenny B]

I was at an awards banquet after a tournament when the emcee handing out prizes said over the microphone, "I have this ProV1 with initials CL on it.  Does anyone know who's it is?"  A lady jumped up and said:  "That's my husband's ball."  The emcee then said, "The police found it in the street adjacent to hole #7."  (True story, and it is a 4-lane street!!)

So, no I wouldn't want initialed balls as a present.

[Alf. S]

I agree with @HardcoreLooper.

One other point anything that you see Novelty before the word golf stay away from it. It is usually poor quality accessories that golfers will never use.

[HardcoreLooper]

I can't speak for the other folks on this forum, but a really big, really nice golf towel is a great gift and shows me that "you know I'm a golfer."  It's also much less expensive than a dozen personalized tour-quality golf balls. 

I carry this one:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WQ6604G/

Protip - black does not show dirt nearly as bad as white.  And if there's any black trim on your golf bag, it looks good.

[Larryd3]

another golf towel suggestion that I'd like personally would be a frogger golf towel.  https://www.froggergolf.com/products/amphibian-towel/?attribute_pa_color=blue&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyPfFzbqH7QIVMPLjBx37VwRhEAQYAyABEgL2hvD_BwE

As others have noted, stay away from golf balls unless you can find out for sure what type and model balls he plays.  Guess you could give him $50 gift card to one of the big golf shops and he could buy the golf balls of his choosing.  

[GregGarner]

I'll offer a counterpoint on this, with a slight modification -- if you buy someone just a single sleeve with their initials, they're more likely to see it as the gesture than more gear to play with. For example, I attended a leadership training and afterwards, the coordinators saw my Instagram and sent me a sleeve of balls (who even knows what kind...) but it had their logo on it and I thought that was just a great way to say, "I see you." I'm definitely not going to play them, but I still appreciated it as a gift.

But again, sleeve, not dozen

Another thing that makes a good gift is getting something with their favorite team (football, baseball, college) logo. This is especially easy to do with things like towels (as was mentioned), ball markers, divot repair tools, etc.

[Chip Strokes]

personalized divot tools, towels, and even tees are all great choices as has been said above

i’ll offer a slightly different perspective:

we have no idea how avid a golfer this person’s boss is. there are a lot of people (obviously not on this forum) who don’t really care what they tee up, and would be happy to get a dozen of any quality ball with their initials. 

if he’s a casual weekend golfer i don’t think you can go wrong with a dozen personalized balls. i just hope his name isn’t Adam Samuel Smith

[Chip Strokes]

11 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

 

I carry this one:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WQ6604G/

thank you for posting this!! i forgot my towel one day and picked one up at the pro shop before my round. 

it’s this towel but it’s pinkish red? and emblazoned with the club logo from the course. it’s very ugly but it’s a GREAT towel so i can’t yank it off my bag even though i hate looking at it  

just ordered myself two in black. 

[SlowNLow]

23 hours ago, Chip Strokes said:

personalized divot tools, towels, and even tees are all great choices as has been said above

i’ll offer a slightly different perspective:

we have no idea how avid a golfer this person’s boss is. there are a lot of people (obviously not on this forum) who don’t really care what they tee up, and would be happy to get a dozen of any quality ball with their initials. 

if he’s a casual weekend golfer i don’t think you can go wrong with a dozen personalized balls. i just hope his name isn’t Adam Samuel Smith

That's my boss' name.  Well, one of them anyway.

[HardcoreLooper]

On 11/16/2020 at 7:59 PM, Chip Strokes said:

thank you for posting this!! i forgot my towel one day and picked one up at the pro shop before my round. 

it’s this towel but it’s pinkish red? and emblazoned with the club logo from the course. it’s very ugly but it’s a GREAT towel so i can’t yank it off my bag even though i hate looking at it  

just ordered myself two in black. 

You will be quite happy with the black.  No more white towels for me

[Kenny B]

On 11/16/2020 at 5:33 AM, HardcoreLooper said:

I can't speak for the other folks on this forum, but a really big, really nice golf towel is a great gift and shows me that "you know I'm a golfer."  It's also much less expensive than a dozen personalized tour-quality golf balls. 

I carry this one:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WQ6604G/

Protip - black does not show dirt nearly as bad as white.  And if there's any black trim on your golf bag, it looks good.

I hadn't seen these before.  Nice looking.  I'm putting it on my Christmas list.