Archive for the ‘Golfing’ tag

Promotional Christmas Gift – PGA Tour Golfing Gifts (part two of two)

Following on from part one of my article on PGA Tour golfing gifts, I would now like to introduce you to six more popular branded golf gifts.  Unlike a few of the products mentioned in part one, these can all be branded with your logo and details.  Golfing gifts are among the most popular promotional Christmas gifts.  If you have customers that golf, you will want to learn more about the spectacular gifts mentioned in the article. As before, all of the gifts come branded with the PGA Tour logo.

Mini Golf Game Set:  You have seen them on TV, now you can give your customers a logo printed desktop golf putting game for their offices.  The game is only 23.5cm x 10cm x 2cm so it will fit on most desktops.  OK, so it won’t improve their game but it is a nice way to pass the time when they are on the phone.  The set comes with a golf ball, mini club, putting green and a hole with a flag.

Executive Golf Putting Set:  This is the ultimate gift for those customers that just cannot get enough golf.  It features a collapsible putting club, a foldable putting green, two golf balls, and a target all supplied in an impressive leather carrying case.  This is the perfect gift for office and home.  It is worth noting that there are quite a few generic options on the market as well that are quite nice and less expensive.

Golf Ball Finder:  Next time your good customer is out on the course looking for his or her ball, they will love this gift, though it does not come cheap.  The ball finder has been designed to scout the environment looking for and find lost balls.

Water Bottle Full of Tees:  This attractive bidon holds 120 wooden tees.  There are a lot of tee sets available so if purchasing PGA Tour branded merchandise is not important to you, you might like to look around for less expensive options.

PGA Golf Towel:  This is a high quality towel but you will be paying a little more for the brand.  There are many goof quality golf towls on the  market that look great embroidered.  Although some towels can be printed, I would not recommend doing so as the print does not last and it does not look near as good as embroidery.

PGA Golf Counter:  A less expensive option to the golf watch mentioned in part one.  This device will keep score for up to four players.  It will allow your customers to concentrate on their game and not the score.

Promotional Christmas Gift – PGA Tour Golfing Gifts (part one)

Even if you are not a golfer, you will no doubt have heard the name PGA Tour.  PGA Tour have launched a new range of top quality promotional gifts that you may find of interest.  If you have customers that golf, you are bound to find the perfect Christmas gift for them here.  Following, I would like to introduce 7 fun gifts.  Some of the more expensive gift cannot be personalized but if personalization is a must, it could be done with a printed decal.  All of these golf products come branded with the PGA Tour logo which your customers will recognize and respect.

Laser Range Finder: With this nifty but quite expensive gadget, golfers will improve their game by knowing the exact distance from where they are to the flag.  This laser range finder provides exact information which your customers will find invaluable.  There is no minimum quantity and personalization is done by printed decal.  It is the perfect executive golfing gift for your most important customers.

PGA Tour Monocular:  For those that are put off by the hefty price tag of the laser golf range finder, you might be interested in the monocular.  Any golfer will tell you that knowing the distance to the flag is very important.  It helps you to decide which club to use.  The monocular provides distances from 50 to 300 yards/meters to the flag. This gift can be personalized with printed decal.

PGA Sunglasses:  These are a much more economical choice!  If you are on a budget, you can still give your customers good quality sunglasses that come supplied in a nave pouch with a karabiner.  There are several styles to choose from.

Golf Shoe Care Kit: There are several different styles, but they all provide a means to the same result: clean golf shoes.  Most sets include black and natural shoe polish, a buffing brush and a soft cleaning cloth and a shoe horn.  What a perfect gift to give your top clients after a day out on the course.

Golf Watch:  This midrange executive gift may prove difficult to get printed with your logo if your supplier does not offer in house printing but is can be done.  The PGA Tour golf watch features handicap, the golf score of the current game from hole one to 18.  The golf score record and handicap are calculated for you and the watch even stores the details for up to 20 players.  Of course, the golf watch also displays the time and has an alarm as would be expected of a watch.

Golf Multi Tool:  There are many golf multi tools on the market but branded tools tend to go down better.  The PGA Tour version has five functions.  There is a knife, a divot tool, a golf ball marker, a tee punch and the all important, never leave home without it, bottle opener.

Golf Gift Set:  You have probably seen a lot of golfing gift sets as they are one of the most popular golfing gifts on the market.  It is worth noting that there are some very nice generic sets but if brand name is important to you, PGA Tour’s features three balls, a golf towel, 18 tees, and a the five function multi tool described above.

A Brief History of Golfing

One of the most elegant and prolific games of this century, golf has a fascinating trail of history running behind. The word ”golf” is actually a modification of the Dutch word “kolf” which simply means a “bat,” “stick,” or “club”. If defined literally, the game is all about striking a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes while complying with the rules of the game. It is one of those rare games which do not require playing area; rather golf is played on golf “courses.” The competitions of golf are based on stroke play, where the individual or team posts with lowest score on the most individual for a full round, wins the game. Some other team games of golf such as fourball have been pioneered, and are played either using matchplay format or stroke. Several alternative styles of golf playing have been introduced like disc golf and miniature golf. However, it is still interesting to find out the History of golf.

Most scholars agree with the “fact” that the Scots were first to popularize the game of golf. However, there exists no common consensus in the history of golf about the inventors of the classy sport. The records suggest a golf-like game was played in a city called Loenen aan de Vecht, Netherlands, on 26 February 1297. The Dutchmen played this game with leather ball and a stick. Actually, the game required the players to hit the ball into a target situated several hundreds of meters away.

The emphasis on golf’s Scottish origin is contributed to the fact that the game was mentioned in two 15th-century Acts of the Scottish Parliament. Further, there are evidences that in A.D 1456, the first game of golf was played at Bruntsfield Links, in Edinburgh, Scotland, as recorded in the archives of The Royal Burgess Golfing Society.

There are some reports which record evidences of golf from continental Europe. Different forms of sports similar to golf were played in 14th century in the countries of France, Belgium, and Holland, apart from Scotland. However, the game was introduced in England by a keen Scottish Baron, James VI, after succeeding on the English throne in 1603.

In the early years of golf, the players never thought of forming a club or society until in 1744 a group of Edinburgh golfers united into a club named Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. It was here that the first 13 rules of golf were drawn up for an annual contest. In 1766, Royal Blackheath Golf Club was formed in England – the first golf club formed outside Scotland.

Although traces of golf can be encountered in 18th century United States, however the game was still waiting to be popularized. The history of golf in North America began with its roots in Canada. In 1873, The Royal Montreal Club was formed, which was followed by the Quebec Golf Club in 1875 and the golf club in Toronto a year later. It was in 1888 that golf re-emerged in the United States. For the first time the “three-hole golf course” was built in Yonkers, New York by a Scotsman, John Reid on a 30-acre site. From a modest beginning, golf emerged as the new national pastime in the United States.

In the recent times golf has become a complete spectators’ game, involving professionals at different levels and amateur tours across various terrains of the world. Not only the game, but the golf players -Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam and Jack Nicklaus to name a few, have gained worldwide recognition as great sports personalities. Engrossingly huge sponsorships and new technologies being developed to assist golfers and dedication and raw talent from the emerging players all suggest a luminous new chapter in the “history of golf”.

The Top 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Golfing With Your Kids

Golfing with your kids is a lot different than golfing with adults, obviously.

Your kids have a shorter attention span, and they are also shorter than your friends.

Your kids have to be supervised the whole time, whereas your friends do not (usually).

Your kids sometimes act like they are being tortured just by being on the golf course, whereas your friends do not (usually).

It would be so much more fun if your kids acted like they were having fun rather than being tortured when you are out golfing with them. It be even better if they looked forward to going and told all their friends how much fun golfing is, right?

I have spent a lot of time with kids on golf courses over the last 15 years, and I have learned by trial and error what works and what does not. Let me share with you seven common mistakes I have made that you should avoid when playing golf with kids:

Mistake #1: Not Preparing Mentally

You want to be in the best mood possible for your sake and the kids. Do whatever it takes to get in a good mood before you go. Think happy thoughts, leave work and bills behind, stop at their favorite fast food place on the way there, whatever it takes. If you are not in a good mood, they will know it and it will affect the enjoyment for all.

Mistake #2: Not Preparing the Equipment

The last thing you and your kids want to be doing on the course is fumbling around the golf bags looking for golf balls, tees, ball markers, etc. Take some time before you go to get all of the bags (including yours) set up with everything they will need, including a full water bottle or sport drink and snack. Make sure each person knows where these things are before you leave.

Mistake #3: Going at a Crowded Time

As mistakes go, this one is not so bad. It can happen regardless of planning. Just do your best to go on off times (the pro shop can suggest the best times to golf with kids). The less waiting you have to do on tee boxes, the less opportunity for distraction and boredom.

Mistake #4: Making Too Many Rules

There are many, many rules of golf, most of which we do not know and do not think about. Kids need to learn the rules, but not all at once. Start off with just the basics: no running on the green, do not hit until I say you can, be quiet when others are hitting, do not lay your clubs on the green. After a few trips, these things will become automatic and you can begin teaching them how to take proper relief and what the different color markers mean. You will be pleasantly surprised when, all of a sudden, you all play a round of golf and everything just clicks. Let me tell you it is marvelous!

Mistake #5: Yelling When They Make a Mistake

Kids are going to get angry and wild and make mistakes on the course, after all they are kids. In fact they are going to do things you never even dreamed of: throwing golf balls at each other, slamming clubs on the ground, hitting when someone is in front of them, climbing trees, etc. While it is tempting to yell at them to stop, I have found it to be much more effective to walk over to the offender and tell them the next time you do that we are all going to have to leave. This adds a little peer group pressure to the equation and works quite well. If the behavior continues, do not be shy about following through with your threat and taking everyone home. It just might turn out to be a great lesson for them all to learn, and pay great dividends in the future.

Mistake #6: Forgetting the Kids at the Course (Just Kidding). Let us call this one Taking too Much Time and Getting Stressed Out

I have always been a fan of prompt play. Nothing gets to me quicker than continually waiting on the group in front, or worse, watching the group behind leaning on their clubs waiting for a slow person in my group. When I first started playing golf with my kids and their friends, I would obsess over our pace of play – constantly looking back to make sure we were not holding anyone up. It really robbed me of a lot of the enjoyment I should have been experiencing with kids on the course. The next three ideas sum up the solutions I have found to ease this stress and increase the level of enjoyment for everyone.

Teach your kids that their place on the course is behind the group in front of them, not in front of the group behind them.

Teach your kids how to play ready golf to catch up to the group in front, i.e., it is OK to hit when you are ready, as long as no one is in front of you.

Teach your kids how to let the group behind play through. Make sure to demonstrate the proper etiquette, telling the group playing through to have a great round! What if you have to let more than one group play through? So what, you are out here to have fun, and the longer time spent having fun the better, right?

Mistake #7: Staying Too Long

This one takes a little observation and feel, kind of like the game of golf itself. If they are just getting a little tired, a few words of encouragement from you may work fine to get them through the last few holes. If, on the other hand, their fatigue is affecting their interaction with others (name calling, curt, angry responses to simple comments, etc.), maybe it is time to head for the car. You do not have to blame stopping on them, which will make them feel bad. You can say you are getting tired and you sure could use a cold drink. This way they do not feel like they were on the Bataan Death March and will remember a good time, which is critical in your quest to get them interested in golf.

Playing golf with kids is definitely different than playing golf with your friends, but it can be a rewarding experience. Their youthful energy and natural exuberance can even wear off on you, bringing a whole new level of fun to your own game!

« Older Entries