13 golf gifts the player in your life will actually want

Buying a gift for the resident golfer in your life can be a surprisingly tricky prospect.

There are, obstensibly, thousands of options out there, readily available at your nearest golf shop. And for the uninitiated, it's very easy to imagine that every shirt, glove, ball or shoe is much of a muchness.

The problem, however, is that it's not. And while it's absolutely possible to find something nice in any of these areas, there's also a lot of junk out there too, destined to find its way to the bottom of the bag or wardrobe to be forgotten, lost or given away. For that reason, we've decided to pull together a not-at-all complete curation of products from our favourite brands both big and small, that make for a slightly more thoughtful golfing gift.

Most importantly, they're ideas that any one of us at GolfMagic HQ would be truly stoked to unwrap come Christmas, Father's Day or their birthday.

The Golf 100, by Michael Arkush

The Golf 100, penned by bestselling author Michael Arkrush and released back in April, aims to get to the bottom of one of golf's trickiest questions: who really is the GOAT? To form his answer, Arkrush provides a definitive ranking of the game's 100 greatest ever players, taking into account major victories, tournament wins and, importantly, the impact each has had both on and off the course. The result might change your mind about certain players, affirm your opinion of others, and make you aware of some you'd never heard of.

Manors Tech Golf Cap

Take it for 18, take it running, take it cycling, or do all three in the same day if you're game enough. This 5-panel golf cap from British brand Manors takes performance features from all three disciplines to provide a versatile, endlessly wearable all-rounder for any situation.

Ettinger On the Green golf accessory set

Ettinger is one of England's most storied leather accessories makers, having previously held the Royal appointment to make wallets and pouches for Prince Philip among others. Their golf accessories exude this same strain of old-school class, being hand-made in its Walsall factory to this day. The On the Green set includes a smart scorecard holder that can be personalised at will, along with a smaller clip-on belt caddy for carrying tees or a divot repair tool.

Fyfe Golf Headcovers

The golfing equivalent of sipping a fine Single Malt in a windswept bothy, Fyfe's head covers and putter covers are handcrafted in Scotland from certified Harris Tweed. Fyfe also draws inspiration from the country's rugged vistas to make covers and accessories from hardy materials like waxed canvas, traditional tartan and clubman leather.

Lululemon ABC Trousers

Lululemon are still something of an upstart at Tour level, however they do have one of the game's most stylish pros on board now in the form of Min Woo Lee. You'll commonly find the Aussie in the brand's signature ABC pant, which has all the sartorial flair you'd need in a pair of everyday chinos while the Warpstreme fabric offers enough stretch and breathability to take to the course comfortably. The only golf pant your giftee will ever need.

Payntr Speed Classic Golf Shoes

Developed in collaboration with PGA Tour sartorial heavyweight Jason Day, Payntr's Speed Classic is laden with comfort while maintaining a classic look and feel that stands up to the Australian's now-infamous rota of eye-catching Malbon fits.

Gumtree Golf & Nature Club Alignment Sticks

NY label Gumtree Golf & Nature Club is all about returning golf to a place of respect and appreciation for the great outdoors, focusing on limited-run, sustainably and ethically sourced clothes and accessories. Their hickory alignment sticks are a perfect example of this, handmade and painted in The Big Apple by alignment stick maker Hazy Golf.

Jain golf t-shirt

We recently covered West Coast brand Jain golf's sunshine-y approach to golf apparel, the brand having released an instant cult classic caddy back to go along their irreverent line of apparel. Their t-shirts are colourful, cleverly-designed and overwhelmingly positive, which is something we can all use from time to time out on the course. In a fun twist reflecting the brand's family-friendly approach, they make shirts for both grown-ups and kids as well.

Jones Sports Rangefinder Pouch

Jones Golf make some of the coolest golf bags around, doing away with the uber-technical fabrics and focusing instead on classic, vintage-inspired gear that still holds up to the demands of the modern golfer. And while their bags are on the pricey side for an everyday gift, we wouldn't say no to one of their rangefinder pouches. Made from recycled ripstop derived from plastic bottles, they clip on easily to the buckle of any golf bag and will easily stash a rangefinder, or failing that, tees, balls or anything else you want to keep close at hand.

Personalised Srixon Q-Star Tour Golf Balls

Finding the right ball for a golfer is a process as personal and intricate as fitting a club, making buying a dozen for someone without knowing their skill level a tough ask. Srixon's Q-Star Tour is a fantastically affordable mid-level golf ball, providing the soft feel and distance most amateur golfers love with plenty of spin around the greens. Even better, the kind folks at American Golf will personalise them for your loved one.

Rapsodo iPhone Launch Monitor

Launch monitors are expensive things—often too expensive for the average golfer to warrant investing in if they're squeezing in practice around work, family and friends. Rapsodo's iPhone based launch monitor helps address this is an affordable, portable way, pairing your iPhone's camera with an in-built doppler radar to create a surprisingly accurate ball tracker for practice sessions at the range, in your garage or even hitting into a net in the garden.

Journal 18 performance golf journal

An all-in-one journal designed to unlock performance on and off the course, this customisable journal from Canadian brand Journal 18 is part yardage book, part practice notepad, and part stat tracker. It has blank integrated scorecards to keep tabs on improvement and key stats, smart shot tracker pages to map out shots, and uses concepts derived from sports psychology to help any golfer integrate more structure and feedback into their practice.

A CORE Golf Subscription

We named CORE, an instruction app developed by the folks at Hole19, one of our favourite golf apps right now. And for good reason. Approachable and affordable for everyone, CORE takes the headache out of practicing without the need for forking out for an expensive instruction plan, delivering personalised practice regimes and drills to help lower your scores and address a range a of swing faults.

Annual plan €29.99 from hole19golf.com