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Holiday shopping for golfers is an inexact science. What golfers want is different than what their friends and family think they want, and both usually check different boxes than what anyone actually needs.
In a sense, the only sure-thing gift for golfers is tees, because the rest is highly personal and subject to misguided priorities. I might want a rangefinder to lock in my yardage into greens, but maybe I’d have different yardages altogether if I learned to find the center of the clubface more consistently.
Recognizing we can be unreliable arbiters of our games, I consulted a collection of teachers with a simple question: What is the gift a mid-handicap golfer should be asking for if they really want to get better?
The only catch was the pros couldn’t say lessons, and yet all found unique ways to address core areas of performance, and none suggested adding a 37th golf polo to my closet.
(Plug alert: This is all on top of the best idea—gifting a membership to Golf Digest+).
Here’s what they recommended:
Resistance bands
The trap golfers fall into when trying to ingrain a new movement is they tend to pay attention to what the ball does too early in the process. If it doesn’t work, they move on to something else. It’s why top 50 teacher Tony Ruggiero believes a worthy gift for golfers is a set of resistance bands that can be used to help acclimate your body to a new movement. “They can do it away from the course, at home or in the office,” Ruggiero said. “Regardless of what’s wrong with your swing or what philosophy of swing you subscribe to, the easiest way to make a change or improve your game is by taking the club and ball out of your hand so that your brain doesn’t go into performance mode.”
A tool to train your putting eye
As obsessed as I am with improving my performance on the greens, my focus tends to be limited to my putting stroke. But Joe Plecker, a Golf Digest Best in South Carolina teacher, believes there’s value in simply understanding how a ball behaves on the green. He advocates his students use a Perfect Putter ramp before they even get to technique.
“It gives us a proper starting direction and idea of speed,” he says. “It can be used by students and is easy to set up, no power or app.”
Sessions with a mental coach
This one almost sounds insulting as a gift—everyone knows you’re a head case!—and yet I’d be first one to acknowledge it could help. As Golf Digest top 50 instructor Michael Breed says, a mental coach or sports psychologist can help in countless ways, from short putts, to opening tee shots, to maintaining direction in development of skills. “No one at the recreational level knows how to use their mind the correct way,” Breed says.
Indoor and outdoor practice time
Like Breed’s suggestion, Golf Digest top 50 teacher Shaun Webb’s recommended gift doesn’t come in a box. Webb believes gifting someone practice time in a launch monitor that provides instant feedback pays immediate dividends. In a sense, it’s the exact opposite of what Ruggiero says about learning to groove a move without worrying about the ball. Yet at some point, the ball is important, so it might depend on where you are in your process. “Nothing better for your game,” says Webb, who teaches at his Athletic Motion Golf Club in Winter Garden, Fla.
This ties well to a bonus suggestion from my teacher, Preston Shortell at Rye (N.Y.) Golf Club, who says the best gift for a golfer intent on progress is time. Whether it’s picking up chores around the house or just nudging them toward the course, allowing a golfer some dedicated practice time might be what they need most. “So many mid-handicappers don’t give themselves enough time to work on their game,” Shortell says. “Not just time playing but time on the range and especially the short game area.”
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
