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Stuck For A Golf Gift ?

© Bill Howard

With Christmas fast approaching, it's time for this year's golf gifts column. I have a couple of suggestions if you have yet to find just the right gift for that picky golfer on your list. Last year I suggested old golf books might be the way to go. That advice remains sound. See "Golf Gifts-A Suggestion" for specific titles and authors.

For this year's column I decided to try and find something I would consider a terrific gift were I to get one. I executed a Yahoo search for "golf gifts" and was rewarded with 109 site matches. There were also "about" 78,900 web page matches for that same term. Research of that magnitude is normally handled by my crack research team. Unfortunately my research department, Luke the basset hound, was taking a nap. I chose to focus on the sites.

I reviewed a number of them and found all but one of them to be much the same. You can find artwork, display cases, animal headcovers, lame joke items, or 24 karat gold plated golf cart statuary at most any site you visit. Nearly every site boasts the "largest collection anywhere". It is very easy to get bored and somewhat numb. Thankfully, the search was not fruitless.

One thing stuck out from the crowd. I strongly advise you to visit Wild Mountain Golf at http://www.golfputtergifts.com . They offer a number of interesting and unique putters, wedges, and the like made with wooden shafts. They also have the best golf gift I've come across in a long, long time. It's called the "Infinite Hole Putting Cup". Speaking as a picky golfer, I'd be delighted to receive one.

These beautiful practice putting cups, made from wood of all types and colors, are an elegant improvement on the ugly and noisy tin contraptions of years past. They are designed to promote putts struck at the optimum speed. To make the ball come to rest within the cup, it must surmount a gentle slope. To do this, the ball must be struck with enough force to carry it a foot or so past the hole. According to Wild Mountain's copy, studies indicate that this is the optimum speed for a putt. I've never done a study, but experience tells me that's about right.

That's all well and good, but what really got me excited about the product was its beauty. The laminating process the company uses allows them to use several exotic woods that are not normally considered durable. Their process makes the cups incredibly tough as well as pretty.