Member-Guest Tee Gifts

[Paul Helle]

Hey everyone.  Head golf pro here.  We have our member-guest in July and was trying to get some input from others on great tee gifts they have received from different events you have played in.  Our budget is around $150 per player.  Please let me know your favorites.

 

Thank you.

Edited April 4 by Paul Helle

[kenoli22]

I've always been partial to unique lowball glasses.  A high end switchblade green repair tool with a ball marker would also be cool.

[llewol007]

Often times, I’ve never kept any member guest gifts. If you have a good box lunch and some pre round pastries, coffee that is sufficient. If you really had to, keep it simple as a memorable divot tool repair and some tees. Everyone brings their own golfballs and towels. Something more memorable is probably having watering holes throughout the round. 

[doc52]

A local club did Lusso Cloud Pelli slippers with the club logo that turned out well.

[TwistedSister]

I once received a carry on bag with wheels and a retractable handle made of leather. 

[GranEnemigo]

Last year we received the SwingLogic super-duper mini launch monitors. It basically just tracks CHS, ballspeed, and carry. Definitely a cool gift - people were using them on the course the whole round (obviously in blatant violation of the RoG, but that's how cool they were). Priced around $150 I believe.

[WilliePPQ]

Perhaps something to commemorate the date / event with some lasting value. I still have ball markers, bag tags, head covers, etc. that every time I use them or see them bring back pleasant memories. Towels, balls, and other "consumables" don't typically make it more than a season or two. Nice quality head cover or markers / repair tool can be carried for years. I vote for some classy head covers or the like. How do I get my invite?

[King_Slender]

I've played in many and my favorites are:

• On site clothing vendor - Straight Down was great with $150 in credit and they would put a logo on it if you wanted - either the club logo or the logo of the member/guest tournament, assuming it has one.
• Links & Kings did a nice one - basically everybody got a small leather valuables bag and then you could get a belt that they would cut custom right there
• Set of leather headcovers with the name of the tournament were cool - AM&E can do those https://www.amegolf.net/design/
• Setup a store on Titleist, etc and folks have $150 credit for clubs (good way for guys to buy a Scotty at a discount)

Things people will use are the best.  I've seen pros try get creative with things like a logo'd flask or growler and those are the kind things I personally just get rid of.  One year we got a flask, I had put some whiskey in it and forgot about it over the winter and in the spring I poured it out and it was BLACK because it was some cheap Chinese merch.  

 

Keep it quality and think about what Guests would use - a guest doesn't want a leather key chain from a club he doesn't belong to.

[soonernick]

Some of my favorites around your price point:

1. One year we got MyJoys. The pro just set up an account with Footjoy and we were able to build our own shoes a couple months before. They were ready the first morning of the tournament. It was a pretty big hit as there were lots of wild/hilarious color combos.

2. Small luggage: One year we got a Ogio carryon with the tournament logo that has probably been on 50 flights with me by now. Super useful. At a nicer event we got a choice between leather backpacks or duffle with the tournament logo. Leather may be too high for $150, but you could probably get something cool through Jones, Herschel Supply, etc.

3. Sunglasses: I'm not personally a fan of this gift, but it always seems to be a big hit when you have the Oakley or Maui Jim guy show up and let everyone pick from a selection of 5-6 different types.

4. Hoodies/Pullovers with logo. Do mid-high priced solid brand like Peter Millar, Greyson, etc., have 4-5 color options, and give them an option of buying a second pullover for 5-10% off retail. If you leave them for sale all weekend guys will buy a second one for spouses, kids, etc. My daughter loves getting event hoodies and t-shirts from me because people ask her how she got it. 

5. Towels: The caddy towels that sell for $40 on bespoke headcover websites can be bought in bulk for a few dollars, and most sites will add a logo for you. I know others have mentioned towels not lasting more than a year or two, but those are legitimately the best towels in the game and it makes for a great throw-in gift.

 

I think the perfect tee gift is something that a person wouldn't normally buy with their own money, but when it's "free" they are more willing to be a bit eccentric. 

Edited April 5 by soonernick

[golfinbrad]

$150 is a nice budget you can do a lot with.  Etched tumblers or glasses, embroidered shoe bag, golf shoes (but have to deal with sizes and complaints), tour balls with a logo.  Another option is to give a smaller gift and then $50 or $100 in shop credit so they can pick something out.  Good luck with the tournament.

[cardoustie]

Theragun mini

 

myJoys

 

(best ever was my club, used a 300/man budget and everyone picked a Scotty)

 

To cover all bases > asstd choices from a vendor … a wedge, shoes, rain suit, 2 dz balls, 2 shirts etc 

[Hawkeye77]

That's a generous budget.  Not sure about quantities, but you can get a little "tot" glass from St. Andrews for about $20 or some ball marker/divot tools of all sorts or a variety of towels or get a bunch of Postage Stamp markers from Royal Troon or something from the upcoming Open collection - IMO, something like that as part of the package would probably be viewed as pretty cool and well received.  A guy hosted my wife and myself in a 50 yard line luxury suite at an Iowa State-Iowa game a few years ago (yep, Hawks won in Ames, great game but we were surrounded by Clones) - got him a matched set of crystal highballs from St. Andrews as a thank you, he absolutely loved them.  St. Andrews in particular has incredibly fast shipping and would be responsive to any emails.

 

I'm assuming your course has some quality stuff it would be nice to give out.  

 

 

[mikedejong33]

At one of our recent Member Guests, we had a guy out on the first tee with an anvil and a hammer set up. And when you got to that hole, he had a few different styles of nice heavy weight ball marks that he would custom stamp for each player. He could put your name or a funny saying, or whatever you wanted. It was probably not the most expensive first tee gift I have ever received, but it was definitely one of the coolest and everyone still has theirs and talks about it.

 

Others I liked included: 

• the fancy leather belt in all sorts of colors with the custom belt buckle with the club logo
• cool leather headcovers with the club logo
• I once got a Footjoy lined sweater that was really nice
• we once had a Travis Mathew booth, where you had a certain amount of money to spend and you could grab whatever you wanted

But the personalized ball mark was one of the coolest and most popular I have seen.

[fl_santiago]

Played in a tournament where each player was given a custom True Linkswear Knit 3. They brought out a laser engraver and each player could put their initials on their shoes. 

[courcy75]

1 hour ago, mikedejong33 said:

At one of our recent Member Guests, we had a guy out on the first tee with an anvil and a hammer set up. And when you got to that hole, he had a few different styles of nice heavy weight ball marks that he would custom stamp for each player. He could put your name or a funny saying, or whatever you wanted. It was probably not the most expensive first tee gift I have ever received, but it was definitely one of the coolest and everyone still has theirs and talks about it.

 

Others I liked included: 

• the fancy leather belt in all sorts of colors with the custom belt buckle with the club logo
• cool leather headcovers with the club logo
• I once got a Footjoy lined sweater that was really nice
• we once had a Travis Mathew booth, where you had a certain amount of money to spend and you could grab whatever you wanted

But the personalized ball mark was one of the coolest and most popular I have seen.

The ball mark thing is outstanding. 

[golfwb]

16 hours ago, King_Slender said:

I've played in many and my favorites are:

• On site clothing vendor - Straight Down was great with $150 in credit and they would put a logo on it if you wanted - either the club logo or the logo of the member/guest tournament, assuming it has one.
• Links & Kings did a nice one - basically everybody got a small leather valuables bag and then you could get a belt that they would cut custom right there
• Set of leather headcovers with the name of the tournament were cool - AM&E can do those https://www.amegolf.net/design/
• Setup a store on Titleist, etc and folks have $150 credit for clubs (good way for guys to buy a Scotty at a discount)

Things people will use are the best.  I've seen pros try get creative with things like a logo'd flask or growler and those are the kind things I personally just get rid of.  One year we got a flask, I had put some whiskey in it and forgot about it over the winter and in the spring I poured it out and it was BLACK because it was some cheap Chinese merch.  

 

Keep it quality and think about what Guests would use - a guest doesn't want a leather key chain from a club he doesn't belong to.

I would also recommend setting up an account with Titleist and letting people order what they want and have the items shipped to their homes. 

I have so many things I have gotten from member guests over the years that are completely useless. 

For example: A backpack with a cooler on the inside. There is no way any golf course would let you bring that on.

Edited April 5 by golfwb

[Rosey31]

As someone who has worked quite a few Member/Guest events, anything where you have to rely on the players getting you information is tough. You always need to get a few extra to cover wrong size, etc. 

 

I think Headcovers, ball marks, flasks, Yeti tumblers, valuable pouches, and things like that would be better and more manageable for your staff. You could always reduce the per player gift bags and do things like Shoes, Shirts, and Clubs for long drive, CTP and other side game winners. 

[DE-ILLINI]

Headcovers, ball markers, hoodie, or 1/4 zip are all nice.  Especially something unique to the tournament, maybe a special logo.  I personally would stay away from sunglasses and flasks.  I know for myself these would be useless and just get donated.  I have also never been a fan of shoes.  Everyone is so different when it comes to how shoes fit, a lot of people will never use them.    

[Abh159]

Honestly, some of the best member-member or member-guest gifts I've gotten have been the $$$ amount in credit with a particular brand. For example, I've gotten anywhere from $200-500 worth of credit to spend with Adidas, FJ, Peter Millar, Turtleson, and so on. Typically you get to choose from a somewhat wide variety of items and most importantly you get to pick your own sizes. They will embroider the club logo on it and ship it so you have it once the event starts. 

 

If your shop has an account with clothing or shoe brands I'd look into this as an option. 

 

I feel like doing specific items runs the risk of some people really loving the gift and some people hating it. For example, one year I was playing as a guest in a member-guest, and one of our tee gifts was a really nice framed picture of the course layout. The members loved it, and the guests (me included) hated it. I'm just not going to hang a picture of someone else's golf course in my house or office...

[Yoshifan151]

2 hours ago, Rosey31 said:

As someone who has worked quite a few Member/Guest events, anything where you have to rely on the players getting you information is tough. You always need to get a few extra to cover wrong size, etc. 

1000%, taking anything with sizing out of the equation makes it way easier to deal with.

[Paul Helle]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far. Agree with everyone that said not to do anything with specific sizing, I avoid that at all costs. The past few years we have done FJ MyJoys, Custom Titleist Golf Bags, and the Titleist tent. We have also done leather hardcovers, needle point duffle bags, towels, wallets, etc in years past as well. We are planning to do a large gift in the $150 range and then a small gift each day of the event. I love the custom ball marker idea. Keep the ideas coming. 

[DeacLaw05]

One of the best I have seen was a pair of custom made jeans/5 pocket pants from Blue Delta.  On the first day of the tournament they had reps from the company there that measured you, and they had samples of the different materials and colors you could choose from.  Got my custom pants in the mail a few weeks later, and the sizing was unsurprisingly spot on.

[bob_fish]

My club did Lizard belts from Jacob Hill last year for our member/guest.

 

[Bob Cat]

Custom logoed Tervis Tumblers.

Made in USA with a lifetime warranty.

Many options.

[McMunch]

This is going to make 50% of WRXrs angry but a bluetooth speaker is a good gift. I got a JBL last year with the club logo. Great gift.

 

[blaird]

I have gotten towels, headcovers, hats, and shirts from tournaments, can never go wrong with a headcover (AM&E or something similar) with tournament name and logo as well as a towel. At US 4ball years ago we got custom belts and a 4 pack of the tervis tumbler cups with the course and 4ball logo. I still use those to this day and that was 6-7 years ago. Also got a nice yardage book cover for one event. 

[Golfinfloridaafter40]

I feel like people already have enough tumblers, and other randomness that get tossed into the closet or the trash.  With $150, I would get one item that people actually want as opposed to several crappy items. Logo ProV1x's are always good, or even a pro shop gift certificate is better than random junk.  Maybe work out a deal with Footjoy to guarantee a certain number of shoes so you can buy them for $150 a piece instead of $250 retail.

[ewe8523]

Most popular recently have been merchandise credit for Peter Millar and Johnnie O. Usually it’s setup where the participants get a link to order from a limited catalogue in advance of the event at a discount price off retail. Option to include club logo on any items. If you need a PM or Johnnie O contact let me know.

[hammergolf]

On 4/5/2024 at 8:08 PM, Paul Helle said:

Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far. Agree with everyone that said not to do anything with specific sizing, I avoid that at all costs. The past few years we have done FJ MyJoys, Custom Titleist Golf Bags, and the Titleist tent. We have also done leather hardcovers, needle point duffle bags, towels, wallets, etc in years past as well. We are planning to do a large gift in the $150 range and then a small gift each day of the event. I love the custom ball marker idea. Keep the ideas coming. 

A Travel bag or carry on luggage is always a good option.

[Seth2482]

Our club did GFore Gallivanters last year