The Best Father’s Day Gifts for Golfers
The greatest new drivers, irons, putters, and rangefinders to upgrade Dad’s game.
It’s tough to know what to get your dad for Father’s Day. But help take a couple of strokes off of his handicap on the golf course and you can be sure he’ll be grateful, all the way through the summer.
So to help you out with a last-minute Father’s Day gift he’ll love, here’s some of best choices for the dad who can do anything, other than fix that slice off the tee.
DRIVERS
This season there seems to be two candidates for the most talked-about, and high-performing drivers available in 2019, both from classic brands.
TaylorMade M5/M6
The newest releases from TaylorMade, the M5/M6 drivers continue to utilize the technology found in the recent M3/M4 models, specifically the Twist Face technology that made it tougher than ever to hook or slice your drive thanks to decreased sidespin.
The new version, the Speed Injected Twist Face, allows TaylorMade to inject exact amounts of a mysterious resin into the club head, increasing the ball’s speed off the face of the club, allowing the brand to push the limit to the very edge of USGA regulations.
Precision testing ensures the club doesn’t violate any rules, but pushes the equipment to the absolute limit of legality. The M5 focuses on maximizing performance and personalized adjustability, ideal for someone who can really play and knows their swing type and launch angles, while the M6 is more forgiving for those of us who simply need help keeping the ball on the fairway, while still hoping for distance on those long par-5’s. Buy the M5 here for $549.99, and M6 for $499.99.
Callaway Epic Flash
Callaway brings its clubs into the realm of science-fiction with the Epic Flash range of drivers. The company used Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to design a club face that creates unreal power when center contact is made, while it’s internal “Jailbreak Bars” provide enhanced stability and a new lighter triaxial carbon fabric called T2C is used, allowing for more weight to be distributed across the face, meaning a more forgiving driver for those of us with inconsistent contact.
Simply, the club is longer when you hit it on the sweet spot, and more forgiving when you don’t. A choice a golfer of any level would be more than happy to bring to the first tee box. Buy here, from $529.99
IRONS
Drive it as far as you can, and putt like a pro, but none of that matters if your iron play is a mess. Here are two options for dominating the fairway on longer holes and landing it close on those par-3’s.
Wilson D7 Irons: (Graphite or Steel)
Boasting “Super Game Improvement Technology”, Wilson D7 irons are a great choice for dad’s bag. The D stands for distance, thanks to features like Progressive Power Holes and a thinner face, and the company is confident that any golfer can add length to their fairway shots with this set of clubs.
But for real game improvement, most golfers need consistency and a forgiving impact on mishit shots, which is where Wilson’s RE-AKT technology comes into play. Hit the ball off the toe or heel, and you’re still likely to find your ball near (or on) the green.
Wilson also offers a line of Staff Model Irons, top of the line blade irons that could hold their own on the PGA Tour, but for the vast majority of us, the D7 seems to offer the superior balance of distance and control that improving golfers require. The graphite versions are more expensive, but well worth the extra cost in our experience. Buy the steel here for $599, and the graphite for $699.
Callaway Apex Irons
Some of the best performing irons in the game, Callaway’s Apex series is best utilized by good golfers who want to bring those birdies and eagles into their game with long approach shots and insane launch angles from the fairway.
Sure, the average golfer will hit them well too, but these are finely-tuned machines ideal for finely-tuned swings. Once you’ve gotten used to the added distance, you’ll begin to notice the soft feel of impact, and the ability to judge distances much easier than with irons that sacrifice everything for distance, including touch and feel.
Simply put, these clubs either need to go into your bag now, or as soon as your game improves enough to allow you to use terms like “soft”, “touch” and “feel” without being sarcastic. Buy here, starting at $1,400.
PUTTER
Hit it far, hit it close, but if you keep three-putting, you’ll never drop your handicap. And there’s one name that dominates when it comes to rolling the ball on the green…
Scotty Cameron
While all golf club manufacturers make putters, and some are quite good, there’s been a pinnacle of putters for years now, and it all comes down to one name, Scotty Cameron. These precision-milled putters are offered in a wide range of styles and shapes, letting you choose the one that feels most comfortable in your hands.
But the one consistency is that regardless of the style, these putters will give you a consistent roll every time, thanks to their pioneering design developed over Cameron’s more than 25 years of crafting putters for the world’s best players, as well as the rest of us.
Furthermore, you can choose a putter design based on your putting swing path, as Cameron’s clubs are designed to bring the club face into perfect position at contact, despite the curved movement of a putting stroke. Want a club that Dad will keep, and play with, for the rest of his life? A Scotty Cameron is the ultimate putter, and one of the best Father’s Day gifts one could ever receive. Buy here for $399.
RANGEFINDER
It doesn’t matter how precise you are with your distances and club selections if you don’t have an accurate measurement in the first place. The answer is simple, get a rangefinder and add accuracy to your yardage estimates and consistency to your distance from the fairway. After all, what good is a great shot if it’s the wrong shot in the first place?
Bushnell Pro XE Laser Rangefinder
Again, there’s no shortage of options when it comes to rangefinders on the golf market, but you’d be selling yourself (or your father) short if you go with anything other than the newest offering from Bushnell. Not only can it measure distance horizontally like many rangefinders, it also measures elevation change and understands launch angles.
As part of the groundbreaking Slope with Elements feature, the Pro XE takes into account not only elevation of the landing zone, but factors like course altitude and temperature that will alter the flight distance of your ball.
There’s nothing more frustrating than hitting the perfect club the exact length you want, only to realize you were working with faulty information and now your amazing shot is sitting just short, or just over, the green, turning your birdie opportunity into a troublesome par save.
No, it can’t swing the club for you, but it sure can make selecting the right club much easier, especially for those golfers who play on unfamiliar courses and need to take the guesswork out of whether its a 160 yard 7-iron or a 175 yard 6-iron. Buy here for $549.99.
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