Women get flowers and smelly stuff as gifts. What do men get? Ties? Yuck. Now men can get a gift which they would like as much as women like smelly stuff and flower gifts, the BroBasket. BroBasket you ask? Yes. I just got my first one. It went something like this.
The mystery box above was on my doorstep and had the quote, “a special gift for you.” I thought to myself, “oh goodie!”
The fun stuff inside the mystery box was a very cool combination of “bro” friendly items like wine, whiskey rocks, golf balls, golf accessories, and a reusable basket to put other bro stuff in.
The wine came at a perfect time. I cracked it open right away while putting together the inventory of my take in my first BroBasket.
My basket is “The Mini Golfer” basket. What’s cool about BroBaskets is they can be customized to fit the the bro’s personality. I’m a wine guy. My basket featured a nice California cab, which I’m enjoying right at this moment (it is 7:58PM). One can configure the spirit portion of the basket by picking from one of five wines, or a selection of brandy, gin, liqueurs, mixed drink packages, rum, scotch, tequila, vodka or whiskey. This cab is great. Cheers.
Other items can be added, pardon me, “configured,” to the basket such as glasses, accessories, and snacks.
Conclusion
BroBasket makes many different themed men’s gifts from the golf one I’ve featured here to others including spirits, corporate themes, holidays, and every other imaginable reason one might wish to give a man a gift.
Stop giving ties or gloves to your man and give him a gift he really wants and will most definitely use, one from BroBasket.
Last week I played the first what I would call “good golf” of the season. I had a 9-hole net match against a 14 on Monday. I had to give the guy six pops a side. After making an incredible up and down for par on the 9th to win the hole the match was all square and went to extra holes. I had to shoot even par on the nine to end up square. Yeah, a 14 LOL.
On 10 I had to par to extend again as my opponent made bogey with a pop. Then on the par4- 11th I was in trouble. In long grass blocked by trees. I tried to punch out but the long grass grabbed the club and the ball, which went only about 20 feet. With my opponent on the green I was left with a 3rd shot from 115 out of deep grass. I put a perfect swing on it and knocked it to 15 inches. Saved par to extend again.
On the par-5 12th I knocked a 4-iron on the green for my 2nd shot and had an eagle putt to win. I had reached the previous two par-5’s in two as well. Never had three eagle putts in a row on three par-5’s. I was too aggressive though and ran the eagle by. Then missed the birdie for the win. I ended up having to make a 3-foot knee-knocker for par to extend. Nice 3-putt LOL.
Finally on the par-4 13th I finished off the match by chip-putting in a birdie from some long grass right of the green. To beat this “14” I had to shoot -1 for 13 holes. On to the 2nd round of net.
From the 3rd hole on I was battling a major blister on my left heel from walking in these new Ecco shoes. That made things more difficult and painful.
Then on Sunday I played in 102F temperatures with a buddy. Shot a 38 on the front and then on the back had 3-birdies and 3-bogeys to shoot even on that side. 74. Best round of the year by 3-shots.
Last week’s combined holes between the 13 for the match and 18 on Sunday, 41. Total in relation to par, +1.
Swing Thoughts
Whether I’m satisfied with my game isn’t necessarily related to numbers, it’s more related to the quality of shots and how I’m hitting it. But the numbers this past week did reflect the quality of play. This is the kind of golf that I can get satisfaction from, not hacking it around and shooting 84.
I also wonder if my recent better play is is partly due to resolution of some things in my personal life which were stressful? Or is it just that the game is coming around, or perhaps the gear change (below). Perhaps a combo of all of it.
Gear Change
Last week I used the combination of the Miura Small Blade irons and the Snell My Tour Ball. I’ve definitely lost distance off the tee with the Snell compared to a Bridgestone B330, but the rest of the game, irons and short game, seems to have benefitted quite a bit from the Snell ball.
Unfortunately I can’t play this week. Hope I can keep the momentum up with about a 10 day break.
I’ve found a new gamer ball, one that fits my game perfectly:
The Emoji Poop ball above matches my Emoji Poop driver cover, which reviewed about a week ago.
Below is the Paige Spirinac ball:
These are part of the Emoji half-dozen pack which can be found on Amazon here.
When my golf partners watch me chip this is the ball that represents their reactions:
These would be a fun Father’s Day golf gift, though it may be too late to order these for Father’s Day unless you are on Amazon Prime.
Red alert! You have exactly one week before Father’s Day. Stay calm. I’ve got some great golf related Father’s Day gift ideas for you, most of which you can get shipped in time, or find in your local golf shop. I’ll cover a range of under $15 to about $500 so now matter how much you “love” dad, I’ve got you covered. Each item will have a photo and a link to the HOG review.
At $14.99 the Stage V Clinger Cigar Holder is a great gift. It holds cigars of varying sizes and clamps via velcro or strong magnets.
Between $65-$75 is a Snell Golf Father’s Day gift pack. The packs come with two dozen killer golf balls, an awesome hat, and two casino chip style Snell Golf ball markers. Snell Golf balls are designed by the engineer behind the ProV1 and many other high end “tour” golf balls.
These flip flops are incredibly comfortable. The padding under the feet provides a wonderful foot massage with every step. The joy dad will get for a mere $30 investment is huge.
I love my Emoji Poop head cover. It’s a friendly reminder of how good my golf game really is. Dad’s golf buddies will be envious. Under $30.
Fantastic golf shorts with an attitude featuring roughly 200 skulls. Dad will love wearing these at the stuffy old club. Under $60.
Class dad up with a high end golf polo from Devereux. Incredible fabric, performance and fit. $85 well spent.
Indoors or in the yard these are great practice balls. They fly a fraction of the distance normal golf balls do, and won’t break the neighbor’s window when you blade a flop shot in the front yard.
There are no better socks on the planet. I will not wear any other socks than Kentwool. They’re not cheap. They last forever. Their new game day version features colors of your favorite pro or college sports teams.
My current game bag is this one. It’s super light and very cool looking with no outlandish logos or marketing on it. Ouul is a new brand making some very cool golf bags.
Do you REALLY love dad? Then you can pony up the $500 it will take to get him the best golf laser rangefinder on the market, the Bushnell Pro X2. This is my gamer and I love it.
The best things in life are free. Point dad to the new Hooked on Golf Blog mobile app, available for both major mobile platforms. To find it, search for “Hooked on Golf Blog” in either app store.
It’s 6:43am Sunday the 4th of June. I tee off in about 2.5 hours for round two of the RCK Salt Lake City Amateur tournament. This is the tournament that’s most important to me each year. It’s an extremely well run tournament which is gross-only, and the format eliminates sandbaggers. The golf course, Bonneville, is always setup and manicured extremely well.
This season I’ve pretty much lost my iron game. I’ve been hitting sometimes as little as two greens in regulation for 18 holes, which is not where a supposed 3 handicap should be. Combine that with my short game struggles and it’s hard to score, though my putting is excellent. If I couldn’t putt I’d be shooting 95 instead of 85. I should be scoring 75, according to my handicap. I haven’t sniffed a mid-70’s round since last year.
So I came into yesterday with a small bit of hope and mostly low expectations. I started out less nervous than normal because of the low expectations. I kept it together on the front for eight holes with a couple of birdie chances that barely missed. Through eight holes I was +1 and began to think that I actually had it together. Then came the nerves.
The golf gods are funny like that. They allow you to have hope so they can crush it. My hope was crushed on the par-3 9th, rated as one of the toughest par-3’s in Utah. I pulled my 7-iron left and it hit the cart path, bouncing way up into deep fescue. I found 12 balls in that fescue, none of which were mine. My provisional tee shot missed the green and I ended up making a 6.
The back nine was a case of my typical round this year. Miss greens in regulation (missed 7 of 9), then struggle to get up and down to save par. The two holes I managed to hit in regulation were pars. My putting for the day was 1.78 per hole with no 3-putts. That’s a feat when they have the greens setup so bloody fast. But great putting can only go so far when you miss 12 of 18 greens in regulation and don’t chip well. I did make a couple of good chips like on 17, where my ball literally had a piece of sod stuck to it. I guess I chip better when my ball has gunk stuck to it.
On the back nine I started to have those thoughts like I did last year. The frustration and realization that playing to the level I desire may not happen again. It certainly won’t happen with my schedule of late, 27 holes of golf per week. When I was down to scratch I was playing 5x/week. That frustration and realization made me think that 2017 might be the last year I play golf.
Fist round score: 82.
Today I will give it my best once again. In A-Flight, handicaps 2-6, I can perhaps break into the prize money with a round in the low-mid 70’s. Haven’t done it in eight months, but that’s the goal.
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
