LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS GOLF GIFTS

There is still time to buy last minute golf presents!  These great gifts check the boxes on authenticity, value and are MacDuff Guaranteed! (whatever that means!)

LEE WYBRANSKI  -  GORGEOUS GOLF ART

Another stellar year for Mr. Wybranski and his prolific workload, including the cover of the November Masters Annual. Lee's work has become highly collectible and his website features his iconic posters as well as one-off originals.  www.leewybranski.com  

FLAG BAG  -  COOL BAGS

Take a look at these - Golf bags made from flown golf flags. A brilliant idea from golf superintendent, Josh Smith (he's also an extraordinary painter!). The bags are hand-made by Macdonald Leathergoods in Portland, OR. (Fair warning - your special bag may take a wee while - you'll need to collect flags and then plan how your bag will look)   www.flagbaggolfco.com

TIN CUP  -  THE BEST BALL MARKER

A golf gift you can give golfers and know they will use it. The rules of golf state that you should mark your golf ball before playing and Tin Cup has made this a simple process for hundreds of thousands of golfers since 2010. www.tin-cup.com

TWO GREAT GOLF BOOKS

I loved both of these tomes and think you will too. The first is by Jay Revell and titled The Nine Virtues of Golf. It's a short, very entertaining read and every "real" golfer will recognize themselves in Jay's prose. www.amazon.com

The next recommendation is One for the Memory Banks by Luke Reese. The book is a glorious travalogue around the courses of Great Britain and Ireland featuring tall tales from Luke and his pals. www.thememorybanks.com

T minus 6 days to The Masters and a European victory

The anticipation is probably greater this year than for any Masters Tournament in a decade. The leading lights are all playing well and this year's PGA Tour has had many great finishes by a very strong contingent all looking to make their mark.

The resurgent Woods is the Vegas and British bookies favorite, followed closely by Phil, Rory, Lee, Luke and Justin. It's hard to see past that posse of first names, although we'll try. How about Charl to defend?,  Bubba to focus for all 72 holes?, Webb to hit a shot within the allotted 2 minutes?.  That said we still like the European players to challenge and ultimately prevail. The last European winner was Jose-Maria Olazabal in 1999 and it's time for another to step up and Charl to hand over the jacket.

On the golf course front, it will be in its usual perfect condition and you can expect to hear about the changes to the front of the 8th green and back of the 16th green. It's tough to tell from the picture above, but the back right quadrant of the 16th seems to have been flattened out giving enough room for a pin back there. I'm not saying its easy! - this remains one of the easiest 3 putts out there - I can testify to that!

10 Things We Love About The Game Of Golf (Part 2 - The Last 5)

Continuing with our Top 10 here are numbers 6 - 10.

6. The Masters Tournament. For me it is the Number 1 Major. Played each year since 1934 at Augusta National nothing will ever signal the opening of the golf season like The Masters. There are many vocal critics of the golf course, saying it's over manicured, too green, too long, just too much! I have had the good fortune to play Augusta on a number of occasions and in my opinion it is still the best golf experience in the world, bar none.
And none of the critics harping on matters come week 2 of April. The par 3 tournament featuring past champions and then 4 days of top drawer golf follow around Bobby Jones' place. The green jacket, the awkward closing ceremony in Butler Cabin, the schmaltzy music, Jim Nantz's "Hello Friends", CBS's coverage featuring actual golf (rather than ED drug ads) and a truly great golf course. It's the Masters.

7. Golf Literature. There are some great books written about the game of golf. History books, instructional books, architecture books, psychology books, business books, biographies. (we'll follow up some time with our favorite golf book list) Golf lends itself well to be written about -  a simple, yet incredibly complex game played for centuries all around the world by all ages. My favorite golf book is Golf in the Kingdom by Michael Murphy - enough of a favorite to name the company after one of Murphy's characters, Seamus MacDuff.

8. Caddyshack. "Gunga la gunga", "so I've got that going for me, which is nice", "Spalding!", "looks good on you though", "pool and a pond...pond would be good for you"....stop, stop, we could go on for the rest of the blog just dropping memorable lines from the one, the only golf movie. Is there a real golfer out there who hasn't done their Bill Murray impression of caddying for the Dalai Lama? I even have Al Czervik's brazen entry with car horn blarring across the tee to Bushwood in his red Rolls Royce as my ringtone - you know the one!
It's golfs Citizen Kane and essential viewing every 6 months. "Be the ball Danny"!

9. Lists. Can you name the Top 10 tennis courts or soccer pitches in the world. No, not the stadium, the pitch! Doesn't really work does it. But with the game of golf arguments about the best hole, course, resort, public course, private course play out each and every day. The Golf Magazines are at the forefront with their Top 100 lists and the bi-annual architectural articles create endless comments and equal scorn. ( I should declare that I am on the panel for one of the Magazines, but am simply a lone voice amongst many)
The lists are great fun - simply that. They are a great way to list great courses on 2 pages and hopefully sell some magazines. No one course is really the winner, there are many great courses in the world and each of us has a preference for one over the other. There is no "Best Course in the World". The best is purely a personal preference. If pushed I would list Cypress Point at the top of my pile, but I'll also tell you I have 11 in my Top 10 confirming that I am tad confused. You can see my list at the bottom right hand side of the Blog.

10. The Icons. Arnie, Jack, Bobby, Lee, Ben, Byron, Tom, Sam, (yes, Tiger too!). Who did I miss?

Phil wins the Masters

An emotional weekend for Phil and Amy as Mickelson shows true class in winning the 2010 Masters. The event was riveting from the moment The King and The Golden Bear teed it up on Thursday morning.

Westwood didn't back off and confirmed his world class status with his third top 3 in the last 3 majors. Phil had to come on strong on the back nine to beat the Englishman. Has there been a better shot in golf than his second on the 13th? - a 6 iron from 200 yards off the pine straw, out of the trees, over the water to 4 feet. Unbelievable!

A big win also for Callaway and the FT Tour driver, X Proto clubs and Tour golf ball.