Custom Club Candles - Perfect for Your Club

We have been having fun with Links Candles, the project my 12 year old daughter, Lily and I started. Our latest iteration, Custom Club Candles is specifically for clubs looking for gift items or for their member guest tournaments. Here's all you need to know - you can download the PDF here.

Christmas is Coming - Here's our Top Six Golf Gifts

This year is destined to set yet another record for online purchasing. It remains a mystery to me why anyone would want to visit a physical shopping mall when all you need to buy is online. I'll leave that to the sociology students and talk about what I know - namely, great golf gifts. All the products listed here are made in America by small(ish) companies. Here are my six favorites:

Holderness & Bourne

The two young guys who founded H & B are making great strides in the golf business. They are doing so by creating fashionable, well made clothing and accessories. I have the Maxwell shirt below and it still looks perfect after at least 20 outings (and washes!).
www.holdernessandbourne.com

Lamb Crafted

Based in Texas, Tyson Lamb is creating gorgeous putters and hand crafted accessories. His website is brand new and there is a limited selection available, but more is on the way. Who needs a ball marker shaped like a donut, complete with sprinkles - me, that's who!
www.lambcrafted.com

Links Candles

Okay, full disclosure here - I own this one! My 12 year old daughter wanted to go on Shark Tank and I told her we needed a product or Mr. Wonderful would not see us! So, we researched and then sourced American made 100% soy candles. They are themed around the smells of golf and include beach (below), dirt, fescue, magnolia and more.
www.linkscandles.com

MacKenzie Walker 

The Mackenzie Walker is my golf bag of choice. Hand crafted in Oregon with real care and attention to detail, this is a golf bag that looks better with each year of use. It is unashamedly at the top end of the market, but you get what you pay for in life. (and yes, that is my bag below)
www.mackenziegolfbags.com

Seamus Golf

Our friends at this other Oregon company continue to astound us with their versatile and diverse range of products. They started five years ago as a head cover company and have come along way. Their new range of luggage looks outstanding and is made with the same precision as their other beautiful products. Here are just a few of the cool covers that will give your bag a lift.
www.seamusgolf.com

Tin Cup

The best ball marker in golf, bar none! And their custom program allows customers to create a unique mark guaranteed not to be used by anyone else on the first tee! Tin Cup has recently signed a sponsorship deal with PGA Tour player, Bryson DeChambeau and had fun creating a cool caddyshack video which you can see here.
www.tin-cup.com

MacDuff's 2016 Father's Day Gift Guide

It's a tradition for the final Sunday of the U.S. Open to be played on Father's Day, and as a father it is one that is much appreciated. My main gift each year is to get to watch the golf with few distractions and it doesn't get much better than Oakmont Country Club. It's in my personal Top 10 in the world and with the recent tree removal the course looks better than ever. As well as the gift of golf on television here are five great gift options you can forward on, leave on the printer or tweet out to children, wives and anyone else you may think could buy you a gift!

Beltology
At Beltology they believe belts should stretch! Their belts have no holes, as the prong passes smoothly through the webbing (fabric or leather) allowing for a comfortable and adjustable fit - after lunch for example! Read More Here

Holderness & Bourne
Alex Holderness and John Bourne never much cared for the exhaustive and hyper athletic styling associated with most modern golf apparel. They believe the branding should be subtle with classic styling and a tailored fit. I agree and am a H&B convert! Read More Here

Lee Wybranski
Lee is one of the leading golf artists in the world. This year he has once again created work for the major championships and the perfect gift for dad would be his Oakmont poster shown below. It features the famous church pews bunkers on the 4th and 5th holes and if you look hard you'll see the famous Oakmont squirrel. Read More Here

Links Candles
This new range of golf themed scented candles will be a big hit with dads. Full disclosure, we own this company and it's been fascinating how many dads have declared their passion for scented candles! The range based on the elements of the game includes, Dirt, Fescue, Ocean and Pine. Read More Here

Tin Cup
The only way to really make your mark on a golf ball is with a Tin Cup. They are available in over 140 designs and a new section of specially priced custom cups gives you a good chance of finding a unique cup for dad and his golf balls. How long he can keep it in play is his responsibility! Read More Here

Links Candles - Light Up The Course

It's time for a new adventure. And there is nothing quite like launching a new product to get the creative juices flowing. So, that's what we are about to do and we are doing it with candles. Yes, candles! Who doesn't love scented candles. They look great, smell great and make the perfect year round gift. Over the course of the last few months we have sourced gorgeous 100% soy scented candles, labels, packaging, crinkle paper, shipping boxes, product cards and built a website. (Awesome job by Cary building www.linkscandles.com). I'm happy to say everything we have sourced is made in America. The majority of scented candles are made in China and the volumes required may be okay if you are Target, but not for us. We have no idea if anyone else likes the idea yet, so I didn't feel like having a garage full of 10,000 candles stacked upon each other and nowhere to put the car!

The inspiration for the candles is the great game of golf. The blue, green and yellow logo above represents the sea and sky, grass and sand. It's nature at its finest and the linked circles are the combination of the three coming together. We went through many iterations of the name and it was my father in law who really liked the simple name "Links" amongst our many possibilities. We hope you like it too! 

The scents for the candles came through many hours of testing and sniffing. Candles can smell very different when lit and the living room was our olfactory testing center for weeks until we all agreed on the ones we liked. The scents include fresh cut grass, pine tress, magnolias and more. We also had great fun naming the products to fit the golf theme. For example, we have Tall Pines, Earth and Magnolia (yes, I would have liked to have added another word to that one!)

The artwork above of the 16th at Cabot Links truly represents what Links Candles stands for and I have a couple of people to thank for allowing us to use the image on our website and packaging. Josh Smith, the incredibly talented artist who painted it and Ben Cowan-Dewar, the visionary behind the Cabot Links property in Inverness, Nova Scotia. See Josh's site here and Cabot Links here.

Well, that's a little of the background to the adventure. We will see where the journey takes us in the coming months. If you would like to order a candle or two, here's where you can do it. 
STOP PRESS - Our packaging just arrived and here it is.