This is not just any last-minute holiday gift guide – it’s a GolfWRX last-minute holiday gift guide. Don’t worry if you’ve waited too long to buy something awesome for the special golfer in your life. Our staff put our heads together and came up with three gifts that will impress even the most golf-obsessed person on your holiday shopping list. Not only are these gifts cool, they’re sure to help their recipient improve their game. Click here for more discussion in the forums.

Bushnell rangefinders

Bushnell rangefinders are used by more than 90 percent of players on the PGA Tour. More impressive is that Bushnell pays only one Tour player, Rickie Fowler, to use its equipment.

“When PGA Tour players are using equipment that they aren’t getting paid to use, you know that they like it,” said John Novosel, a Bushnell representative.

What PGA Tour pros and other golfers like most about Bushnell is its unmatched accuracy. Every laser in the Bushnell line is built with the same technology, meaning the company’s entry-level rangefinders and high-end models are all accurate within one yard. Higher priced models, however, come with the added perks of faster readings and more magnification.

According to Novosel, most PGA Tour pros opt for the Pro 1600 Slope Edition in their practice rounds, which carries a $499 price tag. Bushnell’s slope technology accounts for elevation changes, telling a player exactly how many yards uphill or downhill a shot is playing.

“Once you use slope, you really get used to it,” Novosel said. “It’s like flying first-class.”

The slope versions of Bushnell’s rangefinders are not legal for tournament play, but it’s newest rangefinder, the Hybrid Rangefinder GPS and its other rangefinders are legal for tournament use.

Bushnell is the first company to produce a hybrid rangefinder, which includes a laser rangefinder and GPS unit, all in one product. According to Novosel, GPS has great benefits for recreation golfers. Bushnell’s Hybrid does the job of a Tour caddy without the loop fee. It can tell players the distance to a fairway bunker, the distance to the end of the fairway, and the distances to the front, middle and back of a green, as well as other necessary distances. The Hybrid’s GPS also comes pre-loaded with 16,000 North American courses, and unlike some GPS units it does not require a membership free.

Tour pros like Fowler almost always need to know the exact distance of their shots, but some recreational golfers do not. GPS rangefinders can tell a player how far they are away from the green, without having to shoot the laser. This is especially handy when courses mandate “cart path only” rules. Without getting out of the cart, a player can know an approximate yardage to the green, eliminating the need to take more than two or three clubs to their ball. And besides, how many of us really need to know that we’re 267 yards away from the green?

Purchase a Bushnell’s Hybrid GPS laser before the New Year and save $100 off the $499 price through a mail-in rebate. Here’s to faster play!

SuperStroke putter grips

Even if you’re not familiar with SuperStroke grips, you’ve probably noticed them on Tour. The bulky grip on K.J. Choi’s putter is made by SuperStroke. The grip Jason Dufner used in a playoff at the 2012 PGA Championship was a SuperStroke, too. And the grip used by Harrison Frazar to win the FedEx St. Jude Classic in June? You guessed it – SuperStroke.

The original SuperStroke was an oversized, non-tapered putter grip that received rave reviews from Tour pros and consumers for its ability to help them lighten their grip pressure and put feel and smoothness back in their strokes. It did have some drawbacks, however. It featured a metal under lifting that made the grip very heavy, nearly 225 grams. To install one, a player had to fasten set screws to the putter shaft, which made the grips somewhat cumbersome to install.

Tiger Shark Golf acquired SuperStroke in 2009, and set out to improve on the original SuperStroke design. The company completely changed the grip’s under lifting, constructing it out of a 4M material that made the grips substantially lighter and improved sound and feel. Installation of these grips is now much easier as well, requiring only standard two-sided tape and grip solvent.

The result of those changes is the SuperStroke Fatso Lite, which like the original SuperStroke grip is 300 percent larger than a standard putter grip but weighs only 85 grams. For those wanting a different feel, SuperStroke now offers different sizes of its non-tapered oversized grips. The SuperStroke Slim Lite is 18 percent smaller than the original SuperStroke, and weighs only 55 grams. In comparison, the PING Man PP58 Putter Grip that Tiger Woods uses weighs 59 grams. The SuperStroke Ultra Slim is the closest to a conventional-sized putter grip in a non-tapered design, measuring 1 inch in diameter and weighing only 60 grams (the Fatso is 1.67 inches in diameter, and the Slim is 1.3 inches in diameter.)

Not sure which grip is best to gift? Opt for the SuperStroke Slim Lite, which was the No. 1 most played oversized putter grip on the PGA Tour. And don’t forget to add some color to your purchase. SuperStroke now offers the Fatso, Slim and UltraSlim putter grips in six different colors through its new Splash Series.

Swiftwick socks

The last thing most golfers think about before they start their round is their feet. Unfortunately, sometimes the only thing golfers can think about after their round is their feet.

For as long as there have been bogeys in golf, there have also been blisters. But a company called Swiftwick believes they have found the solution. Swiftwick began making its full-compression socks in 2007 for endurance athletes such as cyclists and runners, but quickly the socks caught on with golfers. What makes Swiftwick socks different than a regular sock is that they are knit on a 200-needle machine, giving them the same thread count as a medical compression sock. The tight weave ensures that the socks don’t stretch out or lose elasticity over time. Since all Swiftwick socks are full compression, they provide support for all the joints, tendons, ligaments and muscles in the foot that are vital for golf swing balance and power.

Tour superstars have taken notice – players like Scott Piercy, Scott Stallings, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Jonathon Byrd, Chris DiMarco and many more have worn Swiftwicks. GolfWRX Tour Photographer Greg Moore is also a Swiftwick supporter. Matt Hawkins, Swiftwick sales manager, has been kept to a tight sampling budget on Tour in recent years, meaning a lot of players have been forced to purchase the product – a rare occurrence for a group of people who get just about everything golf-related for free.

“Players have told me that they’ll reach for a dirty pair of Swiftwicks over a clean pair of another sock,” Hawkins said. “They like them that much … Davis Love III told me early on that he used to save his Swiftwicks for the weekend.”

All Swiftwicks socks feature a seamless toe, which means there is no extra material in the toe box to cause friction. Swiftwick’s thickest sock, its “Pursuit” line, is Adam Scott’s favorite. It’s constructed from merino wool, a natural fiber that is inherently moisture wicking and provides great cushion. The rest of Swiftwick’s socks are made from Olefin, an antimicrobial synthetic material. Unlike other socks that use chemicals for the moisture wicking process, Swiftwicks are naturally moisture wicking.

“The problem with using chemicals for moisture wicking is that after about 10 washes, the chemicals are gone,” Hawkins said. “Our socks wick mechanically.”

Decreasing in order of thickness is the company’s “Performance” line, the “Vibe” line, and the company’s thinnest socks, the “Aspire” line.

Swiftwicks range from $9.99 to $29.99 a pair. They are 100 percent made in the U.S., and come in a variety of lengths and colors. The company’s Vibe line has been especially popular with Tour players because of its selection of color choices such as Carolina blue, pink, red and gray.

by Zak Kozuchowski

GolfWRX Staff