Choosing the gift is the easy part. Then comes a box that says personalization, and a blinking cursor. This guide gives you examples that work, piece by piece, and the character limits you need to know before you start typing.
The four ingredients
Almost every personalized golf gift is built from four things:
- The course, with its city and state. It is the heart of the gift, and the city tells us which course you mean when two share a name.
- The name: first name, full name, a nickname, or what his grandchildren call him.
- A date: a round, a birthday, a retirement, a year.
- A score, optional. His best round, a personal best, the day he broke 80.
You don't need all four. Course and name are enough for a beautiful piece. The date and score are what turn it into a specific memory.
Examples for course prints
On The Home Course Print and the framed print, the course name sits at the top and the details go underneath:
- MICHAEL HAYES · OCTOBER 14, 2024 · 86: a round he still talks about
- DAD · FIRST ROUND UNDER 90
- THE MILLER FOURSOME · SINCE 1998: for a group gift
- JOHN MILLER · RETIRED 2026
Examples for embroidery
Hats, the polo and the quarter-zip take up to 10 characters, the hoodie up to 15. Embroidery reads best short and bold:
- A name: HAYES, BIG MIKE
- Initials: J.M.H.
- A short course name: PINEHURST, BETHPAGE
- A family role: GRANDPA, PAPA
If the course name is longer than ten characters, use his name on the hat and put the course on a print instead.
Examples for towels
The Personalized Golf Towel prints a name of up to 16 characters, with an optional club or course line below it. In the gift sets, the towel name is also up to 16 characters and the hat text up to 10.
Examples for the scorecard pieces
The Scorecard Mug and The Scorecard Print need his eighteen hole scores, separated by commas, for example 5, 4, 4, 3, 5, 4, 6, 3, 4, 4, 5, 3, 4, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5. If you don't have the card, ask him to find it. Most golfers keep the good ones.
Five mistakes to avoid
- Misspelling the course. Copy it from the course's own website, including "Country Club" or "Golf Links" if that is part of the name.
- Forgetting the city and state. Course names repeat from state to state: there are courses called Riverside or Oak Hills all over the country.
- Too much text on a hat. Ten characters is the limit for clean embroidery.
- Guessing a score. If you are not sure, leave it out. His name and a year is better than a number he will know is wrong.
- A nine-hole course without a note. We draw nine-hole courses as they are played for eighteen, the nine holes twice. Say so in the note when you order.
Two safety nets
We print exactly what you type, so check it twice. Then:
- Nothing goes into production for 24 hours after you order. Email hello@homecoursegoods.com in that window and we will fix a typo free of charge.
- Tick "Email me a proof before production" on the product page, and we will send you the finished design to approve before anything is made.
Still unsure which gift to choose? Start with how to buy a golf gift when you don't play golf.