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Editor’s note: This story originally ran on Dec. 22, 2017.
Back in the day, when golf manufacturers weren’t sending boxes upon boxes of goodies for free, William McGirt had to rely on Santa Claus for his next addition to the golf bag.
While the winner of the 2016 Memorial said most of his presents at Christmas were golf related, the gift he got when he was 15 stood out.
“I remember one year when graphite shafts first came out and I was dying to have a driver with a graphite shaft. I don’t remember the exact model of the shaft, but I do remember it was a Mizuno driver and I thought it was the greatest thing in the world,” McGirt said.
Only one problem.
“I couldn’t hit it very well,” McGirt added with a laugh.
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A driver Brian Harman got worked very well.
“I got a TaylorMade Burner Bubble driver when I was 13,” said the winner of the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship. “That was the driver to have back then. And boy, did it work. It was great.”
With the holiday season upon us, some of golf’s best players in the world took a drive down memory lane to the times they unwrapped their presents hoping to see the latest golf equipment that would head straight to their golf bag.
“As a kid, I remember my first set of irons,” former world No. 1 Luke Donald said. “I was 12 years old and I got Seve (Ballesteros) irons and they were the greatest thing I ever saw.”
Justin Thomas still has one of the gifts he got as a kid. The 11-time winner on Tour said his mom and dad would play a little game of hide-and-seek with his “big” present hidden somewhere else in the house.
“I remember one year, I don’t know how old I was, but I was opening my presents. I was sitting on the floor and I (saw) a golf club box or whatever wrapped under the couch,” Thomas said. “I’m like, ‘What’s that?’ And they saw that I saw it and noticed I pulled it out. I think it was a Scottie Cameron that year that I still have. That was a pretty cool gift.”
World Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Love III didn’t have his own full set of clubs for years after he picked up the game. His bag was full of his mom’s leftover clubs, or his dad’s backup clubs. That changed as he unwrapped his presents when he was 15.
“I got a set of Hogan Apex irons from my dad, who was on the Hogan staff,” Love said. “I finally had my own clubs. When I got those Apex irons, it was great. And that’s exactly what I asked Santa for.
Patrick Reed said the best golf-related present he ever got was an early Christmas present gift he received from a friend of his. He got it a few weeks ahead of the 2016 Ryder Cup, where he played a starring role as the U.S. defeated Europe for the first time since 2008.
It was a golf bag, but not just any golf bag. No, his friend got a Callaway staff bag made specifically to honor Arnold Palmer at the Masters one year. Then his friend got the King to sign the bag for Reed.
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“I always wanted to get a bag signed by Mr. Palmer but I really was never around him much,” Reed said. “And I got it before the Ryder Cup and it’s in my office and I see it every time I walk into the office. It’s just great. Best golf present I’ve ever gotten.”
Justin Leonard can’t remember the best golf-related Christmas present he got. He said he obviously got plenty of golf presents as a kid but nothing, no matter how long he jogged his memory, popped up. Instead of a driver, a lightsaber stood out in his Christmas presents.
“Seriously, I can’t remember any golf equipment,” said the winner of 12 PGA Tour titles, including the 1997 Open Championship. “But I remember when I was 5, I got a sweet Stars Wars watch. That was the coolest thing I ever got.”
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