How I spent $115 and built an at-home short-game setup
Here's how to create the perfect short-game setup at your home.
How best to spend — or splurge! — your golf dollars? Whether you have $50 or $500, check out GOLF.com’s new How to Spend… series, in which our own staffers take a designated amount of play money and go shopping in GOLF’s new Pro Shop. The goal here is to not only tell you about the products we love, but also to help golfers find items they might like — no matter their budget. You can visit GOLF’s Pro Shop here.
I live in the northeast, where it’s cold and slowly descending into winter. The golf course is fast becoming a dream of spring, which means if I want to avoid any backsliding in my game when the season does get back up and running next year, I’m going to have to get entrepreneurial with my ideas. Or, in other words, I need to figure out how to practice from home. So when I was tasked with tackling GOLF.com’s Pro Shop with a $115 budget, that was my goal: to buy stuff that will be beneficial enough to me and my game. Here’s what I came up with.
$115 remaining…
First off, I needed something for my favorite at-home golf activity: Indoor putting. I tend to putt to a variety of chair legs around my home, so figured it’d be a good opportunity to upgrade to this putting mat/cup combo. There are some great putting mats out there, but they’re also more expensive, so I opted for this value pick instead. And besides, I like that I can remove the putting cup and move it around, in case I want to practice my lag putting. Seems like it might come in handy.
Callaway Executive Putting
$49.99
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$65.01 remaining…
Now that I’m ready to practice my putting, let’s back up a bit and get my chipping sorted. For $40, this backyard chipping set seems like a genuine value play. A collapsible pin, cup, a fancy flag and three practice golf balls. Looks easy to set up in any number of places outside — and perhaps even indoors — in the event of a frost delay.
Callaway Closest To The Pin Game Flagpole & Cup Set
$39.99
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$25.02 remaining…
Technically, this isn’t something that will help me play better golf, but it’s too good a deal to pass up. Just $17.50 for a little piece of inspiration from the best ball-striker in golf history? Easy choice. And besides, if I’m practicing golf at home, I might as well look the part, and that means a golf-themed shirt.
Linksoul The Lagger
$17.5
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$7.52 remaining…
I’m not going to gloss over any of the details here. I was tempted to try to squeeze in another purchase, but then I remembered the taxman cometh. Nothing we can do about that, and they come out to $6.82, so that pretty much covers the remainder of my budget.
72 cents remaining…
Nevertheless, I feel like I’m doing rather well on this challenge. And even though I have hardly any money left, let’s not forget about the freebies. Because my order’s over $30, that means I get both free shipping and a free yearly subscription to GOLF Magazine, which I can use to consult as I practice.
Total: $114 spent
Overall, I’m pleased with how I did. I’ve got a steal of a t-shirt and the tools to help my short game come back sharper than ever when I return from the offseason.
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