Buying for a junior golfer is awkward because the goalposts keep moving. A 12-year-old who played four rounds last summer is a completely different buyer to a 16-year-old with a handicap and firm opinions about ball flight.
We sell golf gift boxes, so we have an interest here. We also think a lot of what gets bought for junior golfers never gets used.
Start with how often they actually play
This is the question that decides everything else.
A junior who plays a handful of times a year on holiday needs almost nothing. Balls and tees, and that is about it. Anything technical will sit in a cupboard.
A junior who plays most weekends is going through consumables at a rate their parents are probably funding. That is where a gift lands well, because you are replacing something they are already running out of.
A junior who is in a club academy or playing county golf already has a bag they have chosen themselves. Buying them equipment is risky. Buying them more of what they already get through is not.
What a junior golfer actually gets through
Most of the useful money goes on things that wear out or get lost.
| Item | How fast it goes | Worth buying as a gift? |
|---|---|---|
| Golf balls | Very fast, especially under 16 | Yes, in quantity |
| Tees | Constantly | Yes, in bulk |
| Glove | Every few months if they play weekly | Yes, if you know the size |
| Ball markers | Lost regularly | Yes, cheap and useful |
| Cap | Lasts, but they like a new one | Yes |
| Clubs | Outgrown, not worn out | No, unless fitted |
That list is not glamorous. It is, however, what gets used.
Gloves: the one thing worth getting right
A glove goes on the lead hand, which is the opposite hand to the one they play with. A right-handed golfer wears a glove on the left hand. Juniors get this wrong on their own behalf fairly often, so do not assume they will correct you.
Sizing is the part that catches people out. Our gloves run S, S/M, M, M/L and L, and the buyer picks size and hand at checkout. A teenager with adult-sized hands is usually fine in a Small or Small/Medium.
A younger child is often not. Genuine junior gloves are cut on a different pattern and we do not stock them, so if you are buying for an eight-year-old, a specialist junior range is the better call than us. We would rather say that than sell you a glove that does not fit.
If you are unsure where an older junior sits, our golf glove size guide covers measuring properly.
Balls: quantity beats prestige
There is a temptation to buy a junior a dozen tour balls because that is what the professionals play. We would not.
A developing golfer is not compressing a tour ball enough to get anything back from it, and they are losing two or three a round. Giving a 14-year-old premium balls mostly teaches them to be nervous over water.
Twelve decent balls they can hit without flinching is a better gift than four expensive ones.
Most of our balls are graded recovered balls: A or Pearl grade is excellent with very light marks, B has moderate marks, C or Practice grade is more scuffed but still playable. For a junior, B grade is plenty, and C grade is ideal for a short game session in the garden. Our golf ball grading guide explains the difference.
What we would skip
Clubs, unless you have had them fitted or the junior has specifically asked for a model. Juniors grow, shaft length matters more than it does for adults, and a wrong set gets abandoned quietly.
Training aids, mostly. A swing trainer bought by a well-meaning relative is the most reliably unused object in golf.
Anything heavily branded with a tour player's name. Teenagers change their minds about who they like faster than you can order it.
Where a gift box fits
The reason we build boxes the way we do is that they solve the quantity problem. Balls, a glove, tees, markers and a cap in one go, which is roughly the junior shopping list.
Our ready-made boxes are the Members box at £28, the Captains box at £54 and the Presidential box at £94. For most juniors the Members or Captains box is the sensible end of that. The Presidential box, with twelve premium tour-level A-grade balls, a tour-standard glove, a premium cap, a headcover, ball markers and 100 bamboo tees, is a better fit for a serious teenager who is already playing off a handicap.
If you want control over exactly what goes in, you can build your own golf gift box from £24, choosing six or twelve balls, the grade, the glove, the cap and any personalised extras such as a bag tag or a towel. For a junior, that usually means more balls and fewer accessories, which is not a combination you get in a standard box.
Everything is hand-packed in the UK and arrives gift-ready. UK delivery is free on orders over £100.
You can see the full range of golf gift boxes if you would rather compare them side by side.
Rough guide by age
- Under 10: balls, plastic or short tees, a cap. Buy the glove from a junior specialist, not us.
- 10 to 13: a bulk box of balls, bamboo tees, ball markers. Keep it cheap and replaceable.
- 14 to 16: a glove in S or S/M, twelve balls, a cap. A Members or Captains box covers this well.
- 17 plus: treat them as an adult golfer. Better balls, a tour-standard glove, something personalised.
Common questions
How much should I spend on a junior golfer?
Less than you would on an adult, in most cases. Between £25 and £55 buys a genuinely useful gift at this age, and the money is better spent on volume than on prestige. Our golf gifts under £30 piece covers the lower end.
Are recovered golf balls good enough for a junior?
Yes, and arguably better. A junior losing several balls a round gets more benefit from twelve playable balls than from four pristine ones. Grade A or B both play fine.
Which hand does a junior wear the glove on?
The lead hand, which is the opposite hand to the one they play with. Right-handed golfers wear it on the left. Left-handed golfers wear it on the right.
What if they already have everything?
Then buy consumables. Nobody has too many tees, markers or balls. If you want it to feel like more than a restock, a personalised bag tag or towel turns the same items into something they keep.
Our honest take
Junior golfers are cheap to buy for and easy to get wrong. The failure mode is almost always buying something impressive rather than something they will open on a Saturday morning and take to the first tee.
If you know roughly how often they play and which hand they swing with, you have enough to buy well. If you want to put it together yourself rather than take what is in a standard box, the custom golf gift box is the place to start.