It’s the golfer’s uniform: A collared shirt, hat and shorts or pants, along with a white, black or navy blue stand bag.

It gets worse for professionals, who have even less to choose from since they can’t wear shorts.

Maybe that’s why we golfers love to accessorize the way we do. It’s fun showcasing something that’s a little different in an environment that otherwise keeps us looking pretty similar… Especially when it’s with customized accessories that showcase our personality while providing much needed functionality.

To me, one of the coolest ways to accessorize golf gear is with custom club head covers.

It’s crazy to think Seamus basically started the head cover industry in earnest about ten years ago. Prior to that, the only options were the head covers that came with your clubs, which were fine, a couple generic options at Golf Galaxy or your dad’s old calf-length socks. Not as great.

When it comes to club head covers, there are two companies that stand above the rest: Seamus and Fore Ewe. Both sell super high-quality, durable woolen products, both are based out of Portland, Oregon, and both provide endless ways to customize.

Where the two companies differ the most revolves entirely around personal preference: Seamus’s head covers are sewn and more sleek in appearance, and Fore Ewe’s are knit and more “floppy” in appearance.

Club head covers are very personal, and they’re not cheap (nor usually returnable), so you’ll want to make sure you get this one right. A few ideas for ensuring that:

• Keep it simple – colors and patterns you know they’ll love that work with their current bag setup (link: Fore Ewe standard collections, link: Seamus Golf all head covers)
• Make it obvious – maybe a club head cover from their alma mater (link: Seamus Collegiate collection)? Or favorite NBA team (link: Seamus NBA collection)?
• A gift card – expect ~ $75 per cover for drivers, and $55-65 for fairway woods and hybrids
• Ask them to make their own selection(s)! It takes out the surprise, but gets them exactly what they want while working through the lead time en route to the Holidays

.

Seamus Golf

Established in 2011 by Akbar and Megan Chisti and named for their Irish Terrier, Seamus O’Reily, Seamus Golf specializes in unique, one-off golf accessories that started with club head covers and has since expanded to on-course tools (divot repair, bag tags, flasks, alignment sticks, towels, scorecard holders, yardage books and so on), bags and pouches, extremely limited-run Sunday bags and equipment, major golf memorabilia (eg: US Open collectibles), clothing and cool hand-forged collectibles.

The newest of those hand-forged collectibles is the putting cup, for example:

While their stable of accessories has expanded significantly over the past 9 years, their bread and butter has always been exquisitely designed and manufactured woolen club head covers.

Seamus Golf has collections that will match every golfer’s personality and interests, whether through classic design like with their tartan wools or through more direct associations like with their new collegiate and NBA collections.

Looking for a good starting point? Below is a link to Seamus’s 2020 Holiday Gift Guide:

Beyond their amazing golf products, Seamus is a company worth supporting. When the COVID-19 pandemic originally started, for example, they shut down their normal operations for months to instead sew masks to donate to frontline workers. Akbar, Megan and their staff are wonderful people who always go above and beyond, whether that’s for customers or society, in general.

Product Wrap-Up:
Brand: Seamus Golf
Product: Club head covers
Price range: $55-75 apiece

Seamus Golf Website

.

Fore Ewe, by MacKenzie Golf Bags

Also exceptionally high in quality construction and customizability, Fore Ewe offers a very different head cover product than Seamus in that theirs’ are knit.

Knit head covers have a very old-school look and feel: They’re softer and flowy, with smooth yarn and pom poms.

Knit head covers are typically skein dyed, which involves loose lengths of yarn being immersed in receptacles full of pigment. This is the most costly method of dyeing yarn, but leads to a superior product with color that’s fade-resistant.

As is the case with their hand-made MacKenzie Golf Bags, everything is handmade with incredible attention to detail.

Included in that detail is a whole lot of potential customization. For “standard” options, the order placer only needs to make a couple of decisions, like what type of top feature to use (fat tassel, tassel, large pom), the club it’s for (driver, fairway wood, hybrid, putter), and standard vs. long length. Chances are it’ll always be standard-length, and if they don’t already have custom head covers then you’ll want to go with the driver option. It’ll be $10 more than the others, but it’s the most popular option by far.

For custom orders, there is a whole lot more personalization available, including:

• Club type (driver, fairway wood, hybrid)
• Head color (40 color options)
• Head design (solid, small checks, larger checks, vertical stripes, horizontal stripe, diagonal dot and what color(s)?)
• Head cap (yes or no)
• Neck stripes (none, thick, thin and what color(s)?)
• Top treatment (none, tassel, fat tassel, mini tassel, large pom, small pom, loop and what color(s)?)
• Neck length (almost always standard)
• Top stitch text (eg: Initials)

Double-waxed and spun, Fore Ewe’s wool is exceptionally durable and smooth. Elastic promotes a snug fit.

Product Wrap-Up:
Brand: Fore Ewe, by MacKenzie Golf Bags
Product: Club head covers
Price range: $55-80 apiece

Fore Ewe Website

.

Whether you go with sewn Seamus head covers, knit covers from Fore Ewe or a less expensive option (eg: The Amazon list below), the important thing is that they protect your club heads.

Both companies’ products discussed here will do that beautifully, protecting club faces from dings and scratches during your round or in storage, and worse from snaps while in transit or when that immature buddy of yours’ unstraps your bag on a cart path.

Which style best fits the golfer in your life?

.