How To Personalize Golf Balls
How To Personalize Golf Balls
You might be a beginner looking for inexpensive golf balls or a veteran of many years playing the best golf balls on your market. Either way, there's nothing to stop you adding your own personal touch before setting off round the course.
Not that many years ago your local pro probably stocked club-crested golf balls, but not a lot else went on in the way of personalization. Some golfers may even remember using a tee peg to put a series of fine indents in the surface of the old balata balls. How times have changed! When it comes to how to personalize golf balls, it depends how particular you are, and how much effort you're prepared to go to.
But you probably won’t be surprised to learn that in the 21st century you can have pretty much whatever you want emblazoned on your golf balls. That means initials, names, a logo or crest or even a photo of yourself or your loved ones. Additionally if you need to buy some golf balls first, make sure you check out our guides on the best premium golf balls, best mid price golf balls, or the best value golf balls first!
How To Personalize Golf Balls
Sharpie
Let’s start with the simplest option – the trusty Sharpie pen. This has become the staple ball-marking tool for millions of golfers the world over. Okay, it may be more for identification than personalization purposes, but Titleist has made a big thing over the years of how its tour pros mark its golf balls.
Some golfers are simple one-dot merchants. Others opt for a combination of colors. Yet others create something so elaborate you wonder how they would cope if they were losing balls with alarming regularity.
Sharpies are virtually permanent. They may wear over time, especially on wet days, but that will only be an issue if your ball is into its third or fourth outing. And you can always top the markings back up. The MyBall marking tool, among others, lets you neatly draw playing card, canine or 19th hole symbols with a Sharpie. And Sharpies are now available in a vast rainbow of colors so you’ll be able to find the precise shade you want.
Ball Design
At least two brands offer balls with fairly elaborate pre-printed markings. Callaway has the Triple Track Alignment system on its ERC Soft and Chrome Soft models. TaylorMade has its Pix balls available in the TP5 and TP5x, and a new Stripe design as well on the Tour Response. All of these are designed to help in factors like alignment, stroke, visibility and so on.
Color Options
Okay, this may not be going down the full personalization route. But golf balls are now available in such a wide range of colors that you could semi-personalize your ball just by playing a stand-out trademark color. The Volvik Vivid in sky blue or purple perhaps? Titleist’s TruFeel in matte red maybe?
Once word gets around that you're the purple golf ball girl or guy, surely no-one would dare tread on your toes by choosing the same color when playing with you. A degree of personalization at zero extra cost.
Special order
It used to be that only the club pro could offer personalized or logo golf balls. Now, you can do it yourself with several companies. Titleist, for example, offers three ways to personalize balls across the whole Titleist range. You can choose a custom number and you can draft up to three lines of 17-character text. Additionally you can choose from a selection of flags, emojis and other symbols.
TaylorMade’s program is a little more limited, but on its TP5 models you can choose from a small selection of football club logos. Or you can add either three lines of 12-character text or one of a selection of novelty logos.
Vice Golf offers a comprehensive personalization service called My Own Vice. This offers the chance to print text, logos or even photos on your golf balls. Minimum order is one dozen, but the price drops significantly for larger quantities
Line marking tools
Many of us now like to ensure we have the ball perfectly lined up on putts (and even tee-shots), with a number of helpful tools hitting the market. Among them are the Trident Align and Align-M-Up, which help you to draw perfectly straight lines.
We’ve probably all found balls that have no end of markings criss-crossing them. Whether you want one simple line or a cross-hatching effect, these devices let you personalize your ball while also helping with alignment.
Transfers or tattoos
Another option for those wondering how to personalize golf balls is to add a transfer or tattoo. Several companies offer products along these lines. Among them are Golf Dotz from whom you can get two sheets of transfers for about a fiver in a range of designs. They're thin and durable and permanently bond to the skin of the golf ball in under five seconds.
