Bunkers, Ball Markers &  Bracelets

  

Dune.  Not part of the Sahara.  Not the strange movie.  Duneis now ball markers, wine stoppers, cuff links, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and other adornments.  It is jewelry that features sand.  Special sand. This is the kind of sand that reminds you of a great memory.  Really, you’ll love this!

    Holly Daniels Christensen is a jewelry designer. And she is also a beach lover. About eight years ago, she decided to combine the two and started making jewelry featuring sand from her favorite beaches. It was designed to be sentimental jewelry, reminding people of a great vacation or a beautiful location.

    One day someone asked her if she could make something out of bunker sand.  Well, to her sand is sand, she can work with it.  But to golfers, sand from a particular golf course is as important as a favorite beach is to someone else.

    Now, we all know golfers are sentimental about rounds they played at certain courses, but Christensen didn’t. However, not one to turn a blind eye to a business opportunity, she started adding bunker sand to her collection.

    Why would you want bunker sand? Well, you might want to remember where you were when you played a bunker shot, like at Pebble Beach, for instance.  Or from that God-awful, 19-foot deep bunker on the 16th hole at the PGA West Stadium Course in La Quinta. Or from Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. That whole course is mostly bunker.  Just ask Dustin Johnson.

    Maybe you won The Masters after hitting a shot out of the bunker on the 18th. That's special sand. Of course, just like a green jacket is not a regular sport coat, sand from Augusta National would be practically impossible to get.  

    However, Christensen is developing a collection of golf locations to go along with her beach locations. At the PGA Show, for instance, I got a bracelet from her with a charm that has sand from Pebble Beach.

    Of course, not everyone wants a charm.   bracelet.  Consider a tie clip or ball marker with bunker sand from your bucket list course. It’s not as crazy as you might think.  You can even send in your own sand, and they will make a charm or tie tack or tie clip or ring or necklace or bottle stopper, whatever you choose from the styles Dune offers.

    Prices start at $55 for charms, made from sterling silver with your sand or theirs, and they go up from there.  However, you can get a bottle stopper, not sterling, for $35, filled with your choice of sand.  Divot tools, also not sterling, are $25.

    One thing for sure, you have to enjoy the Dune motto: Handmade with love and sandy hands in the USA. https://dunejewelry.com/sand-jewelry


The Handbag Raincoat


Handbag Raincoat? This is where any woman says, “Why on earth didn’t I think of that?”

   Yes, it’s a raincoat for your purse.  I couldn’t believe it when I saw it, and then I couldn’t believe it hadn’t always been available. Not only is it a great idea,  it's Oprah approved.

    Ok, I know we are all about golf here, but how many times have you been out whether on a golf course or not, and had a handbag just get drenched in a rainstorm? 

    Well, no more! Thanks to Morgan Sarner who came up with the Handbag Raincoat. This is a woman who knows her shopping and her  rain.  

     As she said on her web site:
“On rainy days, I would use my arms, coat, and even newspaper to protect my handbag from getting wet and damaged by the rain. The snow took its toll on my handbags as well. I would watch the weather forecast at night and make my next day’s handbag selection based on whether or not it was going to rain. I used my already rain damaged handbags on bad weather days."  

    The Handbag Raincoat comes in six styles and three sizes.  All but one can be monogrammed. Even though not golf related, gets an A+ for solving a problem that all women have had and, for whatever reason, it was at the PGA Show.

      Priced at $11 for the Mini, $15 for the Midi and $20 for the Maxi. https://handbagraincoat.com/

Jack Grace Changeable Shoes

     Thanks to Bart Walker’s desire to have really fashionable footwear without spending a fortune on shoes, all men with normal shoe sizes can change their look as often as they change their golf shirt.    

    Walker didn’t start out to have a shoe company.  He was a banker.  A banker who liked shoes. He just wanted to be fashion forward.  That was all. He cut up old shoes and designed something in the kitchen, like a lot of inventors do.  Finally, he got someone to make the shoes for him. His friends liked them, so he continued to work on the project, and pretty soon it became a business.

     After a while, the business became so successful that he and his wife Erinn quit their day jobs to focus on what becameJack Grace shoes.
    Here’s how it works:  You buy the base shoe with a saddle in one color. Then you buy saddles in different patterns and colors, as many as you want, keeping in mind that there is a limit to the number of designs that they have. But they have a lot. 

    The saddles attach with special small magnets that snap on to the sides of the shoes, making changing them out fast, easy, and dare we say it, fun! 

     There are 25 basic colors. There are printed saddles with fish, sharks, paisleys, plaids, ginghams, Norwegian or Canadian flags, college logos and more.  And if you buy several saddles, they give you a break on the price.

    The shoes are not expensive by golf shoe standards, $160, in black, white or gray.  And there’s an option to buy a shoe plus a group of four saddles, sometimes themed, for $260. There’s also a starter bundle with the shoe and three saddles for about $230. Saddles can be bought separately or in bundles. Single saddles alone are $40 each.
     Walker pointed out that he would never spend the money to buy new golf shoesjust  to change his look, but new saddles?  No brainer.

And Jack and Grace are the names of the Walker children.  https://www.jackgraceusa.com/

Luxury Products, New Designs & New Ideas

Kathy Bissell has more than 25 years experience as a golf writer and television producer.

Claire Chase Luxury Bags


    Every once in a while you see a product and say, where can I get that!  In this case, it was at Clair Chase, a luxury bag company. The leather is buttery.  The colors are warm and natural. And there’s a good variety for both men and women. Traveling in style with Claire Chase bags is not quite to the extreme of luxury travel in the days of Downton Abbey, but it’s certainly for the person who likes to travel well and can afford to do so.

    Choose from a wide variety of travel goodies, like their 21 to 27”’ Pullmans, backpacks and computer bags, crossbody bags and travel kits, duffels and ditty bags. Claire Chase doesn’t stop there. You can select a tie holder, a battery case or a boot bag. There are wine carriers, post-it note holders, briefcases, man bags, garment bags and more that round out the array.  If you use it or need it for travel, they have it. Well, except for the steamer trunk, but really, hardly anyone uses those anymore.

    Wayne Grady, 1990 PGA Champion, tennis legend Stan Smith and Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, have given Claire Chase endorsements

    While the company sells primarily to golf tournaments for inclusion in pro-am gift packages or to corporations that are rewarding extra-special customers with memorable gifts, it turns out you can also buy them on line at https://clairechase.com/  (And guess what? They even have a sale page!)