The Loop

These are the best golf beverage bottles, and I'm not kidding

July 04, 2014

Usually, the "tee gift" you receive for playing in a golf tournament is something you either don't want or already have a dozen of, like a bag that isn't the right size or shape to hold anything you want to carry in a bag, or a vest. Of all the tee gifts I've been given over the years, just three stand out: a Club Glove carry-on suitcase, from my brother's member-guest (now sadly broken); a belt with a beer-opener buckle, from my own member-guest, which is almost the only belt I ever wear; and a Hydro Flask water bottle, from a local tournament last year:

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Several of my friends also played in the same tournament and received the same water bottle, and they love it, too. It holds 24 ounces and has a screw-on top with a ring thing in it. I like mine so much that I recently bought a second one, just for coffee. It holds 18 ounces and has a wide-mouth with a "flip lid," for sipping:

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As of this week, I own a third, a 32-ounce model, for carrying water on really hot days. It's big, but it fits in the beverage pocket on my golf bag, and I got it with both a regular screw-on top and a "straw lid," which lets me drink from it like a baby bottle:

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If I hadn't quit drinking alcohol a decade ago, I would immediately buy a fourth Hydro Flask, called the Growler, which is even bigger, and holds 64 ounces of beer:

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There are several guys at my club who could really use Growlers. If men ever bought presents for other men, I might get them one, if only to prevent them from doing what they do now, which is to fill old beer bottles with new beer from the Kegerator in the clubhouse storeroom and carry them in their golf bags. They use old beer-bottle tops to reduce spillage:

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Among the appealing features of all my Hydro Flask bottles are the finishes, which are tough and non-glossy. They also come in great colors. And unlike the black finish on my four Thermos coffee mugs (which, because of their shape, inevitably pop out of the cup-holder on my pushcart) they don't chip off:

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I love all three of my Hydro Flasks. A golfer would pretty much have to be crazy, I think, to carry a liquid in anything else. There are lots to choose from:

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