Traditional golf trophies are so 2019.
The metallic (often cheap plastic) chalice most golfers associate with the game's hardware is on the way out, or at least has a lot more company from more creative shapes than it used to.
Not that prizes like the Wanamaker Trophy, the U.S. Open Championship Trophy (yes, that's the real name - how creative!) and the Ryder Cup aren't satisfying to hold or behold, but smaller-time events are finally taking inspiration from worldwide high-profile golf tournaments that have been dabbling in more creative rewards for years.
I recently played in a grand-opening scramble event at Glynlea Country Club, a new golf course at the heart of a massive master-planned community in Florida. The club went all-out with the trophies, doling them out not just to the winners, but the top three teams in both the gross and net divisions. My team's gross 55 (-17) was good enough for a tie for second, which per a scorecard playoff meant we won third prize: a giant golf tee perched on prongs protruding from a polished wood block signed by course architect and 16-time PGA Tour winner Jim Furyk.
I was especially excited to bring home the hardware in order to get a review from one of the world's foremost trophy fans: my four-year-old daughter, who asks me if I'm going to win her a trophy whenever I play in any kind of tournament. To her chagrin, I've come up empty the last few times, but she lit up when I gave her my Glynlea scramble swag. To Your Leaderboard, the Georgia-based custom trophy-making company that came up with this concept, I tip my lid.
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