Golfsmith is holding its annual sale and clearance event.

They’re serious, too — expect savings of up to 70 percent!

This Lija Smart plaid jacket is one of the many items marked down for Golfsmith's annual clearance sale. Regularly $155, you can pick it up for $61.94. (Isn't it sharp?)

We know we’re excited — because we took a peek and couldn’t believe the deals — like an Adidas ClimaCool Motion dress pictured on our home page, which is now only $43.94. Marked down from $110.00.

The selection is terrific, too. Lots of name brands, from Nike to EP Pro to Lija.

The sale is good only through August 31 — so if you’ve got some gaps in your golf wardrobe, now’s the time to fill them :-)

Hot Buckles Inc. has done just that.

Buckles customized with golfer's initials are a popular choice at Hot Buckles.

“We noticed an upturn in sales from golfers,” says Hot Buckles’ Courtney Schoenfeld.

Many gravitate toward custom buckles, following the lead of pros like Anthony Kim. Buckles with golfers’ initials are particularly popular, and can be fashioned in plain metal or with rhinestones for a flashier look.

Hot Buckles' newest piece will appeal to golfers who want to make an "in your face" statement about their love for the game.

But to give them some more choices, Hot  Buckles decided to add a new buckle to their line — one that is targeted specifically to golfers.

At 3 1/2 x 2 inches, the new Golf buckle — featuring a photo-realistic design on a pewter base — will definitely make a statement on the course.

“Some golfers like their buckles plain and serious,” Courtney says. “Some want them ‘blingy and in your face.’”

We’d say the new Golf buckle falls into the second category.

Hot Buckles also carries an extensive line of belts, including a very reasonably-priced white leather belt. Perfect for showcasing your new custom buckle, don’t you think?

At only $7.95, this white leather belt from Hot Buckles lets golfers wear the game's trendiest look without hurting the ol' greens fees budget.

We love the fresh colors and the way designer Samual Becker, who is now working (of course!) with the iconic Isaac Mizrahi, delivers innovative takes on classic motifs.

This stretch geo-print skort (which comes with "modesty shorts" for "secure coverage") has a sateen finish to make that bold print really pop.

So we’re excited to be able to share a 40 percent coupon with our readers. Just click and use the code VIP40 at checkout.

But don’t dawdle on this one — it’s only valid June 23, 12am EST through June 25, 11:59pm PST. (And only for online purchases.)

Isn't this cotton knit polo sweater the cutest?!?!?

Liz Claiborne doesn't shy away from bold colors. We like that!

A great thing about Liz Claiborne is that she offers plus-size golf apparel. Pictured: Jackie stretch twill crop pant.

We're crazy about stripes, so we love this sleeveless polo. Perfect for your next summer round!

Another example of Liz Claiborne's plus-size golf apparel is this stretch, zip-front pima polo.

One winner will receive a LuckieMark Lady Bug pin. Another will win a LuckieMark flower pin.

Read our interview with LuckieMark founder Liz Smith here.

Use the form below to enter the drawing — and good luck!

Official Contest Rules and Conditions

1. For this contest, we will conduct two drawings. The prize for the first drawing is one LuckieMark Lady Bug marker pin. The prize for the second drawing is one LuckieMark Bumblebee pin. Each contestent will be automatically entered in both drawings. No substitutions available.
2. No purchase is necessary to enter the contest.
3. Only one entry is allowed per email address.
4. This web site will receive entries starting June 18. Entries must be submitted prior to midnight ET July 3.
5. A valid email address must be provided to enable prize award notification.
6. One prize will be awarded for each of two drawings.
7. Winners will be determined by a drawing to be held after July 3.
8. Prize winners will be notified by e-mail within two weeks.
9. The number of entries determines odds of winning.
10. Contests open only to legal residents of the USA who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry.
11. Any applicable taxes on the prize is the responsibility of the winner.
12. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.
13. The prize cannot be redeemed for cash value.
14. Employees and family members of the sponsor or its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, promotion and fulfillment agencies are not eligible to enter.
15. By participating, entrants agree to be bound by the official rules and decisions of the judges.
16. Winners must claim their prize(s) within 2 weeks of email notification that they have won. If a winner does not claim the prize within that time period, a new drawing will be conducted and the prize will be awarded to the winner of the second drawing.

Entry Form

It’s a magnetic golf marker — and it’s a beautiful decorative pin.

LuckieMark's signature pin is the lucky Ladybug.

The company is called LuckieMark, and you won’t be surprised when you mention there’s a woman behind it. Liz Smith. Actually, more than one woman. Liz’s daughters have helped her since the beginning, and one, Jensen, is LuckieMark’s lead designer.

Liz founded LuckieMark in 2006 with a single product: her signature ladybug marker. Today, she offers 11 ball markers, including the original ladybug as well as a collection of lovely flower and butterfly designs.

But let’s ask Liz to tell us the rest of the story! (Oh, and when you’re done, be sure to enter our drawing — we’re giving away two free LuckieMark pins to WomenGolfApparel.com visitors.)

WomenGolfApparel.com: How did you get the idea for a marker pin?

Liz Smith: I’m an avid golfer, I love jewelry, and I thought a little something on my collar would lift my spirits on the golf course. I did some research — this was starting in 2001 — and didn’t see any jewelry for golfers. Then I did some patent research and discovered that there were no pins for golf. I decided to design my own, and make it a ball marker, too. My daughter helped me draw the ladybug, I found a jeweler to make a prototype, and I loved the results!

WGA: Why did you decide to start with a ladybug?

Liz: Luck and attitude are such a big part of golf. So we went with a “lucky ladybug.”

LuckieMark uses high quality magnets to keep the mark on the pin when not in use.

Placing those pretty red wings down on the green to mark your ball does indeed lift your spirits and inspire a good putt. If I do say do myself!

WGA: Tell us about your official launch.

Liz: I needed to find out if anyone else liked the idea of wearing a lucky ladybug on the course. So I lined up a manufacturer and rented a booth at the 2007 PGA Merchandise show in Orlando. The response was so positive, we went ahead with a butterfly pin that same year.

WGA: One of the things that got us excited about your pins is that they are so unique.

Liz: Yes, they’re unique to LuckieMark. In fact, we have a patent pending on them.

Our pins are also more flexible than hat clips. You can pin them onto your hat, but you can also pin them on your shirt, or a skirt or skort that doesn’t come with pockets.

WGA: So it’s a marker that makes it easier for ladies to dress for golf — if you want to wear something without pockets it’s one less thing to worry about.

Liz: I’ve also had ladies tell me that when they try to put clips on their shirts, they tend to fall off. LuckieMark pins are secure, so they can’t slide off a hat of shirt.

LuckieMark now offers pins in a variety of designs, including this popular purple flower.

The magnets are also very strong. It’s easy to slide the wings or petals off the base, but when they’re not in use, they stay put. I’ve been jogging with an original ladybug on my hat for three years now, and it’s still there.

WGA: Which designs are women’s favorites?

Liz: Our purple flower and our bumblebee were top sellers at the PGA show this year.

We also offer towels embroidered with our signature lucky lady bug. They are very popular as gifts.

The markers have been a great success for tournaments and member-guest events.

WGA: Tell us about your golf game :-)

Liz: I started golfing after I went through a divorce in 1996. I found that when the kids were with their dad, I’d have whole days free. And what a better way to escape a troubled time than on a golf course? Some friends and I went to South Seas Plantation and golfed by the ocean. I was totally hooked. Golfing by the ocean is my favorite way to spend any free time.

WGA: Any other favorite courses?

LuckieMark founder Liz Smith is an avid golfer as well as a lover of jewelry. Here she tees off at the Biltmore Golf Course in Coral Gables, Florida.

Liz: I played the Ocean Course in Kiawah last summer with a caddy. That was heaven. Another favorite course was Bay Harbor in Michigan. Most of the holes play overlooking the lake. And two summers ago, our family vacationed in Maui. My two sons and I played the Plantation Course there. Spectacular.

The courses around Pebble Beach are on my to do list.

WGA: Liz, you’re also a breast cancer survivor . . .

Liz: Yes. I was treated for breast cancer, in early stages, in March of 2005. That was a contributing factor to taking the leap into my ball marker business. I thought, “why wait?”

WGA: We’re glad you took the chance! And thanks so much for your time, Liz.

Click here for more information on LuckieMark. You can purchase LuckieMark pins at pro shops or online at Moms Who Golf and East Coast Golf Sales.

Click here to enter a drawing to win a free LuckieMark pin.

Wins a major as a rookie, jumps 80 spots up on the money list, secures a spot in the U.S. Open.

Not bad for a woman who just turned 22!

Anna Nordqvist wore this PUMA Invisibonding Golf Polo, but in black, on Friday.

And talk about poise! She delivered the most even performance. You never once felt that she might start slipping — you could tell as she went into the final holes that she was going to keep her composure right through the finish.

She also looked great, of course. In fact, it happens that PUMA just signed Anna to an endorsement deal (how was that for a shrewd move?) so she was wearing choice PUMA clothes all weekend.

If you caught the tournament on Friday, you saw her in a chic, all-black ensemble.

The top was one of PUMA’s new Golf Invisibonding Polos. Have you seen them? The seams aren’t sewn — they’re welded together. This gives the polos a uniquely sleek, polished look. Very hip. And according to PUMA, that type of seam means less friction against the skin when you swing your club. Always a good thing!

On Saturday, Anna wore this PUMA Golf Graphic Polo. Great floral print, isn't it?

The collar can be turned down polo-style or worn up, like in the photo, as a mock.

We found one in white at The PUMA Store for $80.00. If you want a black version, you should probably take a look around your local golf apparel bricks & mortar shops — they seem to be pretty scarce online.

On Saturday, Anna changed it up and wore a PUMA Golf Graphic polo. You can pick one of them from PUMA online as well. On sale, in fact — $42.00, marked down from $60.00. Bet they won’t last long!

For her final round, Anna paired a PUMA Golf Plain Polo in purple with a black PUMA skirt -- a clean, chic look for a truly impressive round of golf!

During her stellar final round on Sunday, Anna’s choice was a Golf Plain Polo. We love the cut on this polo — the sleeves have some gathering at the shoulders that give it a feminine touch. PUMA’s carrying them in their online store for $39.00, marked down from $55.00.

What really made Anna look smashing, however, was that she paired the polo — which was purple — with a black skirt. The skirt, it turns out, is from PUMA’s international line, but you can get the same look in the U.S. by choosing the PUMA Golf Plain Skirt with inner short.

To capture Anna's look during the McDonald Championship's final round, pair a PUMA polo with this black PUMA Golf Plain Skirt with Inner Short.

PUMA has that skirt on sale too — also $39.00, marked down from $55.00.

So yeah. You might not be playing for a national LPGA championship any time soon. But thanks to PUMA, we can all dress like champions :-)

And congratulations, Anna. We can’t wait to see you out on tour again!

So do we, which is why we tend to gravitate toward cotton.

That is, until we put on a bamboo woman’s golf polo from Golf Green Gear.

We were blown away by the high-quality feel of a Golf Green Gear polo we wore. Silky smooth, with the heft and drape of a performance fabric. But it's all natural: made of bamboo.

We admit it — we were once a little bit skeptical. Oh, we know that using bamboo fabric is good for the environment. And that’s important to us. We’ve been environmentalists since before some of you were born.

But we’re realists.

We know that choosing green can mean making sacrifices in other areas.

Not with this golf shirt.

We were blown away the second we touched it. The fabric is silky smooth to the touch, yet has a kind of dense feel to it. And by “dense” we don’t mean “heavy” — on the contrary, the shirt is very lightweight — we mean the kind of density that says “high quality” — the way a 600 thread count sheet feels so much more luxurious than a 200 thread count sheet.

The shirt felt like we could pour it from hand to hand like water.

We also loved the cut. This is no scaled down men’s polo, but a fitted cut meant to accentuate a woman’s curves. The detailing is also high quality, with bamboo buttons, a touch of overstitching at the seams, and a tastefully understated logo embroidered on the breast.

Next step: we took the polo out for a little spin around a golf course.

Turns out, the shirt is a pleasure to play in as well. It’s a knit, which means stretchiness, which means that even with that (very!) flattering cut, we didn’t notice any restriction on our swing. The shirt is also long enough that we didn’t feel overexposed when we stretched out at the top of our follow-through.

Not bad, coming from a brand new company.

Although it has initially targeted golfers, Golf Green Gear bills itself as a lifestyle apparel company and offers an extensive line of men's and women's clothing. Pictured here, women's fitted capris.

Very brand new.

Golf Green Gear was founded only last year.

Jason Visconti brought the passion for golf.

Cherie Trombley brought the passion for fashion.

Both Jason and Cherie brought the passion for eco-awareness.

Things really fell into place, Cherie says, when the couple looked at the golf apparel market and realized the demand for green golfwear exceeded the supply. “I’d found this amazing fabric that fits the performance sports model, but is completely natural,” Cherie says.  “When our research showed a strong desire for eco-friendly golf clothing, we decided it was the perfect opportunity for us to go into business together.”

The company focused on the performance characteristics of bamboo fabric at first, Cherie continues. And we can attest to their success on that count: the Golf Green Gear polo we wore has the feel and drape of high quality performance fabric.

But wait a minute. Will it hold up to repeated washing? Or does it have to be babied, like, say, rayon? Or silk?

We loved the answer. There’s no need to dry clean Golf Green Gear clothing. In fact, they’d rather you didn’t (dry cleaning requires chemicals that aren’t good for the environment). Regular washing and drying is fine (although best to use low temperatures on both).

So we held our breath and threw our polo into the washing machine.

Then wore it and washed it again.

It still looks brand new.

So what’s the catch?

Well, if you’re accustomed to looking for bargains when you shop, there might be one little hitch. These are luxury shirts. The suggested retail price of the polo we wore is $52-58.

And as we all know, you can find polos out there for less.

But our story isn’t over.

You see, it so happens we recently cleaned out our closets.

And those cotton golf shirts we love so much?

We had to put aside a stack for the Salvation Army. They’d shrunk, they’d gotten dull, they’d lost their shape.

But bamboo fabric is a different story, Cherie explains. “It’s extremely durable.” It holds its color and shape very well. It’s also naturally resistant to holding onto odors — another advantage over cotton to keep in mind as we head into the warmest months of the year.

So we held our Golf Green Gear shirt up against a cotton polo we’d bought last year.

It happened to be a designer polo that didn’t come cheap.

After two trips through the washer and drier, the Golf Green Gear shirt was still the longer shirt — by a good two inches.

So it’s the age-old story: you get what you pay for.

We know where we’ll be investing our money when we’re ready to buy a few more golf tops. Which will be very soon now. As soon as we’re back from our trip to the Salvation Army drop box . . .

Click here for more information about Golf Green Gear.

We took a tour around one of our favorite online golf apparel retailers, Golfsmith, which (in addition to great prices) offers free shipping on orders of $99 or more.

This Bette and Court sleeveless polo is also available from Golfsmith in pink.

We loved what we found!Like a cute cute! Bette & Court sleeveless polo. It’s available in either pink or light purple, and it’s marked down 38 percent to $39.99.

Dress your game up in paisley with this Maggie Lane sleeveless women's golf mock.

Or how about a Maggie Lane sleeveless zip mock in a gorgeous paisley print? $22.96, marked down from $46.00. Hard to beat at that price! Another Maggie Lane top that caught our eye is a shirred plaid sleeveless polo. Isn’t it sharp? It’s 25 percent off at $44.97.

Sharp-looking plaid in this Maggie Lane shirred golf top!

(We’re also thinking you might be able to pick up that plaid with the Nike golf shoes we wrote about here — the shoes have red and black plaid detailing!)

This adidas cap sleeve women's golf top has a more feminine cut that traditional polos.

If you’re looking for something a little different than a traditional golf polo, how about an adidas cap sleeve golf top? Half off at $31.96. We love the print they’ve used for that top — its abstract but also very organic and outdoorsy, don’t you think?

This black and white geometrical print golf top would pair beautifully with your favorite black skort.

Want to add a new black and white print to your golf wardrobe? Then you might take a look at the Ashworth short sleeve stretch geo print polo they’re offering for $45.97 — 33 percent off list price of $59.50.

One of the deepest discounts we spotted was on a Greg Norman floral print polo. Regularly $68.00, now on sale for $16.94.

Hurry up if you want to snag this Greg Norman floral print golf top -- when we last checked, there were only smalls left.

But at that price, you’d better swing by ASAP — they only had Smalls left when we checked, and we’re betting even those will be sold out soon!

And as long as we have the Internet, you don’t have to limit your club covers to the stuff in your local pro shop. Hooray!

Blast from the past! Retro club head covers from Golfsmith, also available in pink and white.

A set of club covers that really made up sit up in our seats is sold online by Golfsmith: Z TECH retro headcovers. Striped knit with pom poms! Aren’t they cool? You can get them in black and white or pink and white. $29.95 for a set of three.

Winning Edge breast cancer awareness hybrid club covers.

Speaking of pink, you can pick up one of the neat Breast Cancer Awareness hybrid covers, designed by Winning Edge, also from Golfsmith for $14.99.

Golfsmith carries all kinds of traditional club covers as well, of course. Like the Z Tech women’s tech mallet putter cover.

Tiny hiny putter cover from Butthead Covers.

But if you like more whimsical head covers — did you know that Butthead Covers now offers Tiny Hiny Putter Covers?

Golfgifts.com carries a selection of college mascot golf club headcovers.

Another place to shop for club covers is GolfGifts.com, which carries along with Butthead covers also carries a selection of College Mascot headcovers.

Yay, team spirit!

Kikuya's men's tee shirts feature simply wonderful golf-themed designs that are printed in eco-friendly, water-based inks.

Our first stop is one of our favorite online stores for men’s golf teeshirts: Kikuya Golf tee shirt.

We love everything about these shirts.

They’re made of a soft, high-quality cotton known as ringspun cotton — when the yarn was spun, it was twisted, wound, and roved at the same time, which creates a stronger, more durable yarn.

Kikuya shirts are also garment died and washed — that gives them their wonderful muted color tones — and are printed with eco-friendly, water-based inks.

Last but not least, Kikuya tee shirt designs are marvelous — as you’ll see for yourself when you browse the site!

Golfsmith is currently selling the SkyGolf SkyCaddie SG5 for $399.99, $30.00 off the original retail price. A perfect Father's Day gift for the golfing dad.

Another nice gift idea is a Player’s Pass membership. The program, which costs $67 for a one-year membership, lets you print coupons for discounts of up to 50 percent on greens fees. Browse the “courses” section on their web site to see if courses your dad plays (or would like to play!) are participating.

If you’d like to do some more general shopping, you can go wrong by heading over to Golfsmith, which is offering free shipping on orders of $75 or more.

Golfsmith, if you’re unfamiliar, has an extensive selection of golf products, including high-tech items like the SkyCaddie SG5, as well as golf clubs (on sale!) and discount apparel.

If you’re looking for lighter and less expensive options, you can browse the selection at GolfGifts.com. They carry items like golf-themed desk accessories, as well as novelty items and gag gifts. Perfect for the dad who loves to laugh as much as he loves to golf!