Competing in a golf tournament is both exciting and nerve-wracking, but you can help reduce your pre-game stress levels by being fully prepared for the big day. While it’s natural to devote time to choose the best clubs and the perfect outfit, less obvious things like gathering together some useful or even essential accessories can easily be overlooked. Of course, you won’t even realize what is missing until you go to use it – and send those stress levels soaring again!

You can proceed with confidence by consulting this handy list of the best golf accessories you can make use of when competing in a tournament. You can customize it if needed – but don’t forget to gather the things you do decide you need together in one place!

We recommend:

A pitchmark repair tool
Pretty essential to repair any damage done to the green.


A ball marker
Tournament etiquette involves using a standard ball marker, which is laid to mark the spot before you pick up the ball.


Golf umbrella
There’s a reason why these are often given away as prizes – and playing in the drizzle without one is pretty miserable. Buy a decent-sized model, around 62 inches is a popular size.


Golf towels
Of course, you can use any small towel but a specially made golf towel may have an attachment so you can fasten yours to your golf bag. Darker colors are better to avoid them looking dirty partway through the tournament.


Golf bag
This can be on wheels or designed to be carried over the shoulder. If you prefer the latter make sure it is comfortable, perhaps looking for wide, padded straps.


A special golf GPS watch (or another rangefinder device)
Always check if any of the features need to be disabled before you begin a tournament. In many cases thing such as slope reading, reviewing your swing skills, and checking weather conditions for wind speeds are a no-no; while you are generally allowed to do things like check for rain forecasts, and both measure and share yardage measurements.


Tees
It’s always handy to have some of these in your bag but check in advance which colors are advised for a tournament as they are sometimes not standard.


Golf scorecards
These are important in all games, and you may want a special holder too.


Golf gloves
Great for grip, but get the fit right, and remember you wear the glove on your non-dominant hand.


Golf Balls
Although there are several types of a golf ball around many tournaments insist players choose one type only and stick with it throughout.


Pen and pencil
A marker pen is good for marking your ball so you can identify them, and the pencil is for the scorecard.

There are lots more goodies you could keep adding but these are probably the most useful, and weighing your bag down with lots of things you probably won’t use isn’t a great move.