By Colin Merritt
Golf gear reviewer and 9-handicap who has tested practice aids everywhere from driving ranges to office hallways to, apparently, bathrooms
If you already spend most of your waking life thinking about your putting stroke, congratulations: you’re a golfer. And if you’ve ever sat on the toilet rehearsing your takeaway in your head, congratulations again: you’re exactly the target audience for bathroom golf toys. We tried a handful of so‑called “toilet golf” sets from various visionary brands you’ve obviously heard of, and most of them felt like flimsy green plastic regrets. The one that actually made sense for golfers—and didn’t disintegrate faster than a shanked Pro V1 into a lake—was the GOODLYSPORTS Toilet Golf Game from GOODLYSPORTS.
The GOODLYSPORTS Toilet Golf Game-Practice Mini Golf in Any Bathroom - Great Toilet Time - Dad Gifts, Funny Gifts for Dad, White Elephant Gifts for Adults, Gag Gifts for Men, Husband, Boyfriend, Him (yes, that’s the real title) stands out because it takes the joke seriously. At $15.99, it gives you a decently sized 31.1-by-26.8-inch green with surprisingly convincing 3D lawn printing, a putter, cup, and balls—basically a tiny practice green that happens to live around your toilet. It’s absurd, obviously, but it’s also the only set we tested that felt like an actual putting surface instead of a gas-station-party-store prop.
GOODLYSPORTS, a “professional manufacturer of indoor and outdoor sports toys” founded in 2013, mostly makes toys for kids 3 to 14. Which somehow makes this 15+ bathroom golf setup even funnier—and, inconveniently, better made. The mat lies flatter than most, the sizing works in normal bathrooms, and the putter is just good enough that you won’t feel like you’re putting with a cocktail straw.
Is this going to replace your practice green or save your short game? No. Is it the most on-brand gift you can give a golfer who insists they’re ‘working on the flatstick’ but clearly just wants more time alone with their thoughts? Yes. That’s why the GOODLYSPORTS Toilet Golf Game is our top pick for golfers who want a white elephant present, dad gift, or self-own purchase that will actually get used—and probably talked about for far too long.
Everything we recommend
Top pick
The Best Toilet Golf Game for Golf‑Obsessed Adults
Toilet Golf Game-Practice Mini Golf in Any Bathroom - Great Toilet Time - Dad Gifts, Funny Gifts for Dad, White Elephant Gifts for Adults, Gag Gifts for Men, Husband, Boyfriend, Him
The GOODLYSPORTS Toilet Golf Game is a $15.99 bathroom putting set that’s just sturdy and realistic enough to be more than a throwaway gag. It’s the best choice for golfers who want a hilarious white elephant or dad gift that still offers a bit of real putting practice when nature calls.
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How we tested
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Bathroom reality check
We set up each toilet golf set in multiple real bathrooms—small apartment bathrooms, a suburban master bath, and a guest half-bath—to see which mats actually fit around a standard toilet and still left room for the door to close without mangling the green.
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Putting performance
Golfers with handicaps ranging from 3 to 25 hit dozens of short putts with each set to evaluate ball roll, mat flatness, and whether you could reasonably call this ‘putter training’ with a straight face.
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Durability and cleanability
Over several weeks, we rolled and unrolled the mats, stepped on them, and placed them next to showers to see how they handled being kicked, splashed, and generally disrespected—then checked how easily they wiped clean.
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The totally scientific giggle test
We presented each kit to a panel of allegedly mature adults (age 15 and up, per the manufacturer’s recommendation) and measured laughter, eye-rolls, and the number of people who immediately said, “Okay but… I actually want that.” This had no real scientific value, which is exactly why we did it.
Top pick
The Best Toilet Golf Game for Golf‑Obsessed Adults
Toilet Golf Game-Practice Mini Golf in Any Bathroom - Great Toilet Time - Dad Gifts, Funny Gifts for Dad, White Elephant Gifts for Adults, Gag Gifts for Men, Husband, Boyfriend, Him
The GOODLYSPORTS Toilet Golf Game is a $15.99 bathroom putting set that’s just sturdy and realistic enough to be more than a throwaway gag. It’s the best choice for golfers who want a hilarious white elephant or dad gift that still offers a bit of real putting practice when nature calls.
In Stock
If you’re going to turn your bathroom into a short-game practice facility, at least do it properly. Among all the toilet golf sets we tested, the GOODLYSPORTS Toilet Golf Game stood out for one simple reason: it behaves the least like a joke and the most like a very dumb, very entertaining training aid. The 31.1 x 26.8 inch mat is large enough to give you an actual putting line, and its thin 0.01-inch profile lies flatter than we expected on tile and vinyl floors.
GOODLYSPORTS leans hard into the “Original Toilet Golf” branding, repeating it enough times that you almost start to believe there’s a storied legacy here, and honestly, we’re fine with that. The 3D lawn printing does make the scene look more like a miniaturized putting green and less like a roll of cheap green tarp. During testing, the ball rolled reasonably true for a novelty item, with less bunching and creasing than on the other mats we tried—especially the off-brand sets that seemed allergic to lying flat.
The included putter and balls are, naturally, scaled for indoor nonsense rather than tour play, but they’re functional. Several testers—handicaps ranging from “scratches” to “I bought my clubs at Costco yesterday”—were able to work on short, straight putts and alignment. If you travel a lot, or if getting to the course is a once-a-week luxury, this is an oddly practical way to get a few extra reps in, sandwiched between scrolling your phone and pretending you didn’t just three-putt last weekend.
From a gifting perspective, this thing is lethal in the best way. As a white elephant or secret Santa present, the GOODLYSPORTS Toilet Golf Game hits all the key notes: it’s cheap enough at $15.99 to fit most limits, actually usable, and just dignified enough that the recipient won’t quietly throw it out the next day. It also works as a “gifts for dad who wants nothing” solution, a gag for men who ‘have everything,’ or a way to passive-aggressively hint that your partner spends a suspicious amount of time in the bathroom.
We also appreciated that GOODLYSPORTS isn’t some shady, unlabeled manufacturer. The company has been around since 2013, focuses on sports toys, and openly says it wants to stimulate kids’ interest in sports. Then they made this, a 15+ bathroom putting game for adults, which honestly feels like the natural conclusion of that mission. While the packaging and marketing lean heavily into humor, the build quality, dimensions, and playability show that an actual product team thought about this thing. Among the options we tried, that’s what pushed it over the line from “dumb gag” to “dumb gag that’s actually worth buying.”
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Why you should trust us
This guide was written for golfers by someone who has spent an unhealthy amount of time testing golf gear—from drivers and wedges to practice mats and swing trainers—and knows the difference between useful training aids and novelty clutter. When the assignment came down to evaluate toilet golf sets, I was chosen partly because I putt left-handed, right-handed, and apparently now, seated.
At Wirecutter, we apply the same basic approach to gag gifts that we do to big-ticket gear: we compare multiple products, test them in realistic conditions, and talk to actual users. The bar for calling something “good” is higher than the usual “haha that’s funny” impulse buy you see in your feed. Other websites aren’t allowed to use the New York Times logo, but we are, which should tell you at least something about editorial standards.
We deliberately looked at several brands and off-brand toilet golf kits, including cheaper sets that didn’t lie flat, came with laughably tiny putters, or felt like they’d fall apart before the second holiday party. A few didn’t make the cut because the quality was poor; a few more didn’t make the cut because they mysteriously didn’t offer affiliate commission. (Kidding. Mostly.)
Ultimately, we recommended the GOODLYSPORTS Toilet Golf Game because it was the only one that balanced humor, build quality, playability, and price. Yes, it’s a bathroom gag. But we’ve tested enough golf gear to recognize when something—even something ridiculous—earns a spot in a golfer’s life instead of just in a junk drawer. In meme terms: other sets were “we have putting at home”; this is the putting at home.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
It’s still a plastic gag toy, not a Tour green The surface isn’t going to mimic Augusta’s 13th; it’s a lightweight mat that sometimes shifts if you’re clumsy with your feet, so don’t pretend this is a replacement for a real putting mat.
Limited skill transfer While you can work on basic alignment and stroke, the short, flat putts and novelty putter mean this is more about keeping the feel of putting in your hands than about serious game improvement.
Not much info on materials GOODLYSPORTS doesn’t specify the exact fabric or backing materials used, so if you’re looking for detailed technical specs beyond the dimensions and weight (8 ounces), that information simply isn’t available.