This is the only decision on a ball marker that determines how it looks a year later, and it takes a minute to get right.

What die-struck enamel is

The marker is stamped from metal, so the design exists as raised metal lines with recessed cells between them. Enamel fills the cells.

Because the metal stands proud of the colour, everything that rubs the marker rubs the metal. That is why enamel markers keep their colour more or less indefinitely.

What a domed marker is

A full-colour graphic printed onto a disc, with a clear epoxy dome poured over it.

It can carry photographs, gradients and unlimited colours, which enamel cannot. It looks outstanding new.

What the dome does over time

It collects fine scratches from the same pocket that holds tees and coins, which turns gloss into haze.

And prolonged UV yellows epoxy slightly. A marker that lives on a cap in the sun will show it sooner than one that lives in a bag.

A simple rule

Crest, logo, monogram, anything with separable colours: enamel.

Photograph, gradient, complex full-colour artwork: domed, knowing what the dome does. And for a cap clip that lives in the sun, lean enamel even if it means simplifying the design.