Does Golf Fashion Really Matter?
The argument for the evolution of golf fashion being instrumental in the inclusivity and accessibility of our sport is a topic that is constantly on lips of industry people day in and day out. But, does it really matter?
Two questions, if you could wear whatever you want, will that encourage people to take up the sport? If you can wear ‘cool’ golf clothes, will that make people want to take up the game? Take a second before reading on to really think about how impactful golf fashion really is on the participation levels of our great sport.
Allow me to construct two arguments. Yes it is really does matter. Golf, traditionally, has been a game of many boundaries to entry, the better the job of removing those boundaries, the more likely we are to encourage people to play our sport. Turning people away because of their lack of knee high socks, untucked shirts or even coloured socks, can only be discouraging people from playing the sport. Expression, allowing golfers to express themselves on the course by giving them freedom to wear a t-shirt, rock a backwards cap or untuck their shirts without the fear of being made to feel uncomfortable has to help break down the accessibility problem we have in golf. However.
Golf is an inherently ‘uncool’ sport, sorry; there it is, I said it. It’s not football, the NBA, the NFL, it’s golf. Regardless of dress codes, do we really have the pull to take people, kids especially, away from those sports?
This leads me to the opposing argument. It won’t encourage new people to play golf and it won’t create a more inclusive sport. It may help the golfers already playing to stick around for a while longer, but I find it hard to believe that somebody who has never played golf, would happen to watch Jason Day, then run to a Malbon store, followed by a Golf Galaxy while signing up to GolfNow to book a tee time for the weekend, just because they are now made to feel welcome in that ‘drip’.
Golf’s main barrier to entry isn’t apparel, its not ‘snootiness’, it’s price. There are, of course, exceptions, golf clubs and municipal venues breaking down those price barriers but they can only do so much. I sincerely hope that freedom of expression can help to create a more inclusive game, I just worry it could just be a short-term deviation from the norm and that the real barriers to entry will remain.