Urban Outfitters

I'm not much of a fashion guy outside of golf.  I've been driven to blog about the subject out of shear dissatisfaction with mainstream golfing apparel.  But I think I have terrific news.  It appears to me that young men's fashion may be trending towards some looks that work great on the course.  That means we may have lots of great golfy stuff to choose from, readily available at all the normal retail shops.

Urban Outfitters has long been a great source of affordable, fashionable clothing.  This season they're coming strong with the cardigans.  The "blanket pattern" one is made from a wool blend - perfect for autumn/winter drizzle.

blanket pattern cardigan in wool blend

varsity stripes

giant houndstooth pattern

cardigans

Nothing says Fall golf like the timeless, classic coziness of a cardigan.  Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Fred Rogers, they all rocked the look thoroughly and often.  Sure, you can wear your high-tech insulated moisture-wicking breathable long-sleeve lycra undergarment beneath your golf shirt to stay warm in the cooler Fall temps, but you sort of look like a tool if you're not shooting a 78.   Plus, when the day heats up, you have to strip down to your farmer tan to get the undergarment off.  Your layers are all backwards.

So get real, figure it out, wear a cardigan.  And guess what, some are available in an amazing fabric that is highly insulating, water-resistant, breathable, and moisture-wicking!  This incredible material was invented by sheep a few million years ago.

Every major golf clothing company offers at least a couple cardigans.  Per typical, most offerings are about as exciting as the rest of their line.  This may or may not suit you, depending on your age and/or personal style.  Aside from scouring consignment/secondhand/vintage shops, you may have a difficult time finding what you're looking for.

I stumbled across the dinodirect website, which is a worldwide online store that offers tons of cardigans, most with somewhat livelier styling, and reasonably priced.  I can't yet vouch for the workmanship or quality of material.  Most shown are cotton.

keeping it real golfy, with scotch plaid elbow patches.

striped cardigan

classic cardigan w/ subtle stripes and metal buttons

picnic plaid.  skip the bow tie (unless you are a nut and/or shoot below par)

stripes in graduated shades

sport stripes

World Urban Golf Day - Portland

Portland, Oregon joined millions around the world at noon on Saturday, teeing off to celebrate "World Urban Golf Day".   This was my first time.  It won't be my last.  Portland urban golf turned out to be everything I'd hoped.  I anticipated the absurdity of striking a tennis ball off asphalt with a 5-iron.   I anticipated the bizarre hazards to be encountered on a course plotted through industrial back streets.  What I did not anticipate was the pub-crawl aspect of the event or how much of a kick in the pants this group is.  Thanks to the brilliant course designing skills of local adult recreation guru Scott Mazariegos, the links were strung between bars and quicki-marts.

Each golfer teed off the first hole one by one, but we eventually coalesced into a single mob, a thirtysome, roving the empty streets, clubs a-swinging, balls a-flying.  I ended up in the trees a few times.  I lost balls behind chain-link and barbed wire.  I duffed, shanked, and found myself with unplayable lies.  In other words, it was exactly like regular golf.  Word of advice: leave your 95 mph clubhead speed at home.  Tennis balls are different than golf balls.  Trap them perfectly with a descending blow just before the bottom of the swing arc, and they turn into a fist full of bubble gum at impact, instantaneously stuck to the asphalt like a gob of hot tar.  They go nowhere.  No, tennis balls must be swept cleanly off the pavement.  I carded a couple of 12's before figuring that out.

Urban golf feels like... freedom.  It feels the way you felt in junior high, before you had a car or an ID, roving the streets with your friends, making up games to entertain yourself, drinking beers out of paper bags.   For those who might play real golf, urban golf feels like real golf felt before the game tricked you into trying so hard.  Real golf feels like its playing you, more often than not.  But with urban golf, you are truly playing.

You can see a little about the game in this video, and Portland Urban Golf is on Facebook.

custom rolling golf bag w/ mini bar

old school bag - nice find

roman numeral 5 marked each hole

fresh attire

correct attire

teeing off a flatbed

fresh traditional attire - with Guiness

gold mini and boots!

pink argyle

jockey cap and parasol

nice photo composition & color palette

DIY golf shoes

The Adidas Samba, Nike Dunk NG, Ashworth Cardiff, True Linkswear, Ecco Street Premier, Kikkor Eppik,  Footjoy Street, and Puma Club 917 are all examples of the recent explosion of "comfortable" golf shoes.  These new offerings range from the carefully designed (Ecco, Kikkor, True), to the afterthoughts (Nike, Adidas) who are literally gluing soft spikes onto shoes they already make, just to participate in this emerging market.

Tretorn Strala Sommars

Well there's no reason you can't do the same thing.  Let economy be your guide, and convert shoes you already own into golf shoes.  Or let comfort be your guide, and convert a nice pair of Clarks or Hush Puppies into golf shoes.  Perhaps your personal style sense will take over, and you will convert a pair of Doc Martins, Converse Allstars, Timberlands, Campers, or New Balances.

Converted Orvis Duck shoes, Sorel Sentry's, or Tretorn Strala Sommars would make excellent foul weather golf shoes.

Golfcepts, LLC (http://www.golfcepts.com/prod_conversionkit.php) offers a kit that includes spikes, epoxy, and templates needed for such a conversion.  I'd be interested to see how well the spike installations hold up over time.

golf bags

I hate golf bags.  They're so stupid, with all your clubheads clicking and clacking as you walk.  At least when you carry your bag, the clubheads all hang the same way.  Strap your bag onto a cart and it's chaos, digging around looking for the club you want.  Half the time you swear you've lost the club you're looking for.  And how great is it when you try to stick your club back into the bag, only to have its grip wedge up against another grip and refuse to find the bottom of the bag?  Especially when you've hit a poor shot and your patience is worn thin...

It seems to me there have been exactly two significant developments in golf bag design in the last 400 years.  The stand mechanism that makes the legs whip out when you set it down, and the "backpack" style shoulder straps.

Here are two concepts that are heading for the market soon:

This is sort of an integrated bag-and-pullcart.  There aren't many other details to date.  Very stylish, but no info about how the clubs are stored, how much it weighs, other features, etc.

This one by Kaala Golf (www.kaalagolf.com) is a similar wheeled cart hybrid, but also features a nifty rotating cartridge system to store and dispense each individual club.  The clubs are stored "upside down", with the head lying in a "lazy susan" at the bottom of the bag, and the shaft clipped in, like a pool cue, onto the rotating center barrel.  One interesting note with these designs is that they're air travel-ready, being hard cases.

I don't know if these designs fit my game.  I don't see how they can do double duty as a stand bag and cart bag.  I'm not sure how their cost will fare in the market against the hordes of cheap mass-produced standbags, which obviously sell at a very high margin.  Time will tell.  But I certainly appreciate the fact somebody is trying to make improvements long overdue.

JT: golf fashion leader

When discussing golf fashion, many people tend to think of Ricky Fowler, who gets so much attention with his perfectly matched outfits.  While I appreciate how this human lollipop look does fly in the face of traditional golf style, I would beg to differ with those who view Ricky as a fashion leader, because color coordination and a flat-bill hat do not reflect a tremendous command of the art form.

The leaders in golf fashion's recent past have been Ian Poulter and Jesper Parnevik.  Ian's family was in the clothing business, inspiring him to bring new designs, particularly innovative trousers, to the fairways.  Jesper's family was in entertainment.  He brought tasteful but eclectic styles to golf, including the reintroduction of the tie-and-sweater-vest.  Ryan Moore recently tweaked Jesper's style with a grungier northwest sensibility.

Then there's Ryo Ishikawa.  With his ever-present upper arm sleeve, perfectly tailored western shirts, contrast stitching, and meticulous detailing/badging, this guy is on a whole other level.  Ryo consistently shows up looking like something you've never seen before, and looking really sharp.   Do you see how the pearl snap pockets on the shirt match the trouser pocket?  Do you see the faux epaulets talking to the military style cap?  This is a thoughtful, deliberate study in detail and fashion.

But Justin Timberlake is the clear leader in golf fashion.  Granted, he's not on The Tour, but he's a highly visible celebrity golfer who sponsors the Shriner's Open tournament, so I'm letting it slide.  Justin doesn't simply wear variations of one look.  He's got a hundred looks.  Often, it's a hip-hop inspired twist on the Parnevik standard, usually with a black trilby/fedora/derby, like this:

How does a guy throw an orange belt into that mix without it completely taking over?  It has everything to do with the stripe pattern on the shirt.   That's called understanding the basic principles of design.  Impressive, but not a big deal compared to this:

Yeah, lets get a camouflage ballcap, green hunting jacket, and fishing shades.  We'll even grow a beard to complete the redneck element of this look.  But now lets get some sporty red and pink stripes with white 70's piping on that jacket, and a snazzy designer urban belt for cultural contrast to balance it all out.  Cheeky chic.  Lovely.

JT, you are the golf fashion leader.

paragolfer

 

Paragolfer is a three wheeled buggy which has a rising seat to take the occupant from a sitting to standing position. The seat has chin and waste belts to keep the golfer balanced and in the seat.  The buggy is fully all terrain, meaning it can go in and out of sand traps, high grass, wherever the ball may end up.  And its design is gentle on the greens as well, making the Paragolfer easy for courses to embrace.

Cost is steep at this point, about $20,000 US, but for the freedom it offers, it’s money well spent for the disabled sportsman.

original link: www.coolest-gadgets.com/.../

Longhurst

"The most exquisitely satisfying act in the world of golf is that of throwing a club.  The full backswing, the delayed wrist action, the flowing follow-through... are without parallel in sport."

-Henry Longhurst

linksoul

is an art shop in Oceanside, CA that draws much of its inspiration from the game. (www.linksoul.com)

DIY

This guy picked up an older bag from Goodwill and made a stencil to spray-paint some attitude on it.  There is precious little Do-It-Yourself within the world of golf.

I don't know...

...what this has to do with anything, but this guy is cool.  And it appears he even hires a caddy.

etiquette on the greens

hope she's got a divot tool if she's going to walk all over those greens in high heels

refreshing

 

Ryan Moore is a top 50 PGA pro who refuses corporate clothing sponsorship.  He's from the NW, rocks a beard, and puts together totally fresh looks that respect golf's history.  I'm a fan.  I would rather shop at Goodwill and pay homage to golf's historical forefathers than pay Phil Knight another $60 for some 75-cent disposable plastic shirt made in the Philippines by eight-year-olds.

World Urban Golf Day

Portland tee-off is 12pm along with the rest of the world.  I might have to check this out.  The undersized tennis balls I throw for my dogs would work perfect.

This is global.  Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMwZtXs-TyI&feature=player_embedded

Basically, Urban Golf is a mashup of real golf, urban landmarks (poles, street signs, sewer covers, etc.), and a whole lot of fun!  “A game played on a large outdoor course located in a non-residential section of a city, with a series of targets spaced far apart, the object being to propel a tennis ball with the use of various clubs toward each target with as few strokes as possible.”  Here are some suggested “Golden” rules:

#1 SHOW RESPECT

Respect your neighbors’ privacy and property. Pick your course away from populated areas. If the police ask you to leave a certain area, do so. Avoid altercations and do not give Urban Golf a bad reputation.  Vandalism, destruction of property and general rude behavior are for punk-ass kids and do not belong in this sport.  DON’T SCREW THIS UP FOR THE REST OF US.

#2 EVERYBODY SUCKS

The worse you play, the more fun you have. And that’s what this game is about. Having fun, not winning. Leave your competitiveness on the PGA tour. Boasting and other petty bullshit does not belong on the urban course.

If you can’t check yourself, put on your plaid pants, hop in your SUV and take it to Pebble Beach.

#3 DON’T BE A CONTROL FREAK

There is no one person in charge. You are not the leader of the group. Get over yourself. All decisions and adjustments to the game should be agreed upon by the golfers present.  If you have a god complex, move to the mountains, start a cult, and stay the hell out of the way.

Who’s game?

STROKE ME

No game illuminates the human condition like golf does.  It's up, it's down, and the amount of control you have is fleeting despite your best efforts.  It's a lifelong pursuit.  It's a walk in the park with friends, a social occasion.  The game itself is a very odd activity, when you think about it.  The rest is not.  The game gives birth to an entire world inside your head, the kind that non-golfers will never understand, unless perhaps they're into meditation, yoga, or break dancing.  The rest is just hanging out, throwing on the appropriate attire, grabbing a beer, a flask, maybe a smoke, and trekking through the afternoon...


Every miniscule niche activity in the world has its own style magazines, blogs, emerging cultures, trends, youth movements, and independent start-up ventures.  But not golf.  Follow the PGA, buy your equipment from one of the dozen international mega-companies, and dress like either an accountant in Dockers or a marketing tool in some Nike/Adidas uniform.  Golf's current popular image and culture in this country is the least interesting, least inspired, lamest, and all-around most douche-y of any sport you can think of.


Well that's a rotten shame, because golf, at its essence, has more tricks than skateboarding, is more spiritual than surfing, and has scenery as gorgeous as any fringe outdoor extreme sport.  And no game wrangles fierce competition into a genteel setting for true sportsmanship like golf does.  It is the greatest game ever played.