Dress Codes: Good or Bad for the Game?

[DaveP043]

2 hours ago, Yukari said:

I agree with this.  I don't care what others wear.  I only care about what I wear.  I got enough problems on my own to even care about other people's clothing choice.  🤪

Occasionally I do care when a person deliberately chooses to disregard a dress code that he's aware of.  Its not the clothing that bugs me, but the lack of respect for an establishment's choices.

[Double Mocha Man]

1 hour ago, colin007 said:

Not much to say other than the combo of saddle style golf shoes and white socks should be outlawed. 

You probably just offended 20 people on here.

[iacas]

8 hours ago, Pretzel said:

Personally I think dress codes are entirely unnecessary.

Well, easy to say when you're not the one running the golf course.

If you owned a restaurant, would you be okay with people coming in without shirts on? How about fishnet tank tops? What if it's a higher end restaurant, and the fishnet tank top wasn't because it was Alice Cooper or something like that, but just some guy?

Would you care that your other patrons probably don't want to look at that while they're eating?

8 hours ago, Pretzel said:

Golf as a sport is struggling heavily, and adding restrictions to access the game will only make things worse.

I've never really gotten this argument. I mean, I get it, but I don't, too.

Around me, there are:

• Four private clubs with dress codes.
• Several public courses with pretty relaxed dress codes.
• Four municipal golf courses that you could show up in flip flops, board shorts, and a tank top and fit right in.
• All things in between.

Where is this "exclusion" happening, with all of these "restrictions"? Do people new to golf really show up at Kahkwa and say "Hey, I wanna play some golf" in flip flops, board shorts, and a tank top? No.

It's a bit of a straw man argument.

And let's say someone does take up golf… is the $30 to $40 it takes to get an outfit (and that's just going to Old Navy, not Salvation Army or something) really the "barrier"? Or is it the greens fee, or the clubs, balls, whatever?

8 hours ago, Pretzel said:

When I go out to play golf, I'm usually wearing jeans and either a t-shirt or a polo shirt, depending on if I came straight from work or not.

And you get to go play golf, so again, where's the "restriction"? Can you play everywhere? No. But a course has the right to set the rules.

8 hours ago, Pretzel said:

I know I would golf a lot less if I had to go change my pants before I could play, and it's ridiculous to claim that a properly-fitted pair of jeans is lowbrow or unsuited to golf when dark wash jeans are as standard a piece of business attire as slacks. Contrary to popular opinion they don't restrict your movement, though they are generally better-suited to more temperate climates than hot ones.

Denim is not an athletic material, but that's beside the point of "dress codes."

8 hours ago, Pretzel said:

The thing is though, clothes are a meaningless barrier to entry that keeps people out because they perceive the sport as stuffy and restrictive.

And yet at four courses in Erie you can show up and play in flip flops and a tank top.

8 hours ago, Pretzel said:

Let people play wearing whatever they want

Why? Because of the straw man you're erecting here? Should the golfers at Kahkwa just get to wear whatever they wanted? Would that be a wise business decision?

If the owner of the facility doesn't care about how people dress, but 90% of his members do… then the owner of the facility likely WILL care what they think, and by proxy, care what people wear.

Doing otherwise would likely be bad for business.

8 hours ago, Pretzel said:

If you take offense to someone who wears comfortable clothes that fit them (I'm not referring to people who wear clothes that are falling off or significantly too small)

See, even you have a line.

If a fat guy shows up wearing a shirt two sizes too small, are you "offended" since you're putting that label on others? I know you well enough to know I doubt you're offended… so please be careful about putting that label on others.

I think at some places people have an expectation that people will look a certain way. Appearances still matter. They affect perceptions.

They may not affect yours (or mine — but they probably do affect both of ours), but they affect the perceptions of others. And business owners must care about the perceptions of their customers.

8 hours ago, Pretzel said:

Judge people based on their on-course etiquette, not based on their clothing.

If it's that simple, man, let's just solve racism, sexism, ageism, and every other -ism while we're at it.

Thing is, unlike racism, "polo-ism" or "cargo-shorts-ism" isn't really a huge problem. But like racism, it's going to be a long, slow process.

8 hours ago, Pretzel said:

Judge people based on their on-course etiquette, not based on their clothing. If they play at a reasonable pace and have the common courtesy expected of golfers (quiet while others are hitting, yelling fore, taking care of the course) then the clothing doesn't matter. Anyone who claims otherwise is creating a problem out of nothing, because the actions of the golfer have done nothing to affect you in any way.

I agree with you.

But that's not how the world works, and just wishing it would won't really change it.

Agreed?

[mclaren4life]

This is why you need some kind of dress code. 

[Double Mocha Man]

28 minutes ago, mclaren4life said:

This is why you need some kind of dress code. 

Hey, he's wearing a hat that nicely contrasts with his golf pants.

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, mclaren4life said:

This is why you need some kind of dress code. 

We can’t unsee that! 

[NM Golf]

18 hours ago, iacas said:

If you owned a restaurant, would you be okay with people coming in without shirts on? How about fishnet tank tops? What if it's a higher end restaurant, and the fishnet tank top wasn't because it was Alice Cooper or something like that, but just some guy?

FWIW My buddy played with Alice Cooper and even Alice knows how to properly dress on a golf course. 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, NM Golf said:

FWIW My buddy played with Alice Cooper and even Alice knows how to properly dress on a golf course. 

Yeah, I've played "with" him too (from the group behind, and waiting on a par three or three). He's a good guy.

[dennyjones]

Is this better?

[mclaren4life]

Yes. That is very much encouraged. 

[Double Mocha Man]

24 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

Is this better?

Ah, the ol' baseball grip.  That's all I noticed.

[mclaren4life]

She’s holding a club? Never saw it. 

[Vinsk]

1 hour ago, mclaren4life said:

She’s holding a club? Never saw it. 

Poor Dufner.....

[boogielicious]

16 hours ago, NM Golf said:

FWIW My buddy played with Alice Cooper and even Alice knows how to properly dress on a golf course. 

 

15 hours ago, iacas said:

Yeah, I've played "with" him too (from the group behind, and waiting on a par three or three). He's a good guy.

He’s a self-professed golf addict. He still DJs occasionally and I heard him on air in Australia of all places. During breaks, all he talked about was golf.

[pganapathy]

Dress codes may have started off by being elitist, but I think they are very much a necessity today.  You really shouldn't play golf in a pair of flip flops, speedos and tank top.  There is such a thing as decorum.  Reserve that kind of outfit for the beach and I applaud you.  Wear that in public on a golf course or at a restaurant, and it looks out of place