What would happen if....

[colin007]

.... a pro on the PGA tour decided that he wanted to wear shorts instead of pants in a tournament? would he be disqualified?

[Stretch]

Forrest Fezler did it at the US Open in 1983, putting on shorts for his final hole of the tournament in protest at the PGA dress code. He was not disqualified, but I'm pretty sure that if he'd turned up on the first day in them he would not have been allowed to play that way.

[Lefty-Golfer]

Requiring pants is quite possibly the dumbest thing in golf. it is old, out of date and silly...think about it!! Shorts didn't existing when golf started...you have members at clubs walking around in shorts becuase it is 98 degrees but the club pro is playing in pants...why? Because pros wear pants!! stop it is silly. Last week at my club i looke over the next fairway and a guy was wearing pants, i commented what an idiot he was...when he turned around it was our teaching pro!! LOL

end rant.

[kafka01]

Last week at my club i looke over the next fairway and a guy was wearing pants, i commented what an idiot he was.

So now you are an idiot when you wear pants in the summer? This summer i wore shorts maybe 2-3 times. Wearing pants is my personal choice, so what should it be other peoples concern or intrest what i wear?

There are quite a few good reasons to wear pants - e.g. you minimize sun light exposure to your skin, or, when you play a course that has lots of bugs they have less area to bite you. So you see, its not just about the temperature that dictates your clothing.

[lumpuckeroo]

You have to remember were the game started, and it wasn't in the US and is wasn't in a hot and humid area of the world. Golf is a steeped in tradition, the traditions of the game expected gentlemen to wear pants, that just carried on to the foundations of the PGA and PGA Tour. Additional a significant amount of the early golf was played in the northeast, a little cooler temperatures than other parts of the US.

[Easy]

Requiring pants is quite possibly the dumbest thing in golf. it is old, out of date and silly...think about it!! Shorts didn't existing when golf started...you have members at clubs walking around in shorts becuase it is 98 degrees but the club pro is playing in pants...why? Because pros wear pants!! stop it is silly. Last week at my club i looke over the next fairway and a guy was wearing pants, i commented what an idiot he was...when he turned around it was our teaching pro!! LOL

I only wear pants while golfing. I like pants...

[iacas]

Requiring pants is quite possibly the dumbest thing in golf. it is old, out of date and silly...think about it!! Shorts didn't existing when golf started...you have members at clubs walking around in shorts becuase it is 98 degrees but the club pro is playing in pants...why? Because pros wear pants!! stop it is silly. Last week at my club i looke over the next fairway and a guy was wearing pants, i commented what an idiot he was...when he turned around it was our teaching pro!! LOL

Your attempted ranting fails because it's a PGA Tour rule, not a rule of golf.

The PGA Tour has a rule that players must dress professionally, and that includes wearing pants. I support the rule, AND will point out that a good pair of pants (breathable) can actually be cooler than shorts (they keep your legs in the shade) while additionally helping to protect your legs from the sun. The USGA is not the PGA Tour. What happened in a U.S. Open is a different set of rules. BTW, some will remember that Tiger went to bat for caddies via his caddie Steve Williams in allowing caddies to wear shorts.

[TN94z]

I support the rule, AND will point out that a good pair of pants (breathable) can actually be cooler than shorts (they keep your legs in the shade) while additionally helping to protect your legs from the sun.

I was about to say the same thing. I have a couple pair of Under Armour pants and they will actually keep me cooler than shorts. I don't mind wearing pants at all. Like stated above, it keeps the bugs off and if it is or has been raining, you don't get crap all over your legs. The sun exposure doesn't bother me but neither does wearing pants. I usually don't pay much attention to what a guy in the other fairway is wearing anyway...

[colin007]

so what would happen? if i was on the tour and showed up on thursday morning at the first tee wearing shorts, what would they do? would i be disqualified from the tournament? would a rules official come up to me? i thought they only did rules of golf.

[Kieran123]

I prefer pants a lot of the time, I seem to play better and am more comfortable...plus, my hairy white legs make it hard to focus on the ball

[Fatphil]

The PGA Tour has a rule that players must dress professionally, and that includes wearing pants. I support the rule, AND will point out that a good pair of pants (breathable) can actually be cooler than shorts (they keep your legs in the shade) while additionally helping to protect your legs from the sun.

Not to hi jack your thread but talking about sun protection I was wondering the last few weeks what kind of sun block those guys wear. Watching Bubba and Kucher their forearms are about 3 shades darker than their faces..and Bubba's face looks almost pasty. As much as they are in the sun it must be excellent stuff. I remember seeing Sabatini at Doral spray something all over his face and it wasn't bug spray.

[kafka01]

You most likely would receive disciplinary action by the PGA Tour - since you broke a PGA Tour rule, maybe a cash fine. Playing on the PGA Tour is a business with certain guidelines, not that much different than your actual job. If you show up for a meeting with a client in shorts /polo/sandals, it would be regarded as very disrespectful and you might have had this job for the longest time...

I read the case of Sandra Gal who showed up in a little bit too less during a practice round, and she was told to change or otherwise they wouldnt allow her to play (that rule was actually enforced by the club since it was a practice round outside the LPGA "circus"). During the actual LPGA tournament - nobody said anything, since the LPGA probably would allow you to play in a bikini when you meet certain goals :).

[kafka01]

Not to hi jack your thread but talking about sun protection I was wondering the last few weeks what kind of sun block those guys wear. Watching Bubba and Kucher their forearms are about 3 shades darker than their faces..and Bubba's face looks almost pasty. As much as they are in the sun it must be excellent stuff. I remember seeing Sabatini at Doral spray something all over his face and it wasn't bug spray.

Isnt sunblock more defined by SPF than kind or brand? I mean these guys dont go out there every day to get tan like some golfers do - they want to stay healthy, and they focus on training and practicing. So my guess is, they use quite a high SPF. And since its not unhealthy to use SPF 50 or 30 - why not?

[Fatphil]

is spf 50 the best you can get? I don't know..maybe a dermatologist out there somewhere...I'm in S. FLA so skin cancer is a major concern for golfers. I would guess golf pros have it figured out.

[colin007]

i was hoping this wouldnt turn into a "oooh, pants are stupid" and a "ooooh, pants are more professional looking" thread. i was merely wondering what would happen.


and what about the british open? thats not PGA. i wonder if you could wear shorts in that tournament?

[allin]

Your attempted ranting fails because it's a PGA Tour rule, not a rule of golf.

I do think that on really humid days, and days with little wind the wick away fabrics don't work as well and shorts work better those days. In hot low humidity days wick away is cooler.

[sean_miller]

i was hoping this wouldnt turn into a "oooh, pants are stupid" and a "ooooh, pants are more professional looking" thread. i was merely wondering what would happen.

Wearing shorts in Scotland is it's own penalty.

For everyone who says high tech pants are cooler, should other sports adopt them? Why don't the ladies wear them?

[sacm3bill]

Wearing shorts in Scotland is it's own penalty.

Ha! True that.

For everyone who says high tech pants are cooler, should other sports adopt them?

I imagine they would be too restrictive for most other sports. Not a factor in the golf swing.

Why don't the ladies wear them?

You mean the LPGA? I think you know: Because, whether for good or for bad, their ability to market themselves includes not just how well they play golf but on how good they look. If they all wore pants, TV ratings would drop like a stone, along with sponsors and prize money.