Christine Brennan writes horrible Masters column about Spieth and Woods for some reason

[newtogolf]

Even if it isn't enforced we are all aware the dress code policies exist. I play some very relaxed courses but they sell golf clothes in the pro shop not jeans and the scorecard and sign in the shop mentions the dress code.

True, but I'm also aware of the dress code policies when I go to an expensive restaurant, club or party too.

I like a pair of sweats and hoodie as much as anyone but I don't consider wearing golf shorts and polo shirt to be formally dressed or "snobby".  It's not like we have to wear slacks, ties and jackets on the course like they used to.

[skydog]

Shooter pretty much sums up my thoughts on this matter...

[mmoan2]

Dress code is an excellent example of the "gentleman's sport" that golf continues to be. Most of the golfers I know shake each others' hands when they've completed playing - they also compliment good shots. Golf doesn't require a referee - you call penalties on yourself. Gentleman sport.   So much more to discuss on the subject but it appears that it has fallen on deaf ears - people who likely just picked up the game about 1997 when TW hit the scene and 'anything goes'.......

I try not to get too involved in these discussions any more, but I've never seen any more gentlemanly behavior on a golf course than when I high-five the other squad after a pickup basketball game, or even when as a player on an organized team we would shake hands with the opposition after the game, Pickup basketball or football - we always self-called fouls or holding calls, etc. It was part of the "gentleman's agreement" In fact, the worst example of sportsmanship I've ever seen took place at an expensive Long Island Country Club on a golf course. A hothead lost big bucks on a hole, threw his sand wedge, and it bounced off the turf and cold-cocked a caddie. He won a personal injury lawsuit against the guy.

I think a "new wave" of golfers has breathed a fresh life into the sport, and TW was largely responsible for that. I understand your sentiment that golf is a "gentlemen's sport," but I think that moniker is largely a caricature that is more harmful to its vitality than good. Even when I hear that phrase I instinctively think of crusty old white men wearing argyle socks and a necktie on the course. The genteelness of it has been fused with a youthful exuberance that embraces flashy colors like pretty much every pro golfer wears now. I guarantee you Winston Churchill cursed on the golf course more than Tiger Woods does, BTW!

An article like this to me is a pretty piece in a pretty newspaper that has as much depth and aesthetic merit as the fake plants in my cafeteria. It has its place, though. USA Today wasn't dubbed light news in my college journalism course for nothing.

[Dave2512]

True, but I'm also aware of the dress code policies when I go to an expensive restaurant, club or party too.

I like a pair of sweats and hoodie as much as anyone but I don't consider wearing golf shorts and polo shirt to be formally dressed or "snobby".  It's not like we have to wear slacks, ties and jackets on the course like they used to.

Agreed I certainly don't think golf clothes are formal attire but I can see how non-golfers might think wearing specific clothes to golf is for lack of a better word strange. Many people don't even think it's a sport just a hobby. But I see golf clothes as no different than wearing gym shorts to to the gym. I'm not a jeans guy so I don't wear them often and certainly not to the course. For me golf clothes serve double duty. Nice and comfortable enough to wear to work. I'm not a logo guy so most wouldn't even know I am wearing golf clothes. But I do wear hoodies to golf.

[turtleback]

Dress code is an excellent example of the "gentleman's sport" that golf continues to be. Most of the golfers I know shake each others' hands when they've completed playing - they also compliment good shots. Golf doesn't require a referee - you call penalties on yourself. Gentleman sport.   So much more to discuss on the subject but it appears that it has fallen on deaf ears - people who likely just picked up the game about 1997 when TW hit the scene and 'anything goes'.......

Any time I see someone talk about golf dress codes and they try tie it to being a gentleman and they are not wearing jacket and tie, with plus-fours, I just chalk it up to snobbery.  Or not knowing what the term gentleman really has meant over the years.  The Vardon character explained it pretty well in the Greatest Game, movie.  The last thing a real gentleman would do is make someone uncomfortable because of the way they are dressed, IMO.

[Rick Martin]

Any time I see someone talk about golf dress codes and they try tie it to being a gentleman and they are not wearing jacket and tie, with plus-fours, I just chalk it up to snobbery.  Or not knowing what the term gentleman really has meant over the years.  The Vardon character explained it pretty well in the Greatest Game, movie.  The last thing a real gentleman would do is make someone uncomfortable because of the way they are dressed, IMO.

Does your golf course allow players to go shirtless? Just curious.

[RFKFREAK]

True, but I'm also aware of the dress code policies when I go to an expensive restaurant, club or party too.

I like a pair of sweats and hoodie as much as anyone but I don't consider wearing golf shorts and polo shirt to be formally dressed or "snobby".  It's not like we have to wear slacks, ties and jackets on the course like they used to.

I think the reason why there might be a dress code at an expensive restaurant, club, or party is to give the environment a certain air.

Go to a restaurant that requires a tie, slacks, and a jacket for men and slacks or a dress for women and I think they probably want something akin to an air of elegance.

Go to a club or party where they don't allow people in with ripped jeans or some other dress code, I think it's likely because they want an environment which promotes status and bottle service.

When I was a kid, and this was way before the Tiger boom, I'd watch golf without knowing any of the rules or how to interpret the scoreboard but I remember liking it.  However, growing up working class, I knew the clubs were expensive (and we're not even talking about green fees) whereas with baseball, football, and basketball, the equipment wasn't.

• I played little league and all I needed was a glove.
  • Absent that, I played stickball with my friends and all we needed was a stickball bat and tennis balls.
• I played pick up games of basketball at the park with my friends, all you needed was a basketball.
• When I played pick up games of football, I played two hand touch so all you needed was the ball and a place to play.
• When I played hockey, that was probably the most expensive thing because you needed skates and a stick but it didn't cost nearly as much as a set of clubs.
• When I played organized sports in secondary school, the equipment I might need that I didn't have was provided.

When I thought about country clubs, I didn't think people went there to play the sports I played.  But I certainly did when I thought of golf.  So, in my mind, golf was a rich, elitist, white man's sport.

I didn't start playing golf until I was in my late 20's (way after Tiger had become the sensation that he is) and part of the reason was because I didn't have friends that (at that time) golfed, and, because I viewed golf the same way I viewed it when I was a kid: as a rich man's snobbish sport.  I saw the dress code as part of that snobbery.  It wasn't until I was visiting a friend in DC and he suggested going golfing that I considered it.  I told him I didn't have clubs and he said we could buy a starter set at Sports Authority for $150-$200.  I was ignorant to the fact that you could buy clubs at a price that was affordable to a middle class person.  I think the green fees were like 25 which wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

So, in this long winded post, I guess what I'm saying is that golf still has a certain image to a certain demographic out there.  It's probably changing but the fact of the matter is that because it's a sport which can be more expensive than others kids are playing, unless told or shown otherwise, I'm sure many still view it as a rich man's, snobbish, elitist sport and the dress code just emphasizes that.

[jamo]

what else does the game of golf (gentleman's sport) and hockey share?

Who cares?

[turtleback]

Does your golf course allow players to go shirtless? Just curious.

What does that have to do with anything?  I do not mind dress codes, I mind all of the "I'm a gentleman because of the way I dress" BS.

Being a gentleman has to do with how you act, not how you dress.

There is no universal god given dress code for golf  It varies by both time and place.  A gentleman adapts himself to his circumstance.  If I play a course where people wear jeans I have no problem even though I personally would not wear jeans to play golf.  I certainly wouldn't look at someone as less of a gentleman because he wears them at that course.

And I ABSOLUTELY would not treat a playing companion differently depending on how they dress.  I have played golf with some fine gentlemen who dressed in what, by my personal standards, could be described as scruffy clothes.  And I have played with some total A-holes (rarely, thank goodness)  who were dressed to the nines.

"Clothes makes the man" is an expression of shallowness, not some universal truth.

[Rick Martin]

Who cares?

you brought up the comparison -

Brennan's point - golf isn't MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL - the players and the fans have a different was of acting, the player are expected to behave with manners and respect for the game, the spectators, the viewers - ----and a segment of the population is getting tired of TW's poor sportsmanship.

[boogielicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamo

Who cares?

you brought up the comparison -

Brennan's point - golf isn't MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL - the players and the fans have a different was of acting, the player are expected to behave with manners and respect for the game, the spectators, the viewers - ----and a segment of the population is getting tired of TW's poor sportsmanship.

So she is smart enough to know the sports are different. Give her a gold star!  All sports have great fans, not-so-great fans, loud mouth fans, quiet fans, clueless fans, casual fans and intense fans.  To denigrate the fans of other sports by pretending that golf is exclusively the gentleman's realm is hogwash.  Fans cheer after great plays in each sport.  They get upset on bad plays or shots. The gamble on it. Swear and drink around it.  They love their sport.  That is why they watch and why their players get paid so much.

Her article is incredibly biased and just displays her ignorance.

[MSchott]

you brought up the comparison -

Brennan's point - golf isn't MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL - the players and the fans have a different was of acting, the player are expected to behave with manners and respect for the game, the spectators, the viewers - ----and a segment of the population is getting tired of TW's poor sportsmanship.

That's old fashioned thinking. Smacks of old money segregated country clubs. It also as I'm sure has been said previously a different game due to modern TV technology. I find Brennan's column to be over the top stupid and even a bit of a troll article. So what if Tiger is ultra competitive? He's in the Michael Jordan, Larry Bird mold. Nothing wrong with that.

[Aguirre]

I don't mind a minimal dress code.

I never wear denim, always wear a collared shirt.  But, I don't tuck it in and use golf spike sandals.

At nicer country clubs, particularly when I'm a guest, I'll put away the sandals for shoes, tuck the shirt in, and avoid cargo shorts.  I don't really play that often in cargo shorts anyway.  I still don't get the insistence on Bermuda shorts, though.  Like there's a formal ****ing pair of shorts and cargos are just too casual.

[jamo]

you brought up the comparison - Brennan's point - golf isn't MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL - the players and the fans have a different was of acting, the player are expected to behave with manners and respect for the game, the spectators, the viewers - ----and a segment of the population is getting tired of TW's poor sportsmanship.

MASHED POTATOES (EDIT: this is supposed to be me exemplifying how golf fans are not any different from fans of other sports.)

[The Recreational Golfer]

I love this forum. I read the first page, skipped to this one and found out we're on dress codes. Not one word about Spieth, Woods, or Brennan. It's more fun speculating on how we got here than reading all the posts to find out.

I just love this forum.

As to the original point, everything Brennan said about Speith, and especially about Woods, is true, but the stuff about Tiger is such old news it's not even interesting anymore.