Support our Mission. We independently test each product we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.
Yes.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
But that’s just my opinion. I want to hear yours. Do you think golf should have a dress code? Take this short survey and let us know your thoughts.
Last week, we asked you to let us know which club brand you could play for the rest of your life. We gathered responses from over 3,000 golfers.
Ultimately, the race came down to two competitors: PING and Titleist.
Connor is MyGolfSpy's resident sneakerhead and the authority on all things golf shoe performance. He's tested over 150 different pairs (and counting). When he isn't scrolling Twitter to find his next golf shoe purchase, you can find him at the piano or trying a new dessert place with his wife and daughter. #Lefty
| Driver Callaway ELYTE Mini | Hybrid Cobra KING TEC |
| Irons Titleist T250 | Wedges Titleist Vokey SM10 |
| Putter PING Scottsdale Prime Tyne | Ball Bridgestone TOUR BX |
2 years ago
It comes down to a respect for the game which includes the course, playing partners and others. Maintaining a dress code is a reminder to everyone that there’s a decorum that’s expected.
2 years ago
We have no issue wearing jerseys to play baseball, softball, basketball etc. Asking that we wear a collar shirt and reasonable shorts/pants seems like a very minor concession. Lets not make this a race to the bottom with wife beaters and daisy dukes on every tee. IF you want to make a statement “such as look at me I am an idiot” you can always get the John Daly wardrobe and stand out if that is the goal
2 years ago
Agreed, why is this such a difficult thing for people?
2 years ago
Agreed
2 years ago
Well said.
2 years ago
I play at a private club. The dress code is pretty strict. The only beef I have with it is mostly the tucked shirt. Stop that! Otherwise, I don’t really care. Me I always wear long pants, because I have clippings on my legs, in my shoes, and I hate sunburns. But, most of my pants come from second-hand stores. I am not paying much for clothes I plan to sweat through.
I don’t understand the jeans crowd. Never really wore them. Too hot. Can’t really move unless they are terribly baggy. However, a decent T-shirt, I understand. I normally wear cargo pants, but that is a no-no at my club. I am not sure why, but whatever.
Like others have said, it should be based on the club. At the local muni, I have no expectations of proper dress for anyone. Golf tends to be too stuffy anyway. People used to wear suits and ties to play. Would you play like that? This is supposed to be an athletic exercise. Lets dress like athletes.
As far as the ladies are concerned, I really don’t care. It is nice to see a pretty girl on the course. I see too many hugely fat sweaty guys out there….a few cute girls wouldn’t hurt anything. I don’t care how they are dressed. We have a group of Korean ladies who play most days and they are usually dressed very nicely. I don’t mind being behind them, even though they play slowly. However, butt crack boy with dunlops disease can cause a real eye strain.
2 years ago
Leave it up to the course. If my local course bans Malbon and that frees up some tee times, that’s a double win in my book.
2 years ago
Yes, all decent shirts, long pants are ok. Shorts can’t be cutoffs.
2 years ago
Yes, we should have dress codes. A dress code provides a way to set expectations and deliver a consistent experience.
There should not be a single dress code for all golf experiences.
At a $15 muni, the dress code should align with that experience – all are welcome, come as you are, expect the course to look like a $3/hour experience. If you are a $150 daily fee course, the experience should be more polished from the grass underfoot to the apparel on bodies.
Enforced dress codes set an expectation for on-course behavior in much the same way that removing the graffiti from the NYC Subways set expectations for rider safety. If a course has, and enforces, its dress code, it sets an expectation that it will also enforce the filling of divots, raking of bunkers, and fixing of pitch marks on greens. If they don’t, it says to a player, “do what you want, we don’t care.”
As a society, we’ve largely lost our ability to differentiate between the experience of sitting in our basements and being out in public amongst others, and with that the ability to differentiate between the way we act in the privacy of our own homes and in public spaces. I would also suggest that this explains the increase of unfilled divots, un-raked bunkers, harassed beverage cart workers, etc…
I play at a private club that has relaxed both its code and the enforcement as part of its attempt at being friendly to younger members. The result is a spectacular course filled with untucked, often t-shirt-wearing golfers, driving their carts all over fairways pocked with unfilled divots, un-raked bunkers, un-fixed pitch marks, and trash that collects in the fescue. As a hoofer, I find myself filling whatever I can, raking bunkers I’m not in, filling my bag with empty potato chip bags, and pushing multiple pitch marks back into place.
We get dressed to go to a fine restaurant, and even fast food restaurants post dress code requirements – No shoes, no shirt, no service. Why should golf be different? A dress code is part of managing that.
– Written in the basement while wearing a logoed golf shirt, shorts, and flip-flops.
2 years ago
Amen brother
2 years ago
The reason why many people wear their shirts untucked is very simple. They can’t talk to them without looking ridiculous.
2 years ago
Kudos to you for writing this.
2 years ago
As long as you’re neat and clean, you should be good to go on public courses.
Now, music? Ban the hell out of that. So obnoxious.
2 years ago
I’d like a strict dress code but solely because our public courses here in Charlotte have become overrun. It’s hard to get a tee time. Any barrier to entry would be helpful!!
2 years ago
Agree 100%.
2 years ago
A-M-E-N!!!
2 years ago
We play public courses and for the most part everyone adheres to a dress code. I’m not a fan of ragged t-shirts.
2 years ago
Private courses that require they be tucked in aren’t my favorite–I never tuck in my polos and I look perfectly presentable.
Rather than dress codes, I wish people would just respect common public decency. It’s hard to teach my 7yo son a gentleman’s sport when JimBob is on the next tee box dropping 20 F-bombs for slicing his third drive in a row OOB.
2 years ago
Nobody is stopping you from wearing a skirt and halter top. Reach back and remove the rectal obstruction and relax. We get that you don’t want women on the course, but just keep it to yourself.
2 years ago
Someone had an extra cup of coffee today. Tattoos are completely irrelevant here, I guarantee a bunch of PGA players listen to music when they play on their off weeks, and what’s wrong with people playing with old clubs if they don’t have expendable income and are new to the game?
I agree with not wearing wife-beaters and ripped jeans but you’re coming off as an angry rich guy trying to gatekeep golf from the masses. Join a private club and only play there if you want it to be like it was 30 years ago.
2 years ago
When you see my former boss show up for a round of golf wearing double pleated 100% cotton Dockers shorts you will understand my wanting a dress code at my club.
2 years ago
IMO I agree with dress codes for private and/or public championship type courses, but municipal type courses can have a more lax jeans, cutoffs and tee shirts dress code.
2 years ago
Golf is a game about respect, rules, excellence and valuing traditions and history. Thats not really for everyone. Requiring players to dress and act accordingly is important.
2 years ago
Golf will go on no matter if you dress up to add respect. For a number or years I was a full member of a private club founded in 1898. Hogan used to try out and practice with his new Macgregor clubs on Hole #1. It was literally leather soled Foot-joys or nothing. Not fun in heavy wet grass. That said a private club can have any rules or restrictions on play that they desire, your tax money doesn’t support them. Evolve or die, a fact of nature.
2 years ago
Honestly very surprised Ping was the top pick for last weeks poll. Would be curious to see the age and handicap breakdown of the 3,000 voters.
2 years ago
Personally, I could care less about the “dressing up”, its the pretentious attitudes that seems to go with it for a lot of people.
Keep it inside the Phony gates…
2 years ago
Lots of “Maybe”s in my replies. I don’t want to see tube tops & daisy dukes, but I couldn’t care less about untucked t-shirts. I’m more interested in golf etiquette and respect for the course. It’s a game. Games are supposed to be FUN.
2 years ago
Yup, What he said ^^
Let the prudes stay at the private clubs, where they can be stuffy and pretentious to their hearts content.
2 years ago
Private courses can use their own discretion. Personally, I do think that a little dressing up shows some respect for the game, but if you want to wear jeans, have at it.
2 years ago
Personally, I could care less about the “dressing up”, its the pretentious attitudes that seems to go with it for a lot of people.
Keep it inside the Phony gates…
2 years ago
Never jeans
2 years ago
No. I think it’s fair as is and is not the ogre it’s made out to be. Pro golf is another matter but maybe they could allow shorts?
2 years ago
Like most polling, I find the questions as presented far too open to interpretation and therefore difficult to answer anything other than maybe. IMO, a better way to pose the question would be to ask, “Are (public/private) golf course dress codes 1) too restrictive 2) not restrictive enough 3) just right? Had that been the question, I would have chosen #1.
I’m personally not wild about plopping down in the clubhouse for an after round beer and finding myself in a sea of tank top wearing, sweaty males sporting tank tops, hairy arm pits on display. OTOH, I could care less if someone wears a tee-shirt or a pair of blue jeans. I recall having to play a round in rain gear once as I had dared to come to a course on a 45 degree day in a pair of black Levis. So largely I’m with you, but I like to avoid a certain level of anarchy. Can we agree to draw the line at male thongs?
2 years ago
Public, yes. Private, no – but maybe a “neatness” standard. Probably shouldn’t allow nudity, but for me that depends on a couple of other factors!
2 years ago
Played Darwin golf course NT and a guy played in only tight swimming trunks. No glove and no shoes.
2 years ago
Private, yes. Public, no – except for a “neatness” standard maybe. Probably shouldn’t allow nudity either (depending on…LOL)
2 years ago
I like the “neatness” standard. I do not think tank tops should be allowed.
2 years ago
Shows the marketing juggernaut between buying players and retail space.
2 years ago
I’m not in favor of a strict dress code, on public courses, shirt, pants/shorts, shoes. On private courses, they can do what they want and what the membership approves. I like that Liv allows their players to wear shorts, something the PGA should also allow but this game still requires some decorum, as they say in John wick, “rules”.
2 years ago
Your form is unfillable in firefox. Requires “If you could change one thing” field to be filled, but won’t let you enter anything. And won’t allow you to submit if you don’t fill it
2 years ago
The one thing I would change is websites with required boxes that cannot be filled out. Dowsn’t work in Chrome either.
2 years ago
Click on ” Your answer” first and it opens.
2 years ago
I had no trouble whatsoever in my Chrome browser … but maybe that was due to the Windows 10 update I got last night while asleep?
2 years ago
If there is no dress code then there is no need to wear golf clothes which means that golf retailers will have a big problem.
We all love wearing (and buying) the latest golf gear. Without a code its jeans and football tops and hiking boots.
Have a dress code which is reasonable and affordable.
2 years ago
I don’t see it as a problem. If someone wants to play in a tank top and jorts it doesn’t affect me, my day, or my golf game in any way. I’m more concerned about people not fixing their ball marks, raking the traps, and playing music you can from two fairways over.
2 years ago
Golf retailers like Wal-Mart and Goodwill? They sell polo’s, shorts, slacks, golf shoes, golf clubs. Those items can also be found at yard sales. Everyone stating that it’s stuffy and you need to dress up are being ridiculous. What’s affordable mean to you?
2 years ago
I physically go to golf course to get away from ‘it all.” I don’t understand the need for playing music/radio in the cart so it is loud enough to hear from cart to green.
A couple of seasons ago, my GF and I went to a new-to-us course and got paired-up with a couple of guys. Teed off, no problem. Got halfway down the fairway and heard them playing the football game. I said, ‘guys, I am recording the game to watch after. . . ” Dude-guy actually responded, “Then don’t listen.” Fortunately, my GF was the voice of reason and said, “well, maybe you can turn it down so that just you can hear it. . .”
Dan Mackey
2 years ago
Lmao
My mom told me when you play really well they will let you wear what you want because your skill makes you look good. Until you are a low single digit handicap you need to follow all the rules.
Example: Tiger and his blade collars. Tell me those aren’t tee shirts.