cypressperch
Well-Known Member
have seen this situation at the pro-shop. "Sir, I am very sorry but it is against our dress policy to wear denim on the course," or "Sir, I am very sorry but it is against our dress policy to wear a shirt without a colar."
Reactions by the people being told of these things has ranged from "Oh, I am sorry I did not know of the rules," to "Well you can take those rules you got there and this course and go straight to. . . . . ."
At some municipal courses where I have played a lot, there are no such regulations. Occasionally, a golfer might wear some Levi jeans, but no one really gives it much thought. As far as the collar is concerned, there are many pros, Tiger included, who now wear pull over shirts that have no buttons and no real collars which look more like glorified tee-shirts than the collared golf shirt those rules were in favor of.
Doctor King said he had a dream that one day it would be the content of one's character and not the color of their skin that would determine how we would be judged. That sounds like the Golden Rule to me, and it sounds pretty good. I like that dream. Sometimes I wonder if some of our dress regulations are on shakey ground. I once had a dream that someday at the golf course, we might be judged according to our etiquette and manners and courtesy and honesty (content of our character) rather than by the type of cloth our pants are made of or whether or not our shirt has a collar.
Of course, there is always some person who pushes their individuality and personal taste in clothing to stupid extremes, so dress regulations of some sort are probably necessary (I saw a guy ruin a green playing in cowboy boots!). Personally, I like wearing a comfortable pair of Levis with a golf shirt because it is sort of casual and very comfortable. I do not rock the boat on this issue, because it isn't that important a battle. Life is too short to battle all the time, so I pick the battles I engage in (a couple of times in the past, the government picked them for me!).
I suppose the whole anti-denim thing harks back to when denim was seen as the cloth that worker class folks wore and was therefore inappropriate for the golf courses at country clubs that were places where those in the higher ranks of society played. So it is that, even today, denim just does not look proper when we are trying to create a certain look of class at the club. Yet we allow a $40 pair of Dockers which certainly does not have "the look" of a fairly nice $200 pair of slacks. So I guess those who set the standards for dress have made at least some concessions to the lower ones who come to play.
I suppose some of this also comes from that mentality that always suspected that anyone wearing jeans was some sort of "hood." Heaven forbid, if the country clubs of this earth became overrun by scratch golfers who were also "hoods." And even worse, what if denim caught on as being stylish, and we started seeing denim at Augusta!! No! That? Never!
Come on, now. At least allow denim, provided that our golfing heritage is somewhat preserved by the rule that denim can be used provided that it is used in making denim knickers.
Confusion once said, "The one thing in life that is constant is change." To which Cypressperch replied, "Which, like the butterfly, is not always bad."
Sincerely, Cypressperch
Reactions by the people being told of these things has ranged from "Oh, I am sorry I did not know of the rules," to "Well you can take those rules you got there and this course and go straight to. . . . . ."
At some municipal courses where I have played a lot, there are no such regulations. Occasionally, a golfer might wear some Levi jeans, but no one really gives it much thought. As far as the collar is concerned, there are many pros, Tiger included, who now wear pull over shirts that have no buttons and no real collars which look more like glorified tee-shirts than the collared golf shirt those rules were in favor of.
Doctor King said he had a dream that one day it would be the content of one's character and not the color of their skin that would determine how we would be judged. That sounds like the Golden Rule to me, and it sounds pretty good. I like that dream. Sometimes I wonder if some of our dress regulations are on shakey ground. I once had a dream that someday at the golf course, we might be judged according to our etiquette and manners and courtesy and honesty (content of our character) rather than by the type of cloth our pants are made of or whether or not our shirt has a collar.
Of course, there is always some person who pushes their individuality and personal taste in clothing to stupid extremes, so dress regulations of some sort are probably necessary (I saw a guy ruin a green playing in cowboy boots!). Personally, I like wearing a comfortable pair of Levis with a golf shirt because it is sort of casual and very comfortable. I do not rock the boat on this issue, because it isn't that important a battle. Life is too short to battle all the time, so I pick the battles I engage in (a couple of times in the past, the government picked them for me!).
I suppose the whole anti-denim thing harks back to when denim was seen as the cloth that worker class folks wore and was therefore inappropriate for the golf courses at country clubs that were places where those in the higher ranks of society played. So it is that, even today, denim just does not look proper when we are trying to create a certain look of class at the club. Yet we allow a $40 pair of Dockers which certainly does not have "the look" of a fairly nice $200 pair of slacks. So I guess those who set the standards for dress have made at least some concessions to the lower ones who come to play.
I suppose some of this also comes from that mentality that always suspected that anyone wearing jeans was some sort of "hood." Heaven forbid, if the country clubs of this earth became overrun by scratch golfers who were also "hoods." And even worse, what if denim caught on as being stylish, and we started seeing denim at Augusta!! No! That? Never!
Come on, now. At least allow denim, provided that our golfing heritage is somewhat preserved by the rule that denim can be used provided that it is used in making denim knickers.
Confusion once said, "The one thing in life that is constant is change." To which Cypressperch replied, "Which, like the butterfly, is not always bad."
Sincerely, Cypressperch