How golf fashion got cool: polos, sweater vests and celebrity collabs score a hole in one

Jun 17 , 2024

Golf’s new look is coming from fresh interest in the game from Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren, collabs like Bape and Adidas Golf, Travis Scott and Nike, and emerging brands like rapper Macklemore’s Bogey Boys and Malbon Golf. Photo: Handout

‘Golfcore’ hits come from Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren, but also collabs between Bape and Adidas Golf, Travis Scott and Nike, and Macklemore’s Bogey Boys

Mark Twain once quipped that a round of golf rather spoiled a good walk. Golf, however, is enjoying something of a makeover.

Perhaps eight-time PGA champion Chi-Chi Rodríguez was right when he said that “golf is the most fun you can have without taking your clothes off”. Today though, the clothes are not only being kept on – they’re better than ever.

Forget the days of regulation polos and plaid trousers (though in many cases dress codes on the course remain). In 2024, the influence of celebrity, luxury, and cool, emerging brands is shaking up golf’s image.

There’s several reasons to explain golf’s glow-up – it’s not just Theo James playing a round in Guy Ritchie’s dapper crime show The Gentlemen or the seemingly unstoppable rise of the sweater vest.

Louis Vuitton spring 2024 men’s capsule collection by Tyler, The Creator

As was true of many outdoor pursuits, the pandemic drew large numbers of new players to the sport. Not only that but more women, more people of colour, younger people took it up.

Sinead Cutts, style director of online retailer The Outnet, says that with the renaissance of outdoor activities and sports, and with tennis and hiking getting style revivals, it was only a matter of time before golf got a new image.

“[N]ow golf is slowly experiencing a similar thing. Brands are catching up with this new trend, as seen in the recent collaborations between Pharrell Williams’ Louis Vuitton and Tyler, the Creator; Bape and Adidas Golf; and even Travis Scott and Nike, with his Air Jordan 1 Low trainers specially designed for golf enthusiasts,” she says.

Travis Scott Air Jordan 1 Low Golf trainers

As for golf style icons? Cutts says a few players immediately spring to mind.