Golf nowadays is faced with never ending calls to emerge into the ‘real world,’ to cast off hundreds of years of elitist tradition and to become more accessible, more of a sport for ‘the people’. With golf courses closing every year due to an ever increasing age demographic, with golf as a whole struggling to encourage young members to commit to golf, this is a call that golf does actively need to engage with – it is vital to its very survival. Golf as a community is increasingly considering the purge of slow play, along with ways to make golf less of a reminder of how inept at sport you are (although this writer is sure he’d still find a way to 3-putt no matter how large they make the hole). But what remains perhaps most prominent in the supposed ‘modernisation’ of the game is dress code.

The classic image of golf is most probably a middle-aged man, perhaps sporting a gentlemanly moustache, wearing a peak cap, an Argyll sweater, some tweed trousers, or potentially some plus fours, naturally accompanied by his loyal Labrador waiting patiently by his bag. And, it is true, such a traditional image remains in many golf clubs. The author of this very piece himself occasionally delights in the odd peak cap, potentially with matching tweed trousers, and of course stubbornly declares that nothing keeps him quite as warm, that they are a “necessity,” while inwardly hoping that all around him view him as a fashion paragon. Similarly many golf clubs continue to insist that tailored shorts may be worn, provided that your shirt is at all times tucked in, and that you are wearing long socks. This of course gives great comfort to many who in their prep school days were more than used to writing a hundred lines of “I must pull my socks up” (I am, yet again, unfortunately speaking from personal experience). Woe betide any golfer who turns up to a clubhouse without a blazer, as he is liable to be refused entry to dine under any circumstances and will most likely be playing his afternoon round on an empty stomach (personal experience truly is a fickle friend).

However this sense of tradition is increasingly seen as ‘stuffy’ and ‘pointless.’ Tweed is easily replaced by various high-tech fabrics that don’t itch nearly as much and can boast being waterproof at the same time. Long socks are rarely something people own, let alone are they willing to wear them on a hot summer’s day. Instead golf courses increasingly advise wearing normal white socks, which of course many middle aged dads continue to own so they have a suitable accompaniment for their sandles. Yet for younger more active golfers many would much prefer to wear proper sport socks, although this is widely frowned upon as ‘exposing too much ankle’ (that notoriously offensive joint).

Of course the most prominent faces of golf are the professional tours. It is here that golf fashion is set, that players and officials decide the image of golf. Some players decide to use and co-opt tradition, to make tradition itself modern. Payne Stewart notoriously made the plus fours his very own signature sartorial choice. Bryson DeChambeau, the recent winner of the US Amateur Championship, has adopted the peak cap in imitation of Ben Hogan. However other golfers have increasingly set themselves to create their own trends. Many of the world’s best golfers are sponsored by some of the leading fashion brands. Henrik Stenson is sponsored by Boss, Luke Donald by Polo. Likewise Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy have driven forward the golf lines of Under Armour and Nike respectively. Finally when watching coverage of any tournament it is rare that the cameras don’t pick up a young fan wearing Rickie Fowler’s prominent orange flat cap, often accompanied by a polo shirt of the same colour and white trousers. Indeed the Tours are even beginning to acknowledge the changing times, as from this year the European Tour will allow players to wear shorts and sport socks for all the practice rounds and Pro-Ams.

Clearly the debate over how far it is necessary to modernise the game at the expense of tradition, which for many can be a large part of the charm of it all, is something that occupies all levels of the golfing world, from the golfer deciding what to wear in the morning, to the club setting its own rules, to the game’s governing bodies. Nor is this a debate which only concerns golf, Wimbledon was noted this year for only allowing plain white shirts to the annoyance of a few. Inevitably it will be a balance between the two, but I for one am fascinated as to where this balance will end up.