A Good Walk Spoiled

AGWS – 4 – Golf Fashion, Please Help Me

Growing up, fashion was not on my radar. I had enough confidence in myself that I kind of just wore whatever I wanted and didn’t think twice about it. I wore lots of sweatpants, sweatshirts and athletic gear regardless of the function. To me “Dressing Up” was putting on a pair of jeans and an untucked cotton polo. I had no clue how to match anything so I had varying styles and wore clashing colors at the same time. This was no different when it came to my style in golf. It was what I thought was cool or whatever was cheapest. So that meant wearing a flamboyant polo with a ratty pair of cargo shorts, extra baggy pockets and all. My most prized golf shirt was the polo Rory wore when he infamously collapsed at the 2011 Masters (it was extremely discounted at my local golf store, probably for that exact reason) and it was just because I thought the individual shirt was cool. But in typical fashion (pun intended) I had nothing to adequately match with this polo.

Since getting married, fashion has been at the forefront of my mind for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that my wife is extremely passionate about fashion. When we started dating, she came over to my place and threw out my cargo shorts and ever since then, she has been slowly reconstructing my whole wardrobe. She has added items such as a bomber jacket, a denim jacket and a variety of new button up shirts. I always thought that fashion was expensive but in this wardrobe make over, most of the clothes have been from Target, off the clearance rack or have even been thrifted. These avenues for getting new clothes have been beyond affordable and with no consequence on the end goal of being fashionable and feeling confident.

One area of my wardrobe that my wife and I have not been able to update together has been my golf wardrobe. The two common problems I have had when it comes to golf clothes the rules of golf and the ability clothing has to impact your swing.

When updating my wardrobe for golf, I want to make sure that whatever I am investing in can be worn at any course. Most private courses and a variety of public courses require some form of a collared shirt and no denim. So unfortunately the trendy Denim Jacket my wife bought me, is a no go. It is a big bummer because I feel confident wearing it and I think it could add flair to an outfit on the course.

In addition to course dress codes not allowing Denim jackets, another reason that specific article clothing wouldn’t work is how restrictive it is. As much as I love it, it limits the ability to rotate and catches on itself if I were to swing through. But these characteristics are not limited to denim jackets, it is applicable to all articles of clothing. Anything that is not properly fitted on your body can be trouble for the swing. Tight clothes can restrict your movement and baggy clothes can catch on the club while swinging are just a couple simple examples of how clothes can impact your swing.

However once these two common issues are cleared, there are two more questions I have to ask myself, do I like the style of the and can I afford it? More often than not, I have answered no to one of these questions when shopping for golf clothes. I recently received an extremely generous gift card to a big box golf store and was excited at the opportunity to update my wardrobe. My wife and I went for over an hour and the only thing we found that I liked and could afford with the giftcard was a sweatshirt and a bunch of Footjoy socks. I was upset at the lack of style and affordability in what is probably the most affordable place to purchase golf clothing, a big box store.

So I throw out a challenge to anyone who reads this, does anyone have any tips for finding affordable, stylish golf clothing? Please comment on this blog post or DM me on instagram @aspoiledwalk for websites, stores or brands that I should be aware of. I would love to have open dialogue with anyone who is passionate or knowledgable about golf clothing.

AGWS – 3 – Accessibility in Golf, A Call to All Golfers

When people think of golf what do you think of? For me, I think of competition, artistry, beautiful architecture and fun with friends. However I have played golf all of my life, so what do people who don’t golf think of golf? My guess is that it is a bunch of rich white dudes playing a game of class and exclusivity. Unfortunately, a lot of that isn’t inaccurate. 75-80% of golfers in America are white, country clubs are members only and even public courses require a lot of money to play. Not to mention the “special clothes” that some places require or the ever growing cost of purchasing equipment. To go even a step further, you can’t even practice half of your golf game for free, you need to buy driving range tokens or baskets.

So with all of these barriers it is not surprising that there is this negative stigma surrounding golf. This post will not dive into the details of these different barriers rather this will be a brief call to action for us current golfers. The tour wants to #LiveUnderPar and wants to GROW the game but I would rather see people LOVE game. What I mean is that I want people to feel the same way I do when I play a really good course, I want them to feel the rush of flushing a 4 iron, and I want them to feel the never ending quest of bettering their golf game. We can offer temporary deals and offer special drink discounts to get people to the course to grow the game but what keeps them coming back? The love, the portions of the game that they enjoy.

There are courses that promote the love of the game. These places foster that feeling through a variety of avenues such as free golf lessons to juniors, free rental sets of clubs, no dress code and a culture that puts the emphasis on the enjoyment of the game rather than the game itself. This is our call as golfers, to support these courses in our local communities and to help spread this mentality to the dark corners of the golf universe. I don’t expect it to be all encompassing (actually I think there is a place for the elite private courses) but I do think it is a possibility for all public courses to be this utopian beacon in their local communities. We as golfers need to not judge new golfers and focus on what they are doing wrong or “tattle” on them to the pro shop for playing to slow. That new golfer is trying their best and by you judging them, you are snuffing out the environment that grows love for the game. Golf is weird, it is almost its own culture and I believe we Golfers need to be more open minded in how that culture can change. To judge new golfers is hypocritical as we were once in their shoes.

We need to grow the love of the game.

AGWS – 2 – What is in the Bag? (WITB)

Golf Clubs are an interesting facet in today’s game. Today, you can fork over $500 to a scientist (Not Bryson) to evaluate your swing and get set up with the perfect set of clubs. Perfect shafts, perfect lie, perfect bounce and the ideal appearance at set up. In some cases I have seen the same person not change their swing one bit and get an additional 20 yards out of every club. For that we have a lot to be grateful in the modern era, golf has never been “easier”. That said, the hefty price of equipment is a big turn off and often leaves the common golfer scraping the bottom of the bargain barrel at a 2nd Swing Store or looking for older clubs online. I fall into the latter group as someone who has been rocking the same clubs (except for the driver/3-wood) since 2012. While I do not love all of the clubs in my bag, I have developed a feel over the last 7 years with these clubs that I feel has been beneficial for my game. Below is a list of what is in my bag.

Driver: Callaway X Hot Pro

3-Wood: Nike Vapor

Hybrid: (3-Iron) Adams Idea Pro A12

Irons: (4-PW) Nike Vapor VRS Forged

Wedges: (52, 56, 60) Nike Engage

Putter: Scotty Cameron California Monterey

Right off the bat you may notice a dedication to “the swoosh” and while they have discontinued their hardware sales, I have been steadfast in my usage of Nike clubs. I do not think it has to do with the influence of Tiger. Yes, I grew up when Tiger was the games generational player and pumping Nike up with his play but I find my fascination with Nike has to do with my career in basketball. Growing up, Basketball was equally as important to me as golf and Nike made all of the best stuff. Shorts, socks, shirts and most importantly, shoes. While today I feel Nike has tailed off in the clothing department they will always remain undefeated in the shoe department for me. (More on Nike shoes in a future blog post, stay tuned ;)) It is because of this association with style and confidence that I continue to represent the Swoosh in the bag today.

I thought it would be cool to close this brief blog post with stories/memories that I have surrounding certain clubs in my bag. As you can imagine, having these clubs for so long as lead to some cool stories and fun memories using these clubs.

Putter: As discussed in my previous post, I grew up putting like crazy because I refused to pay to use the driving range. I also enjoyed the challenge and art that is the short game of golf letting my creativity thrive. Because of this, the Scotty Cameron putter I have in the bag is the longest running club that I have had in my bag (Over 10 Years) and without a doubt the most cherished club in my bag. I enjoy the profile at set up, the weight of the putter and the feedback that I get from it. Most of the putts I hit, I know whether or not I make it prior to the putt getting to the hole. It still has the original grip and it will until it rots off of the club. This club also holds a special place in my heart because I saved up a lot of my summer caddy money to purchase this putter myself when it came out in 2009. Imagine how silly a Scotty Cameron looked in a bag with a Power Bilt Junior set.

3 Iron Hybrid: I do not know if I have any stronger Love hate relationships in my life. Not just in golf, I mean in all of my life. This club can be the best club in my bag or the worst club in my bag depending on what day you ask me. Some Days I can hit High 210 yard Fades that land softly next to pins while other days I can’t even keep this club on the planet. When it comes to playing shorter courses, this club is impartitive for my course management and its performance is almost always directly related to my score. One memory I have with this club is playing in Arizona on a golf trip and after struggling with the driver the entire first day, I decided that I would let this hybrid be the longest club I play the next day. It turned out to be the right play as I shot the lowest round I shot the entire trip proving that “Drive is for show and putting is for dough” (although the modern PGA would disagree).

For additional Pictures of my clubs, check out my instagram @aspoiledwalk