Golf fashion gender bending with Ian Poulter, Golfweek's Travis Hill

In the April 28 edition of Golfweek magazine, writer Travis Hill wrote an interesting column in the golf life section. He admitted to having a man crush on Ian Poulter. More directly, he said he like Poulter’s clothes. He likes the wild colors and styles of the Europeans. Now, Hill is going into the women’s sections of clothing stores in search of pink and orange shirts and pants.

Now, I’m not a metrosexual but neither am I a misogynist. I’ll sport the occasional gem-toned shirt. But I won’t ever be caught asking a playing partner, “Where’d you get that sweet pink turtleneck?”

A couple of years ago at the Ohio Amateur Championship, one of the younger contestants wore pink pants and a matching shirt one day, followed by lime green the next day. One of his playing partners asked him if the hotel he was staying in had a floor length mirror. And that’s how most of the guys I know would react to garish clothing.

Golf fashion has snapped back to the typical khaki pants and conservative colored shirts that differ drastically from the 1970s, and while the pendulum hasn’t yet swung back to Rodney Dangerfield plaids, there is a better choice now than there has been in the past. I don’t want golfers to go back to clothes only golfers would wear, making us stand out from the rest of society. Travis Hill says he wants the fashion industry to evolve with men’s changing tastes but my guess is that they know exactly what will sell and what won’t. Probably, Hill will have to continue buying lady’s size 12 pants if he wants the look that women prefer on the golf course.