Clubhouse Style
Golf players don’t play in some kind of formation. Nobody passes the ball to them. So there’s no reason why a golf player needs to be seen. And yet, since the 1950s, golfers have paid ever more attention to what they wear. The space between shots has become a catwalk.
Take Frank Sinatra - singer and golf fanatic. He played most often at the Palm Springs course where he racked up a $40,000 clubhouse tab on his favourite golf style. This included alpaca cardigans - in bright orange, which helped to kick-start the association between golf clothing and being really, really loud; and polo shirts, many of these being, yes, from Original Penguin.
But then it’s in golf that we find our beginnings. That was a result of the great insight of one Abbot Pederson, a salesman for Minneapolis-based underwear brand Munsingwear, who realised in 1955 that there was a market for shirts targeted specifically at golfers - comfortable enough to play in, smart enough to wear to the clubhouse after your round. He came up with our Pete the Penguin logo, which soon found itself on the chest of other celeb golfers including Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dean Martin, and later Clint Eastwood. Pro players embraced Original Penguin and ‘the 55’ shirt too, most notably Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, the daddy of golf style.
These days our Original Penguin Golf line is sported by the likes of our ambassador, Australian player Cameron Smith, who won the Australian PGA Championship back to back in 2017 and 2018, and was a runner up in last year’s Masters tournament, which is pretty good going for a 27-year-old, right?
But that just chimes with the fact that, far from being the retirement sport of stereotype, golf is not just the world’s fastest growing recreational sport, it’s image has also seen a huge shift towards youth, and even towards edginess. This, after all, is the preferred leisure activity of Samuel L. Jackson, Alice Cooper and the Beastie Boys. OK, so Cameron isn’t just good at golf because he favours our sleek Track Jackets, Slim line Trousers, baseball caps or, of course, our famous Golfing Polo Shirt - all with a technical edge that allows for better breathability and ease of movement.
It’s not just that Original Penguin’s designs allow him to stand out despite the ever traditional official PGA rules insisting that all players dress ‘conservatively’. Cameron can actually sink those balls. If you want to put a bet on a future champion of golf’s most prestigious events, the likes of the US or the British Open, bet on him. But bet too on him doing it in a 55.
You can shop Cameron Smith’s Golf Style on our website. Available now.
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