COULD ladies’ golf become as sexy as tennis?
The famously dowdy sport is taking a stylish turn as a new generation of players hits the course wearing designer clothes in sleek, cutting-edge microfiber fabrics, capri pants and — gasp! — frocks that look suspiciously like tennis dresses.
“This is probably the best time in history for women’s golf fashions,” says Jan Butterfield, a Ladies’ Professional Golfing Association style consultant hired to spruce up the sport’s image.
Golf companies are meeting the challenge with modern fabrics in tighter and barer cuts, available in hues such as black, navy, khaki and white as opposed to shocking green and neon yellow.
Seventh Avenue is catching on, too.
Tommy Hilfiger will launch the female answer to his hugely successful men’s golf line in November, while high-end luxury companies like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani and Prada have begun selling modern, fashionable clothing and accessories to golfers with deep pockets.
Gucci is selling a new logo club tote for $1,390, while Prada Sport is coming out with golf shoes (with removable cleats) to match another new offering — a tiny $120 sack full of red Ts bearing the Prada name.
“Golf has been a very androgynous sport in the past,” says Rona Cherry, editor in chief of Golf Digest Woman. “Now, more of an attempt is being made to beautify it and make it more fashionable. Maybe tennis has had some impact on that.”
Cherry says a hip image can give professional golfers more than a confidence boost: It can also bring them big bucks.
“Athletes are trimmer, stronger and have to look more striking than before,” she says. “These days, it’s about going after contracts. Plus, if TV is going to linger on you for four hours each time you play, you have to have a look.”
Making waves on the green are Korean-born players Grace Park, a 21-year-old wiz kid who wears Prada, and Pearl Sinn, 33, who may have more A-line mini-dresses than victories.
But golf experts say the bare backs and tummies now so common in the (MD+IT)other(MD-IT) country club sport are unlikely to hit the fairways any time soon.
For one reason, golfers tend to be older — they’re just hitting their stride at an age when tennis players are considered over the hill.
The defending U.S. Women’s Open champion is Juli Inkster, a 43-year-old mom of two from Santa Cruz, Calif.
Age is one factor contributing to the sport’s more conservative image. Another is tradition.
Butterfield, the LPGA’s new Arizona-based style maven, says players want to look good without showing too much skin.
“They’re very conscientious about wearing clothing that’s fashionable, but they aren’t necessarily working toward selling a sexy image, per se,” she says.
“There’s no question [sex] sells, but that may be getting too close to an edge they don’t want to be standing near. There is a place that they can get to without crossing that line. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
Most golfers aren’t embracing the new tennis-influenced chic.
“I’m not teeny,” says golfer Tish Certo, 36, a Niagara Falls-native, in New Rochelle last week to compete in the Japan Airlines Big Apple Classic at the Wykagyl Country Club, in Westchester County. “I don’t look great in all the high fashion stuff. But we’ve got it all out here.
“I think as a tour, we feel like we should portray a good image. Individually, I know what I want. I try to look ironed, not sloppy.”
One clothing item you won’t see worn in the U.S. Open next week, taking place outside Chicago, is denim — jeans and their derivatives have been off limits for LPGA players for years.
“Golf has always been what they call a gentlemen’s sport and a well-dressed sport,” Certo says. “It’s not to be played in cutoffs and T-shirts.”
