Do Bright Clothes Improve the Golfer's Game?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18926, 23 November 1929, Page 30 (Supplement)

Do Bright Clothes Improve the Golfer's Game?

The Prince and Hagen—Pioneers of Bigger and Better Plus-Fours.

(By

JOHN PORTER.)

When Mr Walter Hagen, knight commander of the knicker, won his fourth British open recently by astutely planting remarkable shots about the greens and fairways of Muirfield and Gullane, it was not only a deft victory for Hagen but a tidy win for haberdashery. Hagen, bundled as he was in heavy sweaters during that gusty day, is nevertheless one of the chief founders of the modern cult for golfing clothes. He had a hard schooling in his younger days and received many a rub from a roll-neck sweater, but in the triumphs of later years graduated from his alma mater and was granted by an impressed public the degree of Bachelor of Sartorial Science. Thus the question of whether or not the garments make the golfer is indeed worthy of reflection.

As a matter of fact, the clothes worn by the players of this eminently respectable game have come to a point where, in order to create a fair measure of sensation, it would be necesary to step before the gallery of a Sat urday afternoon decked out in an multi-coloured bathing suit! Naturally, there are two sides to the question, but one of these sides is getting pretty weak in the face of the onslaughts of new and greater shoes, larger and more colourful plus-fours and brighter and more expensive socks. This weaker side is strengthened considerably by the fact that certain tvpes of hardy golfers go about their serious trade in drab clothes which they wore for years. This able band looks good for a few years yet, but the odds are long on the side of Hagen, and his kind who are well backed by the magazine advertisements. Even a cursory glance through any of the golfing journals will instantly reveal the cause of weakness in almost anybody’s game. Working outward from the innermost garment, it would seem that there is all sorts of room for bad play in nearly every particular of one’s raiment. A Few Hints. For instance, we are faced with pictures of golfers whose whole game has been completely shot because something kept tugging at them from underneath. We are told—through the medium of a dozen entrancing lines of advertising—that we might as well give up the idea of ever getting anywhere as golfers unless we step right in to a pair of Stymie shoes (“jumps them all ” is the slogan). To get rid of that habitual curvature from the tee our last chance is to seek the cool and roomy depths of a pair of Slice-o-no plus-fours. And so the story goes—of jaded, irritated golfers with 24 handicaps being turned into veritable demons on the links by the simple method of going to their nearest haberdasher and there selecting attire which makes over their overburdened swings into delightful replicas of the world’s best. After all there are still a host of golfers who could play a good game in long trousers. Whether their game would improve through a virtual clipping of their trousers just below the knee will, of course, remain a question. A great deal could be accomplished in the way of arriving at a conclusion by means of a physical test. We could take two neophytes of like height, weight and general athletic ability who had never handled a golf club in their lives, and equip one with the latest in habit de golf and throw the other a few old yachting clothes. Given an equal number of games, some results must surely show. The difficulty would be to get the neophytes to submit to such a test. Thus we must base our j conclusions on past performances.

i Farrell’s Argument. ' Take some of the present champions. Johnny Farrell, that smiling young Irishman, who is open champion of the United States and who is reputed to be the best dressed golfer in the world, won a cheque for 1,000 dollars with that honour a couple of years ago. In a newspaper interview Farrell has ‘ said that men’s clothes are too drab. When he first broke into big time golf \ he was embarrassed by an overlapping sleeve that ruined his putting. That * cured him and he bought a swanky . outfit, which he believes overcomes ’ self-consciousness before a gallery and t no end of other things. Johnny’s argument certainly reached . a fine culmination when he won the open last year after a gruelling play-off ( with Bobby Jones. You see Mr Farrell was all dressed up in Irish green and the -gentleman from Atlanta couldn’t hope to tie that in a grey sweatshirt, even though Mr Jones has been known at various times to play a very fair game of golf. Hagen Startles. The mahogany-browed Hagen has for many years been a startler in the matter of dress. He gets away with murder. His choice of vesture is consid -ed by some as rebellious, by others as smart and by still others as just plain chic. It is readily admitted by all who have seen him that he knows his socks and plus-fours and how to wear them. They fit him in an easy comfortable manner, even though the colours are, as a rule, bizarre. Not many people have seen Hagen’s shirt because he invariably wears a sweater. Hagen’s shirt is worth seeing. It is an odd shirt. The collar and front, which shows around his tie, is of silk, for appearance, while, the remainder is of light flannel, for comfort; it is rather a tricky arrangement. From what did the golfer’s plus-fours originate? History tells us that it is only an imitation of the knickerbocker worn by the Dutch in the 17th century The knickerbockers themselves are described as “ wide knee breeches gathered below the knee and worn by boys, sportsmen, tourists and cyclists.” Thus the earlier knickers were sketchy affairs, but the golfers grabbed them as a great idea and as the years wore on the knickers dropped lower First they dragged down disc isolately and then they swelled out with pride when the Prince of Wales began to wear them. Thus the evolution of the i rangy, roomy plus-fours. The Call Of Style. With the plus-fours came the call of style. Hagen and tl.e American professionals took them up and took them over to England, where they shocked everybody by wearing them. The Prince introduced bright | sweaters and the golfers followed suit. 1 Ties, shoes, hats and stockings came

in for a big boom. The manufacturers saw the advertising men about it and in turn the advertising men spoke to P rof <: sslon als. The professionals thought it was great and agreed to wear all kinds of clothes for all kinds °u The golfing public, all save that hardy portion, are eating it up Naturally, this clothing craze is a boon to the professional who makes money out of it, and swanky for the amateur who can afford it, but the basic arguments in its favour as a creator of better club swingers should be set forth. Those who would support the side of fashion claim that their bright clothes add to their persona' ity and forcefulness on the links, that they assure a full share of nonchalance in the face of a clubhouse gallery or a blustering opponent. Further that such raiment tends to get the goat of one’s rival, that they are a boon to freedom of swing, an aid to comfort, an urge to golfing atmosphere and a solace to the soul. Thus, they claim, thes. clothes improve their game. (Anglo-American N. S. Copyright.)