Fitness and casual apparel, which we categorize as “non-golf apparel,” have become strong sellers at Oak Hill Country Club in recent years. Obviously, hoodies are one of the trendiest things in golf right now from an apparel standpoint. You’re watching golf on TV and seeing PGA Tour players wearing shorts during practice rounds, or guys on the LIV Tour wearing Jordans and untucked shirts with music blaring on the first tee.
From a macro standpoint, golf is becoming more casual and opening up to a broader spectrum and a larger demographic of people. Not only is fitness/non-golf apparel becoming more important off the course, but as dress policies become more relaxed, we’re allowing more styles to be worn on the golf course.
At one point at Oak Hill we didn’t allow hoodies on the property at all, but now, with a little bit of direction and a few minor exceptions, people can wear hoodies on the course. If we continue to see this growth of the game into new demographics, we will also see the continued fashion trend toward more casual wear, and, as a result, a revenue increase in this category for the shops that want to take advantage.
We were one of the first lululemon green grass golf accounts, which was certainly a catalyst for our fitness/non-golf apparel category. Though we have only a limited dedicated space for non-golf apparel on the sales floor, the revenues and interest generated by branding Oak Hill onto popular mainstream brands such as lululemon has been incredible. We’ve seen the growth in that space not only from a fitness aspect but also from the leisure wear side. The key is to differentiate these non-golf products from the assortment we already carry in the golf shop that tend to be solely golf-centric.
Non-golf apparel has become a broad category for us, including hoodies, sweaters and shorts for casual wear. Tri-blend T-shirts in the golf shop have been around for a long time but have now started to evolve into tech tees and hoodies with more sustainable features and technologies, which we lump into one large category called non-golf.
Over the past three seasons, there has been as much percentage growth in women’s apparel as the men’s apparel. We sell more volume in men’s, but they are growing at the same rate. That being said, the impact non-golf apparel has had on our women’s section has been monumental. We have more women shopping than ever before because they can finally find the apparel items that traditional golf shops have lacked.
With all of this in mind, navigating the individual dress policies of each club can be difficult. This year, we created a retail sticker to adhere on items that customers can purchase in the golf shop but are NOT allowed to be worn on the golf course. We still sell hoodies with an imprinted logo across the front, which are best sellers for members and guests, but we also need to make sure we’re communicating properly with customers that these items are solely for wear outside of the club. We don’t want them to think everything in the golf shop can be worn on the golf course. This sticker, along with our retail price tag that says “not approved on course,” helps everyone. Sometimes, members or guests are unaware of the dress policy, so it’s a way to help educate them on what can and cannot be worn on the golf course while continuing to sell the items that are catalyzing the growth of the golf shop.
Andrew Blatnik is the PGA of America Director of Retail at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York.