Style scorecard: the Aussie brands making golf fashion cool

3 months ago 17

When it comes to fashion, golf has a significant handicap.

Tennis has Carlos Alcaraz modelling for French luxury label Louis Vuitton; F1 driver Lando Norris appeared in the October issue of British Vogue wearing Saint Laurent; and horse racing has more hats than a royal wedding.

At its best, golf has Rory McIlroy in water-repellant pants and polo shirts from Nike and Adam Scott in functional Uniqlo items that will fail to turn the fairway into a runway at the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne on Thursday.

Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) takes on big-money corporate golf in Happy Gilmore 2.

At its worst there’s Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore 2 wearing oversized hockey jerseys.

“There is definitely an opportunity for fashion to play a larger role at Australian Open events,” says Antonia Beggs, Golf Australia’s general manager of major events. “We’re looking for new ways to grow the event and see fashion as playing a key role in the future of the Australian Open.”

As golf attracts a growing younger audience and increased social media attention, fashion’s interest in the sport is picking up. Last year, figures from Golf Australia recorded a 33.4 per cent increase in youth golf participation since 2023. For the first half of 2025, TikTok creator posts about golf increased by 39 per cent compared with the same period in 2024, according to influencer marketing platform Traackr.

To capture the influential youth market, brands such as Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Loewe and Ralph Lauren have tried to upgrade the golf aesthetic, but lingering conservative club dress codes are a deterrent.

Matthew Burns, founder of golf fashion brand Angus and Grace Go Golfing in Paddington, Sydney.Credit: James Brickwood

“When I first got into golf, I was worried that I would have to be boring and be stuck wearing daggy colours and prints,” says Melbourne stylist Jude Stevens, a member of the Australian Women’s Golf Network. “The options seemed matronly.

“The rules of different golf clubs can be conservative, but it is slowly changing as younger people take an interest. At some clubs, traditional collars are no longer required.”

The tug of war between tradition and trends played out at the 2024 US Masters when Australian golfer Jason Day became a viral sensation on social media wearing a logo vest from LA lifestyle brand Malbon. Event organisers requested that he ditch the attire.

This year, Day planned to push fashion boundaries further at the event, but organisers intervened again. “It would have been a lot crazier than last year,” Day said on Dan Rapaport’s Dan on Golf show.

Sydney brand Angus and Grace Go Golfing, founded by Matthew Burns, is part of golf’s fashion glow-up. From an understated boutique in Paddington’s chic William Street shopping strip, Burns creates preppy vests, shorts and polo shirts and quirky caps with the slogans “Golf daddy” and “Golf mummy”.

Angus and Grace Go Golfing’s approach is fashion evolution, not revolution. Burns is sticking with the collars.

“All you really need for golf is a collar,” Burns says. “I always found the look way too sporty for what the function of golf needed to be. I try to make stuff that you can wear to golf, but you can wear when you’re not in the golf bubble, if you’re trying to go out for lunch or dinner afterwards.

“You can look like a bit of a goose in traditional golf gear.”

Since launching five years ago, Angus and Grace Go Golfing has grown beyond Paddington, with wholesale accounts that include collaborations with Royal Melbourne, Portsea Golf Club and clubs in the United States and New Zealand making up 70 per cent of the business.

“It’s about keeping the look simple and refined, rather than stretchy and bold,” Burns says.

Melbourne brand Found Golf has the bold aesthetic covered. Along with gender-inclusive oversized knit vests and pleated pants, bell-sleeved shirts and tee holders designed like cigarette packets challenge convention.

Lance Peach, Ellen Keillar and Dale (Daisy) Thomas, creators of Found Golf, at the pop-up fashion store in Fitzroy.

Designer Ellen Keillar and her partner Lance Peach have been applying a streetwear and community filter to the golf aesthetic for nearly two years.

“Lance is a muso and skater and when he started playing golf he did not see himself reflected in the clothes or the culture,” Keillar says.

“At first we thought it would be slapping some slogans on T-shirts, but it’s growing into its own beast that’s looking at how you honour the parts of golf that we like and shake things up where we feel like there could be room for more inclusion.”

Royal Melbourne is ready for the change.

“There is so much organic content from fashion gurus new to golf who are changing the landscape,” Beggs says. “At a local driving [range] last weekend, a general manager at a full driving range could not identify one piece of traditional golf clothing being worn – there is a whole new market of golf attire out there, and the Australian Open will be the place to see it.”

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