'Golf punk' a blast for fashion
By Rick Green
Hartford (Conn.) Courant
HARTFORD, Conn. — If dowdy old golf really is the new punk, then Jonathan Aviles is down with it in a sandy bunker, ready to blast out onto the world's fairway.
"People don't think it's cool, but once you get into it, it is very cool," says Aviles, 15, a burly member of the Hartford Public High School golf team. "People shouldn't think it's just kids from the suburbs. It really doesn't matter where you come from."
That is all that marketing, merchandising and fashion trend watchers need to hear about what's loosely known as "golf punk." Of course, it's the usual: glossy magazines, a store in L.A., hyped fashion. But it's also a hip-hop outlook on the old blueblood game, and it's rising like a Tiger Woods drive off the first tee.
To catch this vintage vibe, adherents don't have to play golf any more than they'd have to sail to wear Nautica. Being male and in your 20s doesn't hurt. But, of course, to really and truly attain golf punk, you've got to play—with style.
"The attitude is that people don't want to become golf club members. They don't want to be told off if their shirt is untucked. They don't want to have the stuffiness. They just want to get on and play the game," said John Dean, publishing director for a new British magazine "Golf Punk."
"We don't really want this old clubhouse traditionalism," said Dean. "There are absolutely people who believe that golf is rock and roll."
Sign of the Tiger
True golf punk may also be a man of uncertain — but most definitely not Caucasian — racial origins, whose dreads swing more wildly than the club in his hand, explains Craig Tanner, an Oakland, Calif., entrepreneur who saw opportunity when Tiger Woods began burning up courses.
"I knew kids of color were going to get into golf, and I knew there was nothing out there to represent them. I thought to myself: You can fuse golf and hip-hop together. We take two things that are diametrically opposed, and fuse the two," said Tanner. "Everybody is golfing. Janet Jackson is golfing."
Tanner launched his Urban Golf Gear line in 1997 with $1,500. The "UGG" logo of a dread-locked golfer is popping up regularly around Hollywood, thanks to some savvy product placement on TV, including HBO's "The Wire," "The Steve Harvey Show," "The Hughleys" and "Moesha." While the signature polo shirt is popular, so are the bucket-style hats and wind vests.
"Golf is an aspirational sport. Just like tennis with (clothing designer) Fila in the '80s. All the black kids jumped on Fila and made it popular. The same with Tommy Hilfiger," said Tanner.
