Feeling in a shopping mood

I thought I'd have a look at Stella McCartney for Adidas. As I expected, everything is beige. Beige is such a hard colour to like, I think - who would ever say their favourite colour was beige? It's a total non-colour, so boring. It's useful, yes, neutral, functional, but it's not loveable. 

Apart from my issues with beigeness, I liked the wind jacket, but feel it ought to be waterproof as well (guessing in the region of £150, so I would want my money's worth).  And I can't help thinking that the 3/4 trousers are a dubious proposition for Autumn/Winter (maybe this is an Autumn collection and there'll be a Winter one along soon?)   

If I happen to be near an Adidas shop I will probably pop in and have a look, but I certainly won't be going out of my way. You can view the collection here (on the US site as the UK site is rubbish and doesn't seem to have any of it on). 

I love these boots though - they've got studs - wonder whether they'd count as soft spikes??

Pensioner fashion

I managed to find some golf gear in the sales that I'm quite pleased with. You know, the kind of stuff I wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen in public in outside of the golf club. It's harder than you might expect. Dress codes usually specify “tops must have collars” and “shorts must be tailored” but the subtext is “must be golf brands” and “clothes I personally approve of” where 'I' is some loony old battleaxe committee member.

How often do you ask clothes advice from someone drawing a pension? Would you be caught dead shopping in the same shop as your granny? God bless grannies everywhere but they generally tend to wear things that are appropriate for women of their age, and you especially don't want to take the advice of anyone who doesn't.

So today I was wearing my new Stella McCartney for Adidas top (pictured) and a pair of Golfino slim capris. I did dither about the Stella top for ages, because although it's a golf top and has a collar, it's not a polo shirt and god knows these people don't like their boundaries challenged. Eventually I decided to go with it, because it is a golf top and it has a collar, and if no-one pushed the envelope a bit women would still be wearing corsets and fainting all over the place.

Predictably, my outfit didn't pass without comment, when I heard a very audible “she's not wearing golf wear” in my direction from an ex-Lady Captain, 'she' not being the cat's mother but in fact yours truly. Fortunately I had predicted the possibility of having to defend my choice of attire and so wasn't entirely unprepared for this onslaught. Still, it's extremely galling having to defend what I wear to anyone at all, let alone some old girl who thinks green-and-navy checked elasticated-waist trousers are appropriate ever, anywhere. Thinking about it now, my irritation is only added to when the argument ended at the fact that my top and trousers were 'golf' brands.

On the other hand, the argument did end in my favour (although who knows about the locker room gossip?) so I'm thinking I'll wear the offending articles as much as possible before trying to decide whether there's something else that falls within the letter of the law but as much as possible outside the spirit of it.

No-one wants to play in the rain

I skipped golf this week because of the monsoon-like rain. I wasn't the only one, actually: not a soul went out because it's very hard to swim in golf shoes.

Usually I don't mind playing in a bit of rain. I find it makes for a different challenge, and being a member of a golf club means that I can decide after 9 or 13 holes to pack it in because I haven't paid for 18 holes before I went out. Most of the people at my club tend not to play in anything more than a light mist. On the other hand AC grew up playing golf in Ireland so if he didn't play in the rain, he didn't play.

If you grow up playing golf in Thailand you don't have to worry about it, since if it rains it also lightnings, and most people would choose life-and-limb over golf. So Thongchai Jaidee in his prep for the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, realising there was a strong chance of inclement weather, has been practicing playing in rain gear - in his native tropical sunshine, presumably to some funny looks. (Story from BBC's 606)

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Lots of people don't like playing in wet gear - your swing feels funny, there are annoying swooshy noises when you walk, y0ur pockets are in funny places - it's just uncomfortable enough to put you off, and hard to get used to.

Personally I'm feeling quite smug that I have solved the uncomfortable feeling with better wetgear - I'm currently wearing (not now - when I play) stuff by Cross, which is a woven stretch fabric and so comfortable I wear it when it's not raining as well.

It's a truth universally acknowledged, however, that golf in fine weather is much better.

Photo by Jekkyl on Flickr under the umbrella of the Creative Commons licence

Pink Hair

Lots of people have it in for Poulter – if only he'd put as much effort into his game as he does into his clothes, yadda yadda. Me? I like him. He wears his collared shirt and tailored trousers as rudely as possible. Like a schoolboy, he has an air of rebellion without breaking a letter of the rules - practically daring the teachers to tell him off. Hootie is famously rumoured to have done just that, of course, with a warning not to dye his hair for his Masters appearance in 2004. The result was that Hootie looked blustering and impotent and not unlike Basil Fawlty. Its not a big leap to see the similarity between Hootie and the oldies who reminisce about how back in their day there was respect and you could leave your front door unlocked.

Every generation thinks the next one is up to no good, and there's always some mythical golden age when golf was played by gentlemen, and gentlemen didn't go round dyeing their hair or wearing jeans. I don't think the world of golf needs to be turned upside down (put those pitchforks down) but a dash of modern thinking can be no bad thing, surely?

Anyway, the reason for this unseasonal mention of Ian Poulter is that, in a mini-tribute to him, I have dyed my hair pink and purple. I'll report back on whether the Lady Captain has anything to say about it.

(Photo from ericskiff on Flickr, and no that is not me. It's pink but it's not that pink)

Hideous golf shoe of the week

Golf shoes are tricky. The shoe that on the one hand qualifies as a good-looking shoe to wear on the course, on the other hand wouldn't qualify off the course as a shoe to take the rubbish out in after it gets dark in case you get spotted by a complete stranger and they were to think you would actually wear something like that in public.

Manufacturers seem therefore to have dismissed the whole 'good-looking golf shoe' problem as too difficult, and appear to have decided to compete to produce shoes so ugly they should be licenced.

The Myjoy previously posted has a special place in the annals of hideous golf shoes, but I believe it has met its match. Don't look if you've just eaten:

Love it? Want it for your golfing granny? Contact Aerogreen here, although sadly it doesn't look like they retail in Europe. Shame.

Anti-golf tan strategy: The Tan Glove

Tan gloves = great idea.

We-ell, maybe a good-ish idea. Ummm, more like tolerable. Like most people I wear a glove to play golf, and I'm prepared to tolerate what would otherwise be a preposterous idea because I don't like the golf hand tan and that's exactly what this bizarre product is designed to prevent. In my quest to avoid Golfer's Tan it behoves me to explore tan gloves.

I had intended to do a quick google for a few options, maybe pick one or two, briefly mention them here, possibly even buy one and try it out. But as usual, there's practically no hot-weather golf gear available in the UK, so I expect I will end up looking where the Great God Google takes me (i.e. the US). I will probably come back to this subject when I can be arsed (at this moment I can't be bothered to spend hours finding a product I don't dislike only to find that the site won't ship internationally).

But for the time being, the only one I could find in the UK (click on the picture for a linky link):

Ew.

Especially liking the hole for the engagement ring (what is that all about? all women golfers are married and wear big rocks on their left hand??). And I'm not even going to discuss the holes for the exquisitely manicured fingertips.

To be continued.

Maybe.

Myjoys puke-a-licious

The blogosphere is full of the joys of spring, and the joys of Myjoys - Footjoy's customisable golf shoe, now available online here for your colour-choosing pleasure (delivery in 3-5 weeks).

I've enjoyed having a hoke about on the website because it has allowed me to discover the most hideous shoe known to golf. Maybe even known to man. If you've ever seen an uglier shoe I'd like to know about it.

(People of a weak constitution look away now)

It's a concept that promises so much, but delivers slightly less. It's not really customisation, is it, when there are just three styles and a few base colours? The point actually is that you can choose your saddle colour(s) and there are lots and lots of colours to choose from, so you've got a fair chance of matching up with the clothes you wear.

Of course, being women, we all wear pink, or so golf clothing designers seem to think. But astonishingly Myjoys give us just one solitary shade of pink leather!