While I thoroughly enjoyed the 2024 Masters, the furore around Jason Day’s choice of clothing on not just social media, but also mainstream media, left a really sour taste in my mouth.
Day was widely ridiculed, in particular for the extra baggy Malbon trousers that he wore during Thursday’s first round before event officials from Augusta National actually intervened to ask him not to wear a particular vest on day two!
Now, for me, the issue here has absolutely nothing to do with whether you like the clothing or not, everyone is absolutely entitled to their own opinion on that. My concern is the message it sends to people thinking about starting to play golf. I hear so many statements from governing bodies and media outlets about how committed they are to “growing the game” and “encouraging diversity”, yet when someone has the audacity to wear something other than neatly-fitting chinos on their legs, the commentary team and wider golfing world goes into meltdown!
That was the most disappointing thing to me personally. We all know the landscape of bitterness, hatred, and ridicule that goes hand in hand with social media, but to hear the Sky commentary team repeatedly make the same jokes about someone's choice of clothing was, in my opinion, very poor.
These commentators have a platform where they are speaking to hundreds of thousands of people and could be spreading messages of positivity and inclusivity, advertising and attracting new, younger audiences to the game. Instead, they chose to repeatedly mock one of the best players in the game for the fit of his trousers.
The Masters attracts one of the largest audiences of the golfing year, many of whom are actually non-golfers, and I for one felt that this attitude unfortunately showed the game for what it still is in many quarters - an exclusive, unwelcoming, snobby, old-boys club with no genuine desire to open up and share this great game with the wider world. In my opinion, there was a real missed opportunity by the broadcast team to display a modern, progressive attitude and celebrate individuality.
Personally, I am someone who has struggled with my own visual golfing identity at times. I have tattooed forearms, and dress completely differently away from the golf course, than I do on it. I still feel uncomfortable at times wearing short sleeves at certain venues, and disappointingly find myself just dressing like everyone else on the course (against my own personal preferences), presumably in a subconscious desire not to stand-out.
While that is my own personal issue, it isn’t helped by what I saw and heard this week. There is a wider point at play here of society making people feel that they must “fit in” or risk being ridiculed, and I’ve grown tired of it. I’m thankful that there are people out there like Jason Day who aren’t afraid to push boundaries and have the bravery and self-assurance to take the inevitable flack.
There is a growing community of people in golf social media who are standing up for their right to wear what they want and look how they want. Accounts such as Kieran Hall (@golfhipster), Harry Sellers and Josh White (@lemonadegolfclub), and Harry Shaw (@thetattooedgolfcoach) all champion very individual looks and are doing a great job opening up the game to a broader audience.
As I said, whether you liked Jason Day’s clothing or not is completely irrelevant. The fact is, it is representative of current, younger street trends, and to react in the way the golfing world seems to have is doing a disservice to the continued growth of the game.
