Survey your members about dress codes

Alistair Dunsmuir
By Alistair Dunsmuir May 8, 2013 16:05

There’s an informative article on dress codes in the June issue of Golf Monthly, which includes a poll of golfers that has some interesting results.

The vast majority – 92 per cent – think rules on clothing are still relevant today, but more than three quarters of golfers believe jeans should be allowed in the clubhouse bar.

I suspect that if the poll had been conducted just 10 years ago there would have been a similar percentage of people saying that dress codes are relevant, but an overwhelming majority would have opposed denim in the clubhouse.

I say this because I was at a golf meeting in 2007 when Stuart Christie, the then manager of Wentworth Golf Club, said he envisaged his club’s restaurants allowing jeans within the next five years, which was literally met with gasps from some of the industry professionals in attendance.

Julian Small, the current head at Wentworth, said of the topic: “The dress code of a golf club should continually evolve. We review it here on a continuing basis to reflect the needs of our members. I’ve a picture on the wall outside my office of a match played at Wentworth in 1926. The players are wearing jackets, ties, plus-fours and flat caps. If dress codes didn’t evolve, then that’s what we’d be wearing today.”

To prove the point, the article reveals that Scotscraig Golf Club in Fife, in 1817, had a dress code that was common with clubs at the time: red jackets with green velvet collars over a buff-coloured vest (featuring ‘small buttons’) had to be worn.

If you turned up to play wearing a red jacket with a green velvet collar over a buff-coloured vest that had buttons that were larger than the buttons on your jacket, you would be fined two bottles of port.

I’m one of the eight per cent who thinks dress codes are as irrelevant today as they were absurd 200 years ago, but clubs should obviously keep them if they’re cost-effective.

However, with the issue constantly evolving, that cost analysis probably needs to be regularly carried out.

How often do you survey members, visitors and potential customers on the issue of dress codes?

 

 

Alistair Dunsmuir
By Alistair Dunsmuir May 8, 2013 16:05
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4 Comments

  1. Dave Boon May 23, 10:37

    Thin edge of a wedge using a lower standard to chase money .
    This only ends in tears .as standards drop in other areas and dilutes the attraction of Membership of a Club .
    We have a very blue collar and artisan club .
    Our Members insist that standards of dress are kept up has a matter of courtesy and discipline and are an integral part of the game of Golf .
    This is the ethic of a Club 117 years old with a strong age mixed Membership Membership and. financially secure .
    Successful traditional Clubs keep to the rules. .buck the trendies and listen to your Members they pay your wages.
    We recruit from other Clubs where standards across the administration have been relaxed they want their Club to be a Golf Club.
    Membership is increasing from all ages ,schoolchildren and students like the discuhpline of a dress code that go hand in hand with Golf and all the conformity of the rules.
    Our membership from Lords and Lady’s to guys that clean out your sewers sewers wouldn’t have it any other way.
    Dave Boon

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  2. Tony Stevens May 10, 16:12

    Like Alistair Dunsmuir, I’m one of the 8% and, like Andrew Crossland, I dont like tattoos in the clubhouse either!

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  3. Andrew Crossland May 10, 16:05

    My club has capitulated on the dress code and the members who want to wear denim spend a greater % over the bar than those who are offended by the relaxed code.
    Personally, I’d worry if we allowed members with tattoos and printed tee shirts to use the club but we have a generation arriving who think differently.
    Sad

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  4. Alan Hughes May 8, 18:35

    Dress code: people confuse standards with style. There is a difference.

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