Professional golf is notorious for tacky outfits. Whether it’s head to toe plaid, clashing colours, or blinding neons, the golf world seems to think they have a pass when it comes to dressing like cartoon characters. Don’t even get me started on the hats. Visors, bucket hats, pom pom hats, and of course the newsboy cap. How does one even decide what hat they’re supposed to wear while golfing?
Keeping it classy on the course never goes out of style. Let’s take Tiger Woods for instance. Known for sporting Nike golf polos, ball caps, and golf pants, the man always looks professional regardless of how well he’s playing. Then there are hooligans like Rickie Fowler who show up to a PGA tournament dressed as a rented clown. Whether it’s his questionable haircut, disturbing facial hair, or repulsive outfits, it leaves me wondering if his stylist is a 12-year-old boy. Needless to say, when a player is dressed like a goof, it’s hard to take them seriously, on and off the course.
Women are also guilty of dressing ridiculously when it comes to golf. Layering patterns, wearing knee socks with shorts, putting ribbons in their hair, sporting mismatching tops and bottoms, and of course, showing off the vests. Whether these female athletes are trying to please sponsors or purposely draw attention to themselves based on terrible outfits is up for debate. Here are the top 20 worst golf outfits seen on professionals.
20 20. Ryan Moore
Ryan Moore has some of the weirdest outfits on the PGA tour. He shows up to tournaments looking like a member of a wedding party, so I’m sure when spectators spot him at first they assume he got lost on his way to the reception. Ryan wears ties tucked into a collared shirt on the course. If you’re lucky, you might even spot him with a vest on to complete the look. You’re not the “best man” on the PGA tour, trade your ties and vests in for collared polos.
19 19. Rory Sabbatini
Rory Sabbatini is also known as the Crocodile Dundee wannabe of the PGA tour. TaylorMade should be fined for producing these tourist hats for golf, let alone forcing an athlete to wear them. Did TaylorMade think dressing their athlete like a cowboy would spark sales in their golf department? Just a reminder TaylorMade, this is golf not an equestrian competition. Needless to say, the PGA doesn’t need a Champ Kind on the tour, so it's time to hang up your hat Sabbatini.
18 18. Bubba Watson
Bubba isn’t the most popular player to begin with and although he may think this outfit helped to hide him from his worst enemies, it failed to do the trick. Bubba is known as the crybaby of the PGA tour and reported as being socially awkward. Those camouflage pants aren’t helping you make any friends on the course. Bubba is also known for treating amateur players like they’re invisible, even during charity events. Hopefully he got a taste of his own medicine when he showed up to the course wearing his hunting gear.
17 17. Christina Kim
Christina Kim currently plays on the LPGA tour and it was difficult to choose only one horrible outfit of hers, as every time she shows up to play it seems to get worse and worse. The hats, bandanas, belts, and the hairstyles are all very bad. Whether she’s wearing a backwards newsboy cap, fedora, bandana, pig-tails, or ribbons in her braids, it makes one wonder if she has changed her wardrobe since third grade. Time to grow up and dress like an adult Peter Pan.
16 16. Paula Creamer
Did Shooter McGavin tell Creamer to meet at the 9th green and to dress nice? Regardless. I don’t think she got the memo because she showed up dressed like a candy-cane. Here’s an important note to all golfers: just because it matches, doesn’t mean you should wear it all at once. Paula went way over the top with her red bow, white and red knee socks, striped shoes, and matching apparel. She can strut her stuff back to the North Pole in this get up.
15 15. Jesper Parnevik
People are constantly trying to be different and step outside the box. Parnevik is a perfect example of this. Instead of wearing his hat like a normal person, he flipped the brim, which defeated the purpose of keeping the sun from his eyes. To add to the look, Jesper had writing on the brim, whether it was a sponsor or saying, drawing even more attention to this hazardous fashion statement. You are not in an 80s rap video, you’re playing professional golf, so please wear your hat like a grown up.
14 14. Ian Poulter
Poulter is a big fan of the visor look. Not only does he wear a visor on a regular basis, but he also spikes his hair up in all directions to show off his frosted tips. A hairstyle he must’ve stolen from NSYNC in the 90s. He’s also known for wearing bold patterns, bright colours, and all around tacky apparel. Whether he’s wearing plaid pants, floral pants, or even the Union Jack on his legs, he enjoys standing out in a crowd. This guy marches to the beat of his own drum, no stylist or sponsor is ever going to change that.
13 13. Duffy Waldorf
Duffy wears whatever he wants to PGA tournaments. His patterned shirts range from pictures of pineapples to Hawaiian flowers. His hats don’t match his outfit and it appears as though he really doesn’t care. Duffy also wears his sunglasses on the back of his head instead of the front. An interesting look for Duffy, as instead of simply placing them on the lid of his ball cap, he chooses to be different. Although Duffy looks as though he’s headed to a luau and not to a golf course, he seems pleased with his choices.
12 12. Woody Austin
Woody has a track record of bad outfits, so, again, it was difficult to choose just one. His polos resemble tacky travelling shirts that you would buy at a gift shop while on vacation. Mixing his patriotism with his love for golf, this polo encompasses everything Woody cherishes. I recommend that Mr. Austin tries a plain coloured polo in place of this scenery gone wrong shirt. Keep the tourist polos for vacationing in places where nobody knows you instead of wearing them to PGA tournaments.
11 11. Shingo Katayama
Shingo enjoys standing out as a cowboy at almost every PGA event. Is Shingo trying to make it as a golfer or country music singer? With his cowboy hat, belt buckles, and odd choice of plaid pants, it’s hard to believe he doesn’t ride a horse to each hole. This outfit is particularly awful as Shingo decided to wear a floral shirt with plaid pants and his giddy up cap to boot. This is golf Shingo, not a rodeo; keep the cowboy apparel for your line dancing class.
10 10. Phil Mickelson
Other than being guilty of sporting a visor too often, Phil’s apparel is usually acceptable. However, this particular outfit, featuring pin striped pants and a brown polo looks like something that Phil found on the side of the road. His white hat fails to match his beige pants, which helps to make the outfit really clash. Whether Phil put this together himself or has someone else to blame is beside the point. He has been in the game long enough to know he should look professional on the course.
9 9. Boo Weekley
Boo Weekley must’ve been planning on going straight from professionally golfing to hunting Bambi when he decided to sport this camouflage shirt with a neon orange vest. Was he concerned his fans may not be able to spot him on the course? Complete with his Cleveland Golf ball cap, this outfit is one of the worst to ever be worn by a PGA player. Hunting apparel should be forever banned from all golf courses. Boo, please keep in mind where you’re headed and what you will be doing when you get dressed in the morning.
8 8. Kevin Na
Kevin Na looks like he was on a quest to find lucky charms instead of a PGA title. Wearing a mismatching green polo with green pants and white accents, Kevin resembles a golfing leprechaun. It’s never a good idea to wear the same colored top and pants; however, wearing different shades of the same color is an even worse choice. The outfit did not bring Na any luck and should therefore be put away for good. The only green that golfers should choose to wear is a Master’s jacket.
7 7. Billy Horshel
Billy Horshel should not be allowed to choose his outfits after showing up to play in this. He sported blue pants with white octopuses on them. Yes, octopuses on the golf course. These patterned pants would be adorable on a small toddler, not a pro golfer. I’m sure this is the first and last time octopuses were featured on apparel during a PGA event and let’s hope it stays that way. With Ralph Lauren as a sponsor, I’m hoping Horshel’s wardrobe has been revised for professional play.
6 6. Nick Faldo
Nick Faldo looks like a cast member of Saved by the Bell in this outfit. Faldo, who has been condemned for his jealous critique of Tiger Woods and other top golfers such as Jordan Spieth and Sergio Garcia, rarely has anything nice to say about anyone on the PGA tour, and I have nothing nice to say about his atrocious outfit and envious mentality. Perhaps he is so jealous of Tiger and other prime golfers because they know how to dress like an adult on the golf course instead of Screech in junior high.
5 5. Ryo Ishikawa
Ryo Ishikawa likes to wear prints. He likes them so much that he wears them on his shirt and pants at the same time. This particular outfit features so many colors, patterns, and styles that it’s hard to keep track. His navy blue pants and striped sweater look laughable with the teal polo he decided to throw on underneath. I’m all for dressing in layers, but put forth some effort to make it match. For future reference red, white, navy, and teal don’t go together Ryo.
4 4. Morgan Hoffman
Morgan did not wear these pants in Hawaii and therefore he looks a bit out of place on a course that isn’t in the tropics. These bright floral pants look like something the loser of a bet would be stuck wearing as a humiliation. There’s no way anyone was paying attention to Hoffman’s golf game the day he wore these. Perhaps it was a strategic move to distract the other players? Regardless, these pants should only be worn as a punishment, not willingly.
3 3. Anna Rawson
Anna sported a beach cover up skirt to play golf. The out of style pink skirt looks unprofessional and it’s also transparent. I would expect this type of outfit on a woman who is playing mini putt with her family at the beach, not on a golf course. Considering Rawson is also a model, you’d assume she knows a thing or two about fashion, however this outfit says otherwise. Anna needs to save the cover-ups for the beach and consider investing in proper golf apparel.
2 2. Rickie Fowler
It’s no surprise that Rickie Fowler lands himself in the second place position for the worst dressed category. Fowler is known for his tacky outfits, questionable haircuts, and peach fuzz facial hair. Rickie was going for the head to toe creamsicle look when he decided to drown himself in orange apparel. The upside to Rickie’s loud outfit is that it most likely glows in the dark, which I’m sure is a blast at night. It’s hard to take Fowler seriously as a professional athlete when he dresses like a pylon.
1 1. John Daly
The king of bad style on the course is no other than John Daly. It’s no surprise to anyone who has witnessed his extreme outfits that Daly would land himself the number one spot on the terrible apparel countdown. This guy knows how to wake an audience up at 7am. He also knows how to make a fashion statement, even if it’s a bad one. Daly has truly sported it all, neon colours, animal prints, floral patterns, and more. In this particular outfit, it seems as though Daly is trying to awaken his inner Woods by repping a tiger print in traditional Woods colours, red and black.