2023’s Biggest Golf Style Trends Aren’t Going Anywhere

You’ve heard it by now: golf saw a huge boom during the pandemic. More players mean more money being injected into the game from the grassroots level through the professional ranks, more buzz around tournaments, more funding for municipal courses and more creative minds lending their expertise to every aspect of the game. 

Golf style is no exception. Basketball shoes are now golf shoes, slim-fit polos are on their way out and hyped-up golf shoes are just as hard to get as their street-worthy counterparts. New blood in the world of golf style is staking a claim in the feverish, innovation-starved minds of today’s golfers, adding some much-needed competition for the old heads (who, as it happens, are very much keeping pace with the new guys). Sometimes, the old heads and new kids on the block even link up and make something we couldn’t have imagined a few years ago. What a time to be alive. 

Read on to get our take on the biggest trends in golf style in 2023 and a bit about what we think is coming in 2024.

Brand Collabs

2023 carried on the recent tradition of brand collaborations in the golf world. Whether it was an upstart designing gear for a PGA Tour tournament, two relatively unknown brands collaborating on eye-popping vintage golf bags or one of the new leaders in the game linking up with an industry stalwart for a limited run, this was the year you probably noticed your favorite brand making a splash with your new favorite brand. 

These collabs are great for the game. They let a golfer concerned with performance express themselves in ways that were unimaginable a decade ago. You may not have liked the slim-fit chinos of five or 10 years ago but mix take performance fabric and tailor it to ‘90s vintage specs? Bam, you’ve got your new favorite trousers. 

The most notable brand in the collab space has to be Malbon. It has continued its streak of dropping top-notch collaborations with major industry players like adidas, NIKE and FootJoy, releasing co-branded silhouettes alongside Malbon-specific colorways of each brands’ own silhouettes (we particularly love their recent FootJoy Traditions co-branded shoe). In addition to its frequent collaborations with these golfwear titans, Malbon is linking up with brands that focus primarily on endeavors outside of the golf world. For example, their recent collaboration with ski and snow brand 686 saw the release of technical jackets and winter-focused merino wool layering. The brand has also collaborated with snow-specialists Spyder, dropping winter-focused outerwear to go along with their in-house Golf & Ski line that was released earlier this year. They even kicked off a collaboration with luxury car maker Lexus. 

Adidas collaborated with Burning Cart Society, reminding us that, in its simplest form, a day of golf is quite literally just a walk in the park. They also linked up with Macklemore’s Bogey Boys, perfectly blending their top-tier on-course performance with the keen eye and retro swag of Bogey Boys. NIKE collaborated on Air Jordans with Eastside Golf, RLX designed a paisley-laden line with Trendygolf, Metalwood collaborated with Hypebeast and American Express on a line of U.S. Open apparel … the list goes on and on. We don’t expect this to stop anytime soon and, frankly, we can’t wait to see what is in store for 2024. 

Golf Shoes: Part of the new hype sneaker drop schedule? 

In years past, golf shoes have fallen into two camps: traditional and sneaker-style. Twenty years ago, each brand may have had one or two options in each style, many of which felt derivative of others. In 2023, brands are dropping two options in each style every four to six months. If they’re not releasing new styles, they’re at least launching new colorways and collaborations. 

Not only are drops becoming more frequent but people are catching on. This means that with every drop, shoes sell out faster and faster, creating a scarcity that suddenly resembles that of the sneaker world. Hell, most of the hyped shoes launched in 2023 are sneakers themselves. Whether it’s a pair of adidas Sambas retrofitted for the golf course or an Air Jordan basketball shoe with waterproof leather and spikes thrown on, many of today’s golf shoes will make you do a double take. You need to check to see if the guy next to you on the practice green is wearing actual golf shoes or the Jordans he copped on StockX (not that it really matters—you do you). 

In addition to adidas Sambas and Air Jordans, we’ve seen golf versions of adidas Superstars, NIKE Roshe Runs, retro PUMA basketball shoes and a bunch of other non-golf silhouettes. Want a cool new pair of golf kicks in 2024? Better set your alarm. 

Chill Fits with Serious Materials

Since the years of billowy cotton polos and pleated pants, golf apparel has been pretty straightforward. It fits close to the body and is designed specifically for on-course performance. Think Under Armour HeatGear, NIKE Dri-Fit, adidas Climalite. A throng of newly minted golf brands are bringing outdoors-inspired silhouettes, artfully crafted accessories and, in some cases, deliberately non-performance-oriented styles to the links. The UK’s Manors Golf made performance zip-off plus fours, Metalwood makes pants explicitly called “baggy pants” and Malbon launched perfectly oversized outerwear. Overall, we’re seeing a shift toward small brands that size things the way they want to wear them and aren’t simply accepting that they need to look stiff as a board on the course. 

The bigger brands in the game haven’t jettisoned form-fitting pants and polos completely but even they are leaning into more relaxed fits and styles that perform equally well on the course. Adicross, adidas’s technical street-meets-mountain line, was given the golf makeover, combining outdoorsy, tech-forward designs with the refinements and special features a golfer expects. You’ll still see Scottie Scheffler rocking relatively tame NIKE gear but dig a little deeper into the Swoosh’s offerings and you’ll find more relaxed Jordan and NOCTA styles, each of which combine the brand’s performance chops with outdoor and style-forward designs. 

What’s Next in 2024

In the style world, it’s almost impossible to predict the future. This is becoming increasingly true in the golf world. Until the pandemic, we would have said to expect more of the same: some new colors of the same polos, slim-fit five-pocket pants and a new colorway of each brand’s top shoe. 

Four years later, things have completely flipped. We do expect more collabs, more sneaker drops and more roomy, breezy fits that will adorn new and old golfers alike. With that said, determining who will drop the best collaboration or most buzz-worthy sneaker is impossible. All we know is golf clothes and mainstream style are going to become increasingly intertwined. When it all comes down to it, though, Tim McGraw said it best: We like it, we love it, we want some more of it. 

Think we missed something? Drop it in the comments. We’d love to hear from you. 

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