Golf Suits

Golf … it’s a sport that has somehow become characterised by the worst that the world of menswear can offer. Garish jumpers, pastel polo shirts and lurid over-tight trousers, all in man-made fibres, have become the visual landscape of the sport. Yet, deep in golf’s history is the story of a sport whose stars were fashion leaders and whose outfit choices were studied and reviewed in menswear publications.

The golden age of golf wear, and in particular the golf suit, was in the first-half of the 20th Century when the sport had a global reach and was widely reported in the new breed of illustrated magazines. However, the development of the style went back to the late nineteenth century when the sport first gained widespread popularity.

Modern golf is descended from games played in the Low Countries in the Middle Ages, although it was in Scotland where the game was first formalised and where, in the mid-18th Century, the laws of the game were first written. On a small scale, the sport began to spread worldwide courtesy of the reach of the British Empire but it was the industrial revolution the saw golf courses spring up around the UK, with the sport increasingly popular among the burgeoning middle-classes. These were followed by golf courses all over the Empire, in the USA, and in continental Europe.

In the late 19th Century golf, like other leisure pursuits, such as walking, shooting, cycling and fishing, adopted the dress of the country gentleman. In 1894 the UK’s leading tailoring journal, Tailor & Cutter, reported on the favoured styles on golf courses: “The rapidity with which the ancient Scottish pastime of golf has become acclimatised to the south is very remarkable. It is a game that can be enjoyed alike by the youthful and the middle aged, particularly if the ‘links’ extend along some pleasant valley where the air is laden with the scent of heather, or where the bracing breezes of the ocean act as an additional tonic to the players. Like all our out door games, it has evolved a costume of its own, generally a Norfolk Tweed jacket, knickerbocker breeches, thick wool hose and strong lace up boots.”

The favoured fabrics were heavy tweeds, which were densely woven and all-but water repellent, which kept golfers warm and dry when out on the golf course in the UK’s routinely inclement weather. Heather coloured suits of Scottish Cheviot tweed, with a matching cap in a full cut, were favoured by golfers. Bold-checked Harris Tweeds were popular for cold weather golfing, while lighter weight Shetland wools were suggested for summer golf-suits. Donegal and Yorkshire tweeds were also popular choices.

Despite the preference for heavy-tweeds, even in the early years of the 20th Century some manufacturers were experimenting with weaves in order to create golf-suits with added movement. One example was “the famous ‘Forbro’ cloth” which, according to its manufacturers, used a weave which gave elasticity to the cloth and was used to create “a garment which, for liberty, comfort and appearance, it would be difficult to equal.”

For the lower half of the golf-suit, the standard style was to wear ‘knickerbockers’, usually shortened to ‘knickers’, loose-fitting, knee-length trousers that took their name from ‘Diedrich Knickerbocker’ a character from Washington Irvings’ 1809 satirical novel ‘A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker’. As noted in one 1905 tailoring journal, ‘knickers’ first returned to fashion with the increasing popularity of cycling, and then received “a new lease of life with the advent of golf as a popular pastime.”

The journal also advised tailors to offer waterproof golfing capes and to make available brochures by the sporting goods company Slazenger, allowing customers to order gaiters, gloves and cork-lined golfing caps. Other garments that were popular were golfing sweaters, usually made from scarlet wool, with the popular versions coming with a Polo collar.

Companies like Burberrys offered golf-suits, with their 1908 catalogue noting, “garments are designed for ease and comfort … materials are specially woven to withstand wear and tear … colours harmonise with nature’s backgrounds so that the wearer blends in with the landscape … weatherproofness unequalled by any porous texture … ventilation untampered with and faultless.” The following illustrations show Burberry golf suits from 1908 (left) and 1909 (right):

In the early years of the 20th Century the Norfolk jacket began to lose its grip on the market for golf jackets. Increasingly, the Norfolk straps were abandoned and, in their place, came jackets with pleated and belted backs, allowing for full movement when golfing. In 1909 Tailor & Cutter published an illustration of a golfing jacket described as “most practical and easy-fitting, without superfluous material at any part”, the jacket also had a rear half-belt and, it was noted, “large pockets, patched or bellows shape, are essential.”  In 1910, Tailor & Cutter published a pattern for a summer golf-suit. Described as “easy fitting across the back and round the chest” the jacket had ‘pivot sleeves’ with a deep arm scye, a rear vent, and an expanding pleat down the centre-back, giving it ample provision for the swing of the arms. A back-belt suppressed the jacket waist, and four patch-pockets allowed the golfer to carry balls, tees and a notebook – along with other ‘essentials’ such as hip flasks, pipes, cigarette cases and matches. It was further noted that, for golf, the matching cap should be made in a full-cut, thus offering greater protection from rain than closer fitting caps. Other patterns from this period noted that no padding or wadding should be used in golf-jackets, thus allowing for freedom and comfort and placing no restraint on movement. The patterns also noted that no buttons should be placed lower than the top of the hip pockets, thus ensuring there was no restraint of movement when the jacket was buttoned. The golf ‘knickers’ were also to be cut on the ‘free side’ allowing for comfort.

This pattern was described by one advertiser as “the new style” (which others referred to as a ‘Semi-Norfolk’ style jacket), and this basic style – three-button front, four patch-pockets, ‘action-back’, back-belt, centre rear vent, worn with a ‘knickers’, as developed in the early years of the 20th Century, became the staple style for the golf-suit for many years. 

One of the pivotal developments of the golf-suit was the transition from wearing narrow ‘knickerbockers’, or breeches, to wearing the loose-cut plus-fours which dominated mid-20th Century golf courses. The origins of the style are mired in claim and counter-claim. Versions of the origins of the style include the idea that the pattern has a four-inch overhang below the knee, or that four inches was added to the width of breeches to give the style its noticeable fullness. Other versions of the story make mention of plus-sixes and plus-eights, with the notion that these measurements were an indication of longer version of the style. However, for all the claims, a number of points can be established.

As early as 1899 a tailoring journal referred to the need for 5 and a half inches beneath the knee to allow for movement when the leg was bent. A pattern from 1913 referred to cutting golfing ‘knickers’ full in both the body and legs, using two pleats on each let at the front, and one in the rear. This pattern also noted adding five inches to the normal knee length of breeches. A guide to sporting trousers published in 1915 noted an overlap of 4 to 6 inches below the knee to allow “bagging on”. One article, published in May 1917 noted that the additional length to allow ‘bagging’ over the knee was not fixed, instead it was dependent on the style preferred by the customer, noting that an additional 8 inches was suitable for very loose fitting ‘plus-fours’ of the type often referred to as ‘rice bags’. The measure of an extra 6-inches below the knee was also mentioned in patterns dating to 1918. The variety of measurements suggested by tailors and tailoring journals indicate that ‘plus-fours’ was simply a name adopted for the style of loose-fitting ‘knickers’. rather than being a prescriptive measurement. The fact that patterns pre-dating the adoption of the name (circa 1917) already mentioned the need for more than four inches being added to the standard measurement of ‘knickers’, suggests that the name was just a convenient indication of a general style rather than being a prescriptive measurement.

One of the most convincing arguments is that the style took its name from Army Regulations which stated that the breeches worn by officers of Guards regiments should be to ‘the knee, plus four inches.’ A guide to military uniforms published in the Tailor & Cutter in March 1917 set out the trousers worn by Guards regiment: “a distinctive style from other infantry units, viz., wider overalls, really trousers; breeches , service or plus-fours, really knickerbockers.” The same month, the journal published a pattern entitled “Plus-Fours or Guards Knickers” noting that it was “the style of leg-wear worn by officers of the Foot Guards … Londoners are familiar with the style as worn by the officers and men, viz., the fall-over appearance of the trousers.”

The popularity of plus-fours for general use, rather than just on the golf course, was noted by one writer: “They are comfortable, and there is a total absence of the crease-in-the-trousers worry, which troubles the well groomed man.”  It was also argued that the coming of war in 1914 had helped generate a fashion for wearing breeches/knickers, as men emulated military wear. Indeed, the spread of plus-fours from the golf course to the high street had been predicted by Tailor & Cutter in 1917, with one writing stating his belief that, post-war, men would prefer to wear the style rather than return to wearing trousers.

Where the story of plus-fours starts to get complicated is that, during the 1920s and 1930s, baggier versions of the style started to be referred to as plus-sixes or plus-eights. Writing in the early 1930s, one man working in the menswear trade noted “the extraordinary examples we see on the esplanades and streets, show that quite 88 per cent of them could be defined as plus-eights, plus-tens, plus-twelves of plus-fourteens, as the case may be, with progressive and ludicrous bagginess in proportion, according to the taste of the wearer.”

Working on the notion that ‘plus 4’ referred to the adding of four inches to the standard pattern for ‘knickerbockers’ to allow for overhang, plus-sixes and plus-eights should refer to the addition of 6 or 8 inches to the standard pattern. However, as noted earlier, adding four inches to a pattern only effectively gives two extra inches to the overall length (two inches overhang and two inches going back up to the knee band). This is why tailoring instructions dating back before 1920 gave instructions for adding 5 or six inches to patterns of trousers which they still referred to as plus-fours. Effectively, in the tailoring world, even if six inches was being added to the pattern, they were still plus-fours, but with an increased overhang. As noted in one 1934 pattern for plus fours, a measurement should be taken “to find out the amount of ‘fall-over’ or ‘plus’ required”. In other words, if ‘Plus 4s’ were actually ‘Plus 8s’, they were still called ‘Plus 4s’.

The reality of the situation was explained by the head of a tailoring firm in 1934: “If we told a tall man he required plus sixes he would probably object to an extra two inches below the knee … So we just say nothing and the plus-sixes make him a perfect fit. In the same way the man with very short calves doesn’t like to be reminded of the fact, by being told he needs plus-twos. So we stick to the expression ‘plus-fours’ but the customer gets whatever fits him!”

By the 1930s golf-suits began to change in style. Following the fashions of the day, plus-fours were cut lots long and loose, far removed from the ‘knickerbockers’, or breeches, of the early 20th Century. Furthermore, with golf-suits increasingly being worn in urban environments, far away from golf courses, the buttoning pockets of the traditional golf-suit became less prevalent. Instead, the standard front of the fashionable jacket appeared on golf-courses, with only the ‘action-back’ remaining to give the sportsman freedom of movement.

The late 1920s and 1930s also saw the decline of the tailored golf-suit. Increasingly, golfers favoured casual short jackets, in the ‘windcheater’ (or ‘windjammer’) style, that gave them freedom of movement and protection from the elements. The following illustration, from 1931, shows an early short golf-jacket. The photograph shows the English golfer Henry Cotton wearing a similar jacket:

Waterproofed fabrics, that were far lighter than the tweeds of the early golf suits, meant that golfers could remain warm and dry yet didn’t risk overheating under heavy wool jackets. Lightweight waterproof over-trousers were also introduced, allowing the golfer to wear lighter weight trousers when the weather was dry and simply add an extra layer when the weather changed. There was a marked decrease in formality of golf-wear, a democratisation of sports fashions that was mirrored by the changes seen for cycling, walking and other country pursuits that were favoured by the middle and working classes. As one golfing journalist noted in 1925, an increasing number of golfers looked like they were dressed for tennis rather than golf. As a 1932 advertisement for the outfitters ‘Austin Reed’ noted, the fashion for golf was a tweed cap, a scarf, a pullover, waterproof trousers and a leather jacket. The following photo from 1935 shows golfers wearing waterproof trousers:

The new style of waist-length, golf jackets, which usually came with a zip-fastening front, came in a variety of fabrics: waterproofed cotton, melton wool, suede, rayon, gabardine, leather, corduroy, and oiled silk, along with imitation leather and suede. One of the most notable examples, the Baracuta G9, first introduced in 1937, remains in production and has become legendary due it being widely copied and renamed the ‘Harrington jacket’, resulting in the casual golf-jacket securing its status as a perennial favourite among British men of all ages.

Golfers also increasingly opted to wear full length trousers, in place of plus-fours, and were often seen wearing outfits that were little different to the casual fashions of the day. Ordinary trousers and waterproof over-trousers began to take their place. Writing in 1948, the legendary golfer Henry Cotton noted that golfers were abandoning plus-fours, replacing them with a “pair of slacks and waterproof trousers to go over them when the weather is bad.” He also stated that he had given up wearing plus-fours in the 1930s because “they became everybody’s dress to such an extent that they were more often seen off the golf course than upon it.” His article was accompanied by photographs showing the variety of styles going from “the nearest thing to the old-fashioned cycling breeches to voluminous ‘plus eights’.” The following photos show the variety of styles he was referring to:

Although the golf-suit, with its multiple pockets and action-back, is no longer fashionable for golfers, it remains a convenient style. The action-back is ideal for allowing freedom of movement on an everyday basis. Similarly, the buttoning pockets are ideal for keeping phones, wallets and keys safe when rushing around town. They also make for the perfect travel suit, when needing to take jackets off to go through airport scanners, ensuring that everything is secured within the pockets.

Oh, and – regardless of the connection to golf – the suit looks great.