January 22nd, 2010
Bespoke golf equipment and clothing
Why play with standard issue equipment when you can have it tailor made to fit your game perfectly.
There was a time when bespoke golf equipment meant little more than a ball with a corporate stuck on the side or a monogrammed Argyle sweater. However, the world is changing and the world of bespoke, truly tailor-made, golf gear has arrived. The ability to tinker, transform and personalise all aspects of kit, from club bag to inner-sole, is more accessible than ever before, opening up new routes to a lower handicap, or just offering golfers something a little unique to have in the locker. You just need to look in the right place:
Clubs
A mere six-iron strike from the City, in London’s Smithfield Street, a Road Hole bunker’s depth beneath the pavement, is Urban Golf. At the back of the indoor golf range lies a cross between a sports science laboratory and a Savile Row tailor, and it’s here that this company, set up in 2006, is pushing the boundaries of bespoke club construction. A point to note here, there is a world of difference between creating a bespoke set and mere customisation, which is a fitting service offered by most of the major club manufacturers.
Urban Golf’s process involves some nifty hi-tech science involving a camera that shoots at 500 frames per second, and a giant screen featuring computerised courses from across the globe. Its team take pictures of your ball in motion as it leaves the club face and gathers data on your ball flight, speed, spin and distance. “Our system reads directly, using dots on the ball to track what is actually happening during flight,” explains custom club manager Zane Navie. Once this “baseline” information is collected, they present your statistics, and then calculate what adjustments to your current club would produce a better result.
The difference between this process and standard club customisation is the level of detail that can be adjusted. By entering into its computer fractional changes to, say, the angle of your club head or weight distribution in the shaft, the difference in the ball’s spin pattern can be predicted, and thus your shot’s length and quality improved. “What we can do by optimising the way the ball spins and the way it launches is we can get that ball to go as far as possible,” says Navie.
A dummy club with the new specifications is then created in lighting quick time in the workshop – using glue that sets in six minutes – and the player can see for himself the improvements. The artificial surroundings do take a little getting used to, but once you’ve seen your ball record improved shot distance, it’s intoxicating stuff. “It is an educational experience,” adds Navie. “Not only do they start to understand more about golf equipment but they also start to understand their golf swing. And if you can understand what it is you need to do, then you are ahead of other people.”
Another key distinction between truly bespoke clubs and a standard customised set is that myriad brands can be mixed and matched to provide the perfect setup, and crucially, a unique product. At this stage it is also possible to design your own pattern to be engraved on the club head and, if you really want clubhouse kudos, order a bespoke grip in your colours, texture and style. “People who come to us have bought all the latest stuff and got to the point where they haven’t necessarily got much out of it and they’ve thought, “Right, what is the next level?” says Urban Golf’s co-owner James Day. This may well be that next level.
www.urbangolf.com
Golf bags
Having spent thousands of pounds tweaking clubs to perfection, it would seem counterproductive to then house them in a generic canvas bag. Thankfully, luxury luggage designer Alison van der Lande has come up with the perfect solution in the enticing shape of her new line of bespoke golf bags. Priced at around £1,600, the bags are handcrafted from Italian leather and come in a range of colours of your choosing. Although for some the apple green or blossom pink may be a stretch too far – then again, if it complements your shirt…
www.alisonvanderlande.co.uk
Trousers and polos
While some areas of on-course attire have kept pace with advances in sports kit technology – the average wind-proof shell layer jacket would probably get you through an Arctic expedition – the humble golf trousers have been largely left behind. That was until London tailor Qaja Couture began designing bespoke golf clothing for Darren Clarke. Having started out designing Clarke’s off-course wear, Tony the Tailor, as he is known, discovered the four times Ryder Cup winner was wearing basic, High Street chinos, to play in. Qaja immediately set to work.
“When trousers are made, the designer considers your basic situation, which is sitting on a chair. So he gives you extra room at the back of the thighs. But in golf you are not sitting down and you’re actually spreading your front muscles because of the way you crouch,” explains Qaja. “We made a pair of trousers for Clarke with half an inch at the front – fitted but with the right room in the right places.” Other subtle innovations included creating a “marker pocket” and the removal of the button from one back pocket, allowing a glove to be tucked neatly in. As well as the practical advantages wearing of trousers widened, nipped and tucked in all the right places, such as improving your fluidity and ease of movement, bespoke trousers also give a much sharper silhouette than the usual middle-aged “golf slacks”.
After Clarke’s positive feedback on the bespoke trousers, Tony Qaja began to offer them to all golfers as well as building up a roster of professionals including Richard Green, Sam Torrance and Graeme McDowell – for whom Qaja has recently designed his first bespoke polo shirt, also now available in his store.
Qaja also suggests that a little luxury like tailor-made trousers might make you feel better about your game too. “If you wake up in the morning and you’ve got a round of golf to play, the first thing you are going to do is put your clothes on. If you’re feeling good about what you are wearing, your positivity levels are going to go up and you are already going to have an advantage.” However, it’s when discussing fabric that Qaja really emphases the purpose of going bespoke. “You spend a fortune on joining a golf club, and getting your equipment and now you want to buy cheap clothes just so you can put them in the washing machine?” Time to think again.
www.qaja.co.uk
Shoes
The old cliché that golf is a good walk spoiled – attributed variously to both Mark Twain and Winston Churchill – might not have been uttered had our esteemed wits had themselves a set of bespoke shoes for the course. For many golfers, a stroll around the fairways will be the most strenuous exercise undertaken each week, but they’ll still persist in wearing ill-fitting golf trainers that cause no end of medical problems. American brand Otabo custom-makes classic golf shoes in a range of rather English styles such as Oxfords, brogues and wingtips, while back across the Atlantic London shoemaker James Taylor & Son takes tailoring even further. The company manufactures bespoke golf shoes that incorporate specific adjustments to help soothe orthopaedic problems. Oh, and don’t be scared of the unfashionable “O” word, a proper pair of fitted shoes might just be what you need to help you around the back nine.
www.otabo.com
www.taylormadeshoes.co.uk