Coloured golf equipment is driving India on the fairways. Bright and vibrant colours are not just the domain of women. Men are taking to this idea of coloured golf clubs to another level.
Indian golfers are breaking the green-monotony of their game by driving off their tees with big coloured driver heads. From just white to yellow, red, orange and blue, there is a new fashion statement on the equipment market. For the purists it hurts to see the traditional blacks and steel grey clubs giving way to a more funky game on the fairway.
In India, as the game picks up, so is the realization to look ‘the part’ on the golf course. Fashion, colour, spunk and sex appeal aside, golfers want their equipment to become a staple for style. For years what tote’s been for ladies on the course, drivers are fast becoming the serious accessory for the men on the links. “From a ‘luxury’ sport, it is fast becoming a ‘cool’ sport,” says Vivek Mehta, Former Country Head of Callaway India.
Golf as we know it today originated from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland in the Kingdom of Fife during the 15th century. Players would hit a pebble around a natural course of sand dunes using a stick or primitive club. These drivers were made of wood embedded with fine plates of iron or any metal. Today these are hunted for an antique collection and no more.
Equipment companies splashed colour from head to toe in an effort of doing away with the current black and white pallets and “challenging golfers to identify themselves through colour and to stand out from the crowd,” shares Mehta.
Taylormade’s White club head was introduced with no plans to bring in a colour difference to the game but the response to it more than surprised Taylormade. India Country Head, Ateet Gaur says, “we launched them because the sun reflects back in the eye of the consumers off a black driver head. So our intention was to put out a solid white for the benefit of the golfer when they are driving off the tee.”
“The more attractive and saleable we can make the sport the easier it will be to market it and spread it,” says proferssional Golfer Aniban Lahiri. “It’s a necessary element to popularize the sport.”
At a recent pro-am I was teamed up with HR Srinivasan of Take Solutions, a corporate golfer who loves to match up to the game. Carrying a cobalt blue hybrid club perfectly tied with his blue striped tee shirt and cap made him a real style spot on the course.
Beyond the drivers, a low cost colour infusion into your equipment comes from changing golf grips.
I think even as technology makes your clubs obsolete every few months, the Indian golfer will spend more and more time thinking about not just how they perform but also how they present themselves. “You have got to be spotted. There is too much green on the golf course and it’s a great idea to wear something that makes you look good,” shares Digvijay Singh whose favourite themes include yellow.
Taylormade says it has seen a jump in market share since the white driver was introduced. And Callaway has been bullish with its coloured drivers.
So with style taking the course, business and pleasure on the greens will promise to get more flight from fashion as golf grows in India.
