09/01/08

Topical Talk 3 - updated 15th May 2004. (Click on photo)

I am delighted to report that the ridiculous 'casual but smart' dress code has now been scrapped and visitors and members have to dress correctly, not only in the clubhouse but also on the course.   The only problem now of course is enforcing the rule!   How about a starter for starters?

"Casual but Smart"

The phrase "casual but smart" is completely meaningless because it is all a matter of opinion.   It also happens to have been adopted by Tynemouth Golf Club as the new dress code for non members and members alike.  

I learn on the grapevine that it is a sop to a long standing member who has a son in the club who appeared in 'smart but casual' dress one Friday night on his way down to Tynemouth village for a drink with his mates.   Another long standing member objected to this young fella dressed in jeans and his 'smart' shirt not tucked into his trousers.   The miscreant was therefore asked to leave.

He obviously told his daddy of this outrageous act of treachery and as a result we have this totally ridiculous "casual but smart" dress code operating at the club.

The argument in favour of this mode of dress is that a pair of jeans may have been purchased for a large sum of money, the same reason is applied to a pair of training shoes.

Working on this theory we should all be asked to produce receipts for our trousers and shirts before being allowed to play golf.

All I can say about all of this is that it is a nonsense and the policy needs to change immediately.

I have been in selling for most of my adult working life and earned a crust selling denim for Blue Bell Apparel Inc., probably better known to you dear reader as Wrangler.  During the period I worked for Wrangler I was ranked as # 3  salesman in the company, working the North East of England, which is no mean achievement I can tell you.   The 2 salesman who had bigger turnovers worked Scotland and Northern Ireland (yes all of it).

Blue Bell Inc was the second largest clothing manufacturer in the world, you may not be surprised to learn the Levi Strauss was #1.

We were used to having massive sales conferences in some of the finest hotels in the world as a way of celebrating our successes and we would hire whole floors of the various hotels as well as conference facilities during our stay.   Consequently the hotel bills would be worth a fortune to the host hotel, and that was before we hit the bar.

I remember on one particular occasion being in the Hilton in Stratford-on-Avon (not the most glamorous of locations) and a group of us tried to enter the hotel disco one Saturday night.   Could we get in?   NO!

The reason we were not admitted was because we were wearing Wrangler jeans.   We protested and made the point of asking for the hotel manager, explaining how much money the company was putting into the coffers of the hotel during the course of our week long stay.

"We have a dress code here at the Hilton" was the explanation given to us ever so politely by the embarrassed manager, "and denims do not meet our criteria of "casual but smart".   We all had to change into our ever so dull but smart Farah trousers before being allowed entry.

Even today the young man who is so upset at being asked to leave Tynemouth Golf Club for wearing his very expensive jeans (I think not) on his way to Tynemouth,  would not be allowed into most of the nightclubs in Newcastle because they too have a dress code.   Jeans and trainers are not allowed, because they do not fit the "casual but smart" description.

"Casual but smart" can be entertained as a dress code at a golf club or anywhere else but it has to be defined properly with a large notice or preferably a large doorman who can enforce the rules.  

Before we know it the golf course itself will resemble the Bigg Market on a Friday night and all  visitors to the course of a certain age, and some older, will turn up in jeans, tee-shirts and trainers and start hacking around the course.   Oh I have just remembered, they already are!   

If you don't like the rules don't join the club.