Skins Game Golf Shirts

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: Cool, dry and stylish. These are top notch shirts.

Early in the summer of 2008, the GolfBlogger family visited the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. As with most tourists, we spent a great deal of time in the Asian exhibit, which took you through bamboo groves to see creatures such as the Fishing Cats, Sloth Bears, and Clouded Leopards before culminating in the famous Giant Pandas(complete with baby). Along the way, there was a small exhibit on bamboo.

Bamboo is amazing stuff. It’s a grass, not a tree, and grows at a rapid rate in a wide variety of climates. It has a wide variety of applications as a raw material in building and other industrial applications—among them, houses, flooring, fences, bridges, toys, bicycles, hats, paper, fishing rods, skateboards, and clothing. Its usability and fast growth make it great for environmental sustainability.

All of this brings me to the two Skins Game golf shirts I received in the mail the other day. One was made with 30% bamboo fibres; the other, 50%.

My first reaction when hearing of bamboo clothing was that it would be a bit fibrous and uncomfortable. But nothing could be forther from the truth. The Skins Game bamboo infused golf shirts are among the softest, nicest feeling shirts I have ever worn. They’re silky, and light.

Comfort is only part of the benefits of bamboo, though. Bamboo infused fabric is moisture wicking, anti-bacterial, hypo-allergenic and protects against UV rays.

I can attest the first. I wore the 50% bamboo shirt on a round of golf on the worst day of the summer, with temperatures in the upper 90s and humidity as bad as anything I can recall. In a cotton shirt, I would have been drenched halfway through the first nine. The bamboo stayed relatively dry throughout.

I want more of these bamboo shirts.

In the same package as the two bamboo shirts was another from the Skins Game’s more well-known Holy Moly line.

This shirt, in a very attractive Hawaiian floral design has an interesting cotton fabric that is peppered with tiny holes. These holes—not noticable unless you look closely—are designed to make the fabric breathe.

A test drive on another blisteringly hot day also proved the effectiveness of the Holy Moly design. While it ended up more damp than the bamboo shirt, it still was quite comfortable.

The Skins Game shirts are sold retail in the Hawaiian islands, in many golf resorts, and in the Honolulu Nordstroms. You also can get them online and in a few Nordstroms on the mainland. Skins Game also can do custom embroidery for tournaments and groups. The dark blue bamboo shirt I reeived as the Waikoloa Golf Resort’s logo embroidered on the front.

Mrs. Golfblogger, the accomplished seamstress, gives these shirts two thumbs up for their material and construction. I just know that they feel great, and work great on the course.

Nike Dri-Fit Terry Stripe Long Sleeve Golf Shirt

Fall is coming and with the cooler weather, the need for many of us to start wearing long sleeve golf shirts. As any outdoorsman knows, one of the keys to staying warm in cooler weather is to stay dry. Wet skin gets cold quickly, and wet fabric doesn’t hold heat. So it makes just as much—even more—sense to have a moisture wicking fabric in cooler weather as in warm.

I’ve got a couple of Nike Dri-FIT long sleeve shirts, and they work perfectly. They’re just the right thing for the changeable weather in Michigan. Even better, they’re on sale right now at Golf Locker.

Bobby Jones Bobby Jones Cologne Gift Set ( Eau De Toilette Spray 4.2 Oz & Aftershave Balm 1.7 Oz) for Men

I had no idea.

I wonder what it smell like. Old grip leather? Hickory? Persimmon?

TaylorMade React Tech Golf Glove - LH Cadet

I’ve always had a problem with golf gloves. I have big palms and short fingers. Even the regular cadets never really fit. Gloves that were wide enough to fit my palms left gaps at the fingertips.

But recently, newer models of gloves have featured large amounts of flexible fabrics, like lycra, sewn into the leather. The material is supposed to help vent the glove, but for me, it simply makes it fit better. I can get one that fits my fingers, and it will flex to suit my palms.

I’ve been wearing one of these TaylorMade React Tech gloves in recent weeks, and it has held up well. The lycra back ensures a great fit, with no bunching across the palms, or gaps at the fingertips.

I even bought a couple extra as insurance.

Nike Dri Fit Plaid Golf Shorts

Plaid is back. Not that I have any clue what’s going on in the fashion world, but the “cooler” guys in my classes are showing up in plaid shorts this spring. (In Michigan, as soon as the mercury reaches 50 degrees, the shorts come out).

These feature the Nike Dri-Fit fabric, which is supposed to keep you dry by wicking moisture away from your skin.

They’ve got them at Golf Locker.