Golfers Jock
When we think of golfers, we often jump to conclusions that golf is snobby, that its members fit a generic identity, for example an older man with a cigar. It’s the stereotype that comes to mind for anyone who doesn’t know much about the sport. They always jump to the conclusion of this specification of what a golfer looks like.
Am I being stereotypical by focusing on this golfer with a cigar? Maybe. But actually the opposite of what you might think. Seeing this golfer was the first time I’d actually encountered someone who matched this characteristic. It felt historical, like witnessing a moment worth preserving capturing the identity of what people may assume we as golfers are. I’m sure there are others like him depending on the course, but in four years of a membership, this was my first.
I’ve seen many characters on the golf course from casual players to professionals but this was the first time I encountered someone who embodied what people typically imagine when they think “golfer.”
What surprised me most? This man was far from the snobby gentleman the stereotype suggests. He was a casual golfer, but the way he presented himself was the golfer’s jock leaning into the identity with intention, wearing it as part of his persona on the course.
It’s not political to think about the stereotypes it’s socially perceived.
This photograph of an older gentleman in traditional attire was also significant to photograph reflecting on the historical traditions of fashion and how that still is part of golf within the modern era of the sport. Traditional traits respond to the golfers jock Which is how this is what to consider what a golfers stereotype is, just like golfers with cigars.
Golfers Jock is a term I wanted to use as the obvious trait within golf, someone changing persona to represent a golfers identity on the course. cigars, attire, even attitude. Golf is diverse with who plays the sport, at a current era where golf is at this moment its revolutionising to causal players and elitists.
I don’t think these traditional stereotypical traits will disappear, golf will be considered the stereotypical rich-mans sport from the majority of people. which means, Golfers Jock will always exist.
