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Dress codes on city owned golf courses?

"Mad dogs and Englishmen".

In England, summers were not very hot compared with Toronto (with an average high was 26.5° for example). There, men were able to wear suit jackets even in the heat of "summer" where the average high was 23°. Because the "English" was "civilized", the "uncivilized" copied their garb, hence the "civilized" here wore suits, even if the heat in summer was unbearable. That tends to change nowadays.
 
This entire notion that you "put on your best face" when stepping out of the house is almost completely gone now.

And not just here. You see the same thing in the UK. I never really thought about it at the time, but my working-class grandfather often had a shirt and tie on out in public. It didn't really strike me to odd, until one day, oh about the year 2000, when I was over there, and was picking him up from hospital (a surprising thing in itself ... I hadn't realised the UK had hospital wards that had 20 beds, looking like something out of the 1940s any more), and he dressed right up in shirt and tie, etc., before leaving. I commented he probably didn't need to do that, given we were driving straight home ... and he seemed surprised ... and only then it dawned on me, what I'd been seeing for the previous 30 years. But I'm sure it was second nature to him when he entered the work force in the ... oh about 1930. Even today the UK seems a bit more formal ... probably related to the brainwashing of uniforms everyone wears in school.
 
I wouldn't be too sure that it was restricted to the upper class, or WASPs. I'm of Latin American descent, and I remember quite vividly growing up in a then-largely Italian neighbourhood in Downsview and for occasions like nice dinners out, church, school functions, etc. even working class Italian, Argentinian, and Portuguese men of my father's pre-boomer generation put a jacket and tie on (and expected their sons to do the same) so I don't buy that argument at all based on my experience. I've seen pictures from the mid-late 1960s, just before my parents left Argentina, where the crowds at soccer games had many men in ties, and when they flew on Pan Am in 1968 to Australia all the men on the flight were formally dressed (and my parents were the farthest thing from wealthy, many people had co-signers for airline tickets in those days).

The men in jackets and ties at Leafs games in old photos were far more likely to be middle class, or even lower, than not. Even working men had at least one suit they put on to the rare treat to a restaurant, or a hockey game, or what have you. Dressing up is what made these occasions even more memorable. That was what was expected, both formally and informally. This goes back to what I said earlier that even "mundane" occasions prompted people to dress up for them even into the era when I was growing up (late 1970s), and not down which is the case now. Also take a look again through the Then and Now pics, look very carefully, and you'll see even into the 1960s men engaged in professions as varied as shopkeepers, bartenders, butchers, clerks, etc. all formally dressed, to say nothing of how much more formally dressed TTC motormen and policemen used to be. Suits were cheap, very cheap relative to income back then, and so to say that only upper class men dressed formally is false, when some street scenes from those earlier eras show *everyone* dressed formally, unless we're saying that no one beneath a certain income level ever stepped outside or happened to ever be photographed. Even Mad Men shows this if you pay attention to the background.

This entire notion that you "put on your best face" when stepping out of the house is almost completely gone now. I saw a Collector at King station yesterday who wasn't even wearing *socks*. When my dad started at the TTC in 1973 that would have been inconceivable, they only *just* got rid of the requirement to wear hats, so there you have it.

I have no dog in this golf course fight, as I don't golf and don't care for it, but I can't say the expectation of having at least a collared shirt doesn't surprise me at all. I suspect the requirement is something based on a combination of inertia, self-interest, and a lingering sense (hope?) that maintaining *some* sense of decorum will prevent a slide towards shabbiness and outright vulgarity and thus maintain the appeal and solvency of the entire enterprise.


And earlier than that - post WWII and the 1950's there wasn't a lot of 'casual' clothing to buy. People owned a lot less clothes (anyone who lives in an older house knows how small the closets were).

There was work wear - overalls, coveralls, 'jeans' (or a business suit) - and there was 'Sunday best' - so if you were going out you had to chose between one and the other so you would go with the suit and tie.
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On the weekend, you'd still wear 'trousers' (wool, flannel - no synthetics) for mowing the lawn, but maybe they'd be your older pair, because that was all there was.
If you were a young man, you might wear something like this.
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Whenever I'm in a situation I'm uncertain about I google it or youtube it. Before going to a golf course--I'm utterly unfamiliar with them--I'd search "appropriate clothing for a golf course."

It's amazing so many people don't understand the basics to research--like this guy at work who has no idea how the Amish dress. Anna: the Amish dress much like the photos above--they have few clothes, most for work and their "Sunday best." Hell, I think I'm old-fashioned as well--I hate the idea of dressing in t-shirts & shorts for flying, even shopping for clothes etc. I'd rather save my money for important stuff ... like a new graphics card. :p

You say it's city owned property. So what about showing up on a public building site with jogging shoes--same rules of common sense dress code apply.
 
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Whenever I'm in a situation I'm uncertain about I google it or youtube it. Before going to a golf course--I'm utterly unfamiliar with them--I'd search "appropriate clothing for a golf course."

It's amazing so many people don't understand the basics to research--like this guy at work who has no idea how the Amish dress. Anna: the Amish dress much like the photos above--they have few clothes, most for work and their "Sunday best." Hell, I think I'm old-fashioned as well--I hate the idea of dressing in t-shirts & shorts for flying, even shopping for clothes etc. I'd rather save my money for important stuff ... like a new graphics card. :p

You say it's city owned property. So what about showing up on a public building site with jogging shoes--same rules of common sense dress code apply.

For flying these days, one would put on as much clothing as possible, including sweaters, ties, and jackets in the middle of a heat wave. To reduce luggage weight.
 
Whenever I'm in a situation I'm uncertain about I google it or youtube it. Before going to a golf course--I'm utterly unfamiliar with them--I'd search "appropriate clothing for a golf course."

It's amazing so many people don't understand the basics to research--like this guy at work who has no idea how the Amish dress. Anna: the Amish dress much like the photos above--they have few clothes, most for work and their "Sunday best." Hell, I think I'm old-fashioned as well--I hate the idea of dressing in t-shirts & shorts for flying, even shopping for clothes etc. I'd rather save my money for important stuff ... like a new graphics card. :p

You say it's city owned property. So what about showing up on a public building site with jogging shoes--same rules of common sense dress code apply.

Just so I understand you properly, you are comparing not wearing a collared shirt on a public golf course with not wearing steel-toe boots on a public construction site? One of those rules is arbitrary, the other is based on personal safety. The City doesn't allow people to go barefoot or wear heels on its golf courses, which seems completely reasonable to me.

As I mentioned before, I did do research. I read the City's list of "rules and etiquette" for golf and there was no mention of a dress code. Anyway, I'm obviously familiar with the fact that golf shirts are "a thing", I had no idea that the city bans people from using their golfing facilities because they don't happen to be wearing that type of shirt. I didn't wear one because I don't own one.

Furthermore, my original question was whether or not it is appropriate for the city to impose those kinds of restrictions on use of a public facility, not whether it's reasonable for people to be ignorant of the dress code itself.
 

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