After my share of $100+ “premium” golf polos, I got quite a few comments making the same general point: premium polos can be worth it, and golf apparel, like anything else, should be allowed to be as expensive or as affordable as people want it to be… I agree with that.
To be clear, my point is not that expensive golf polos exist. If someone wants to spend $120, $150 or more on a golf shirt, that’s entirely their business. I’m not interested in controlling how people spend their money, especially in a sport where we routinely justify $600 drivers, $400 shooters, and enough launch monitor subscriptions to fund a small municipality.
My issue is much more specific: what are you really getting for the money?
A premium polo must justify being premium. This justification can come from material, construction, fit, durability, hand feel, provenance, or something meaningfully distinct like a great brand story or other value proposition. The shirt doesn’t necessarily have to be “complex”, but it should be authentic and another value proposition. Two groups are really distinguished here: B. Draddy AND Dock Street.
B. Draddy polo they are expensive. There is nothing to do that. But when you are buying one of the their 100 percent cotton polesyou are getting a different value proposition than you are with most premium golf shirts. You’re not just buying a synthetic performance polo with a slightly different collar and a $120 price tag. You are buying texture. You are buying softness. You are buying a shirt that looks and wears more like a real garment.
Dock Street is another example. Its poles are not cotton. They are performance shirts. But Dock Street gives you something that many premium golf outfits lack: a reason to care.
Founder Brandon Evans grew up on Dock Street in Wilmington, North Carolina and built the brand around seeds, coastal Carolina and the idea of ​​guidance. This could easily become gimmicky, but, in this case, it feels personal. Evans was a financial analyst who lost his job the day before his daughter was born. With the support of his wife, he finally took the plunge into the golf business he had been talking about for years.
Simply put, this is a great brand story. As a fellow black American in the golf space and a lighthouse fanatic himself, Brandon’s story and Dock Street as a brand resonate deeply with me. Dock Street shirts are inspired by real lighthouses, including Bodie Island, Oak Island, Calibog lightAND Saint Martha. Patterns are not random patterns thrown on a synthetic polo to make it look premium. They are associated with place, memory and symbolism.
One of my favorite details is that Evans wanted a specific yarn for Dock Street logo so that, if the sun hit it just right, it would shine off the freeway like a lighthouse off the coast. This is the kind of small, almost obsessive detail that makes a brand feel human.
This, to me, is also a value proposition. Not the same B. Draddy offer, but real. B. Draddy makes the case for premium through material and texture. Dock Street makes the case through story, specificity and purpose. Both are doing something more interesting than just paying $120 for yet another synthetic polo and hoping the replica collar will do the rest. This is where my critique of premium polos really lives.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: golf apparel has become extremely synthetic. Polyester, spandex, elastane and nylon dominate the space. Those materials have a place. I’m not pretending they don’t. If you’re playing in extreme heat, sweating through 18 holes or want something that dries quickly, a performance polo might make sense, but synthetic doesn’t mean premium; not by a long shot.
All too often, golf brands take a fairly standard polyester polo, add a pattern, give the collar a marketing-friendly name, and act like they’ve reinvented menswear. That’s where I fight. A stretchy, moisture-wicking shirt is no longer enough to justify a premium price.
On the other hand, cotton offers something different. It’s not made of microplastic and, in my opinion, usually looks and feels better than the performance material. A good cotton golf polo can still be relaxed and comfortable, but it gives your outfit a level of depth that most synthetic shirts just don’t. This is why I have much less hesitation with an expensive cotton polo than an expensive synthetic one.
Again, this doesn’t mean that every cotton polo is automatically worth the money. It also doesn’t mean that every synthetic polo is a ripoff. Take it Dock Streetfor example. I think those polos are worth $95. There are great performing polos, and there are less than stellar cotton polos. The issue is not “cotton good, polyester bad”. The point is that the premium price should come with a premium reason.
B. Draddy AND Dock Streetfor me, I often give you this reason. Their shirts feel and look distinctive. They occupy a space that most modern golf apparel has abandoned in favor of ultra-lightweight, ultra-durable and ultra-similar performance apparel.
That’s what I love most about golf apparel: variation that actually means something. If a brand is going to charge premium prices, give me premium materials. It gives me a real perspective. It gives me a story, a texture, a detail or a reason to feel connected to what I’m wearing. Because, if I’m honest, it matters to me.
So yes, premium golf poles can absolutely be worth it. But they have to earn the premium. And for my money, a well-made cotton or performance polo with real meaning behind it has a much stronger case than another expensive synthetic shirt that’s just the same.
