What Goes with Plaid?

While the most coveted jacket in golf is most certainly green, the plaid red coat given to the winner of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club has also adorned an impressive list of champions. Phil Mickelson became the newest recipient Sunday, claiming that boldly colored blazer with a memorable birdie on the 18^th.

Mickelson's neutral-colored attire for his Sunday round (white shirt and gray slacks by Callaway Golf) seemed to hint at his hope for donning the winning prize, not that Phil the Thrill would be gunning for anything less than first. Dressing for the winner's circle is no small feat when the prized coat is a classic Scottish tartan with red, white and black-blue. In the Fort Worth heat, the thinner, sleeker Mickelson was as coolly composed as his game.

Here's an aside worthy of more discussion. With rare exception, the next plaid coat given a winner will be one too many. Hilton Head has a similar prize.

There's good reason that classic Scottish tartans turn up in all kinds of golf club regalia and furnishings, be it in club blazers, ties, clubhouse carpets, wall paper or throw pillows in the men's lounge. Both golf and those distinctive tartans share Scottish roots.

That being said, anyone with a cursory understanding of Scottish tartans also knows that each pattern is specific to a certain clan. Is Colonial's blazer cut from clan Dunbar, Erskine or Cunningham tartan? And if so, why?

Jim Nantz did an admirable (but insufficient) job to insert that it was "royal" tartan. And the distinctive tartan appears to be from the Royal Stewart clan. But again, why would Colonial claim this as its own? Was Ben Hogan's wife, Valerie, a Stewart?

In the same vein, is any thought given when yet another clubhouse bar is done in blackwatch plaid? It reminds me of all the clubs I've been to (as a guest) that have the same English hunting prints, as if each imbues the premises with some kind of unique history.

Having said that, there is a new golf club in development where we would fully expect tartan furnishings, and Stewart royal tartan in tasteful proportions. The Payne Stewart Golf Club in Branson, Mo., is set to open nine holes this fall and full 18 next spring. Its planning is said to be meticulous. A foyer with 22-foot-high ceiling doubles as a grand trophy room and there is an overall emphasis on style that Stewart himself embodied. (The course is by Bobby Clampett.)

The Stewart tartan, like blackwatch, is highly recognizable. Mary Queen of Scots was a Stewart and the Stewarts held the throne of Scotland and later that of England in the direct line until the death of Queen Anne in 1714.

When the Payne Stewart club opens, we're told that no detail will be overlooked. The tasteful incorporation of the Stewart royal tartan would seem to be high on the list. --RW & RL

Comments

[Auke Hempenius]

Dear Robert,

As always an interesting sartorial musing on golf attire, with detailed historical research. I appreciate the link and look to return the favor in my next entry.

In Shivas' and Payne's spirit,

Auke.