We're not golfers. Nor did we intentionally design golf pants. But customers are raving about using the GTO pants on the golf course. So we had to find out more.
So what exactly is a "golf" pant?
You've heard the term and it's certainly become more mainstream over the past decade with both golf's surge in popularity and the move towards more comfortable clothing in general. Whole brands have been built solely focused on this sport - Travis Mathew, Greyson, Rhoback and more. But what exactly makes a good golf pant? The standard definition focuses on the features:
But to dig a little deeper, we headed down to our local golf shop (Carl's Golfland) to learn more. First impressions - lots of people (both men and women) interested in golf apparel and lots of brands selling golf apparel. With golf pants, you have the bigger legacy brands (Nike, Puma, Adidas, Underarmour) selling at a slightly lower pricepoint ($60-120) and newer, more niche brands (Travis Mathew, Greyson, Peter Millar) at a slightly higher pricepoint ($120+). We're not here to compete with the mass producing industry giants so decided to look at the latter.
Our thoughts
First off, all the pants we looked at (Greyson, Peter Millar, Travis Mathew) were really good. This isn't really a review (we're biased) but a comparison and curious evaluation because we love stylish, comfortable pants wherever we find them.
Material: All of the pants we looked at were super lightweight using some variation of a nylon/polyester/spandex blend. They were very comfy but definitely felt most suited to hot summer days. Not sure how the lightweight fabric would hold up to wrinkles or standard laundry. The Douentza GTO's were slightly heavier but more structured owing to our mid-weight fabric. All of them were comfortable and really personal preference on how light you want to go - ours were slightly heavier since not designed solely for the golf course.
Flexibility: All the pants had stretch. There was definitely a difference between the spandex stretch from the blends and the mechanical stretch on the GTO pants (we use 100% Solotex Polyester). You have try them to feel it and again, comes down to personal preference. The spandex stretches easily but can feel more fragile; the Solotex molds and stretches but returns to its original shape.
Fit: Since the GTO pants are more of a slim cut, we compared to slim in the other Golf pants. Here's where we saw some differences. Although the spandex blend pants were incredibly comfy and lightweight, some of them were a little tight at the crotch. That's where the diamond crotch gusset on the Douentza GTO pants really stepped up. No ball crushing happening here.
Pockets: We liked some of the spandex blend stretchy pockets - nice feel. Overall, most of the golf pants had just regular pockets. The Douentza GTO pockets were deeper and more elaborate with hidden phone pockets and zippers from its genesis as a travel/riding one pant for every day. That said, it did not have the same elasticity since we're not using spandex in the pockets.
Waistband: All the waistbands had some level of stretch but the Douentza GTO had the most with its dedicated side elastic. We liked the silicone grip on some of the golf pants not just for its function (keeps shorts tucked in) but also for its aesthetic. We're using a heat pressed reflective vinyl lettering on our waistband.