What Men Should Wear to Play Golf at French Lick Resort

The rule that catches people at French Lick Resort is not on the dress code page. It sits in the rate table, in a sentence about belts. The published golf code asks men for a golf shirt with a collar and golf shorts or slacks, with no sleeveless shirts and no gym shorts. The rate table for both championship courses adds well-kept pants or shorts with a belt, and it rules out sweatpants. The short course is looser in writing. Denim is not mentioned anywhere in the golf code, which is not the same as permitted.

On the dress code page

Start where the resort sends you. The question gets answered on the resort's own golf dress code FAQ, under the heading "What is the golf dress code?", with one sentence for men: "Men are required to wear golf shirts with a collar and golf shorts or slacks (no sleeveless shirts or gym shorts)." The next line reads "For ladies, no swimwear or crop tops." That is the entire code on that page.

Read it closely and it does two things. It requires a collar, and it puts shorts and slacks on equal footing. There is no hierarchy between the two, no season attached to either, and no course named. A polo and a pair of golf shorts satisfies that sentence outright.

Then notice what the sentence never touches. Denim and jeans do not appear on the golf pages at all. Neither does a mock turtleneck, so do not assume one counts as a collar here. Shorts length is unaddressed, so there is no published inseam to meet. Shoes and spikes are unaddressed. Tucking is unaddressed. Hoodies and outerwear are unaddressed. A silence is not a permission and it is not a ban. Where the code says nothing, the only standard you have is the standard it does publish, which is well-kept, and that is a standard you can meet by looking after the garment.

In the rate table

The sentence that actually trips people up is not on the dress code page. It is in the rate table where the belt is published, printed under the green fees rather than under a dress code heading. Under the Pete Dye Course rates it reads "Proper attire is required to play The Pete Dye Course at French Lick." Then: "We ask that players wear collared shirts and well-kept pants or shorts with a belt." Then: "Gym shorts and sweatpants are not acceptable on the course or driving ranges."

Under the Donald Ross rates the wording is identical except for the course name. "Proper attire is required to play The Donald Ross Course." Same belt sentence. Same sweatpants sentence. Both championship courses, same standard, and the only place the resort publishes it is a page about money.

So the two codes are not the same code. The FAQ page requires a collar and bans sleeveless. The rate table requires a collar, asks for a belt and bans sweatpants. Neither one contains the other. Put them together and the property has told you precisely what it is looking at when you walk up to the first tee: the collar and the waist. Wear a belt. It costs you nothing, it appears under both championship courses, and it appears on neither of the pages headed dress code.

On the short course

Sand Creek is the third code, and it is one sentence long: "Dress code is relaxed for this course; however, golf attire is preferred." That is all of it. The course itself "is a short course featuring nine holes ranging between 40 and 90 yards, playable in about 75 minutes", and the resort confirms "All nine holes are 90 yards or less".

That one sentence is the key to the other two. A property that is willing to say in writing where it will bend has also told you where it will not. Sand Creek gets the word relaxed. The Pete Dye Course gets "Proper attire is required". The Donald Ross Course gets the same. The resort did not forget to relax those two. It chose not to. And even in the sentence where it relaxes, it still says golf attire is preferred, which means the collar is the thing it keeps reaching for at every level of the property.

Through the dining room

Here is the reversal. Read the resort's fine dining attire policy and it is stricter about the garment than either golf code is. It opens with "Neat, resort casual attire is recommended at our fine dining restaurants." Then it names what it does not want: "Please, no ripped denim, sweatpants, beachwear, cut-offs, short shorts, T-shirts, tank tops, casual hats/baseball caps or flip-flops." And then, for men: "For gentlemen, jackets are welcomed but not required, and a collared shirt is preferred."

Look at the inversion. The dining room names ripped denim, T-shirts and short shorts by name, and only prefers a collar. The golf course requires a collar and names none of those garments. The thing that turns you away at dinner is a thing the tee never mentioned, and the thing the tee demands is a thing dinner merely likes. Pack for the stricter of the two in each category and the whole day is covered: a collar because the course requires it, and trousers plus a shirt that are not denim, not a T-shirt and not short shorts because the dining room says so out loud.

On the open ground

French Lick is in southern Indiana, and the golf is spread across rolling country rather than tucked into it. The Pete Dye Course is a par-72 championship course spanning a robust 8,102 yards, designed by Hall of Fame course designer Pete Dye. The Donald Ross Course was originally constructed in 1917 by world-renowned architect Donald Ross, a par-70 championship course that underwent a 2006 restoration. The resort also lists a shoulder season rate on the Ross running from late October into late November, which is the window a late autumn round falls into.

Which brings the whole thing back to the collar, because the collar is what the code is really testing. A collar that will not stand up on its own fails the one rule the resort wrote down on both of its pages. The PILLAR David Polo in Navy is the answer to that, with a firm collar that holds its shape, and it is the shirt to wear on either championship course. The PILLAR Steven Polo in the Floral print is the one for a warmer round and for Sand Creek, where the published code has already relaxed and a print reads as the right amount of personality. Southern Indiana in late autumn is hardwood and cut turf, so Navy and Beige sit down into it and Blue reads as the one clean note against a hillside that has gone brown.

If you want these two set against what else is on the market, that comparison lives in our rundown of the best men's golf polos on and off the course, and if you are choosing a first one, start with which polo color to buy first.

PILLAR David Polo, Navy

$76

The collar answer. Wear it on the Pete Dye Course and on the Ross, with a belt.

84 percent nylon, 16 percent spandex, four way stretch, sweat wicking, classic athletic fit, firm collar that holds its shape, U cut hem, pre shrunk.

Small Medium Large Extra Large XXL XXXL Add to bag

PILLAR Steven Polo, Floral print

$76

The print option for a warmer round and for the nine holes at Sand Creek.

88 percent polyester, 12 percent spandex, cooling sweat wicking textured knit, four way stretch, classic athletic fit, U cut hem, pre shrunk.

Small Medium Large Extra Large XXL XXXL Add to bag

In the cart at the Ross

At the Donald Ross Course a cart is required and walking is not offered. That changes what you need from a layer, and it has very little to do with being cold. Walking generates its own heat and keeps generating it. A required cart means the round is spent sitting still in moving air, with your back to whatever the weather is doing. The body never gets a chance to settle at a temperature, because every ride to the next tee resets it.

That is the argument for the PILLAR Alec Quarter Zip in Blue. Not warmth for its own sake, but a layer you can run at the throat and open at the first hole where you start working. A quarter zip you can govern beats a sweater you cannot. Under it, the shirt still has to clear the code, which is why the polo underneath matters as much as the layer over it, and we went through that pairing in detail in what to wear under a quarter zip.

At the warmup net

One more line from the resort's golf page reshapes the morning. "There is not a driving range at The Donald Ross Course. There is a 4-bay warmup net on site at the Ross Course." Caddies may be available at the Ross upon request, and the Pete Dye Course requires a forecaddie with each group, so there is no shortage of help once you are out there. But a four bay net is a warmup, not a range session. You hit into fabric, you do not watch ball flight, and you tee off closer to cold than to loose.

So dress for the first three holes rather than the last fifteen. The PILLAR Kevin Vest in Black is the pick when the air moving matters more than the temperature, because it shuts down the core and leaves the arms free to make a full swing from the first tee. The PILLAR Hayden Hoodie in Beige is the one for the drive in, the net, and the clubhouse afterward, the stretch of the day that gets packed for last. It is not a course layer. The published golf code says nothing about hoodies either way, and a garment the code does not address is not a garment to test on the first tee.

PILLAR Alec Quarter Zip, Blue

$98

The layer you can govern at the throat for a round spent sitting still in a required cart.

Small Medium Large Add to bag

PILLAR Hayden Hoodie, Beige

$98

For the drive in, the warmup net and the clubhouse after. It is not a course layer and it does not need to be.

Extra Small Small Medium Large Extra Large Add to bag

PILLAR Kevin Vest, Black

$78

Shuts down the core, leaves the arms free. The choice when moving air matters more than the number on the thermometer.

Small Medium Large Extra Large XXL Add to bag

In the bag for a late autumn round

A collared golf shirt. Well-kept slacks or shorts, your call, because the code puts them on equal footing. A belt, because that is the published rule hiding in the rate table and it applies to both championship courses. A layer you can open at the throat for the cart at the Ross. Something over the top for the net and the clubhouse. Nothing denim if dinner at a fine dining restaurant is part of the day, because that is the policy that names denim. If you want the same read on a different property, we did this exercise at Big Cedar Lodge.

Questions golfers ask before a French Lick tee time