Golf’s Growing Demos Galvanized by Authenticity and Community

Michael LoRé | mlore@bigswingmedia.news

Brands like Eastside Golf, Buena Gente Golf, Malbon Golf, Students Golf, and Paré Golf aren’t only speaking to the game’s growing demographics, they’re speaking for them.

Stephen Malbon sat in the clubhouse at The Preserve Golf Club in Carmel, Calif., discussing the inspiration behind The Crosby Collection, a 2024 limited-edition apparel and footwear capsule launched by adidas and Malbon Golf inspired by Bing Crosby’s popular Clambake event.

Begun in 1937, the Crosby Clambake would bring together musicians, actors, celebrities and pro golfers including Dean Martin, Paul Newman, Sam Snead, Bob Hope, Jack Lemmon and Ben Hogan for a competition around the sport they all love.

To celebrate the launch of The Crosby Collection, Malbon, the lifestyle brand inspired by golf launched in 2017, and adidas hosted a modern-day Clambake in January 2024, bringing together the likes of Josh Allen, ScHoolboy Q, Metta World Peace, Harry Crosby, Kader Sylla and Tania Tare for a day of golf competition, community and celebration on California’s Monterey Peninsula.

The diverse, star-studded lineup wasn’t done as a flex, it represents the game’s present and future.

“If you’re a golfer, you’re a fan of the pros and you follow them, but they’re not getting new people who aren’t golfers to pay attention,” Malbon told me that evening. “Tiger (Woods) did, obviously, but Rory McIlroy isn’t getting a million people to start playing golf because he wins at Augusta. That’s not going to move the needle the same way.

“My son, Remington, he’s 12, and one of the biggest reasons he plays golf is because Michael Jordan plays golf. Steph Curry plays golf, too. He loves basketball. He loves wearing Jordans.”

While it’s hard to attribute how many people picked up golf clubs after McIlroy finally completed his career Grand Slam by winning The Masters in 2025—and defended his Green Jacket earlier this year—the impact of non-professional golfers’ passion for the game hasn’t only been measured, but it can be seen, heard and felt.

More than one-third of the U.S. population over the age of 5 (136 million) followed golf on TV or online, read about the game or listened to a golf-related podcast in 2025, according to the National Golf Foundation.

Not only is golf more popular than ever, but, more importantly, it’s cooler and more mainstream than ever.

The impact of CC Sabathia, Justin Timberlake, DJ Khaled, LeBron James, Mark Wahlberg, ScHoolboy Q, J.R. Smith, Curry and other famous non-golfer athletes and celebrities engaging with the game has shown oft-overlooked communities and demographics that the once traditional and intimidating game and culture where they rarely saw themselves is, in fact, for them and everyone.

According to the NGF, the 7.7 million Asian, Black and Hispanic golfers who played on a course in 2025 is a high-water mark for the industry, and their 26% representation among the 29.1 million on-course golfers in the U.S. is also a record high. Since 2019, there has been a net gain of nearly 2.9 million golfers of color, outpacing broader U.S. population diversification trends. There’s even greater diversity away from the course, with 8.5 million People of Color making up 45% of the 18.9 million Americans who exclusively participate off-course.

“Golf has become a lot more approachable now,” said Ray Maté, who has spent 25 years in the worlds of skateboarding, fashion and footwear building brands rooted in the streetwear community. “The reason why it’s more approachable now is because a lot of these pockets and regions are moving within their communities. If it’s not skateboarding, it’s fashion. If it’s not fashion, it’s some local guys like in the New York area there are a lot of Filipino golfers graduating from streetwear and transitioning into a similar community in the game.

“... The comfortability portion is very important and as we see golf move into a place where People of Color are elevating how the golf space looks, it’s making it appealing to the younger generation and women too.”

One of the most important aspects of comfortability and confidence in golf is associated with fashion. While the more traditional country club style still has its place in golf, the game is evolving and diversifying through streetwear-inspired fashion and influences encouraging authenticity, representation, culture and community.

Brands like Eastside Golf, Buena Gente Golf, Malbon Golf, Students Golf, Metalwood Studio and Paré Golf aren’t only speaking to the game’s growing demographics, they’re speaking for them.

‍Olajuwon Ajanaku originally launched Eastside Golf with friend and former Morehouse College teammate Earl Cooper in June 2019 as a way for Ajanaku to support his dream of playing professionally after he was unable to secure a sponsorship from an existing brand. He designed Eastside’s Swingman logo—a Black man mid-backswing in a hoodie, jeans and hat with a large gold chain—to resemble himself.

Not only did Ajanaku see himself in the logo, but so did others including President Barack Obama, Victor Cruz and Sabathia. It’s what’s helped Eastside Golf secure $3.4 million in seed funding in 2024 and partnerships with Mercedes-Benz, Nike, Shopify and State Farm.

“When people saw our logo, it didn't even matter what color they were or what race they were—they saw themselves,” Ajanaku told The Big Swing. “It’s just like, ‘damn.’ When you really break it down, it is a Black man playing golf wearing jeans and a sweatshirt with a gold chain and hat on with some white sneakers, but he’s playing golf. He wants to dress the way that he wants to, look the way that he wants to, but enjoy the game that he loves.

“A lot of people feel like, ‘I got to fit into this mold’ or ‘I got to be this certain type of person.’ … Making people more comfortable on the golf course was definitely something that we’ve done because making people feel like they have a chance to belong to the game being themselves is something that I didn’t grow up with.”

Due to the game’s barriers to entry at the grassroots level, particularly the high costs needed for success and advancement, the professional ranks lack diversity. Out of the approximately 400 card-carrying members on the PGA Tour in 2020, there were just four players with Black heritage. Of the 582 members of the LPGA and Symetra (now Epson) Tours, 55% were white, while just 2% were Black or African American.

The lack of opportunities for players of color in the U.S. can be traced to countless systemic barriers, including a “Caucasian-only clause” that existed in the PGA of America from 1934-61, which was part of the association’s bylaws preventing non-whites from membership and competing on the PGA Tour. Many prestigious clubs and courses were also selective in membership. Founded in 1932, Augusta National didn’t admit its first Black member until 1990 and its first female members until 2012.

Ajanaku said Eastside Golf purposefully doesn’t scream Black and diversity. Rather, it promotes being your authentic self, regardless of your race or ethnicity. It’s why their motto is “Be Authentic.”

“I almost felt like the logo gave a lot of people permission to be themselves,” he said.

Like Eastside, Jonathan Madera launched Buena Gente Golf in 2022 because he felt unseen and overlooked in the golf industry and the game’s culture.

While Lee Trevino’s legacy brand Super Mex Golf has been the industry’s most prominent Latino fashion representative, it didn’t resonate with the Puerto Rican Madera and other non-Mexicans in the game.

Buena Gente, which translates to “good people” in Spanish, isn’t necessarily just for Latinos and Hispanics. It’s galvanizing all peoples and communities to come together to enjoy the game, whether it’s through its apparel and collections featuring the brand’s Grip logo of interlocking brown hands wearing gold rings or its El Jangueo hangout events that are as much about golf as they are music, food and networking.

“It’s a golf apparel brand for Latinos, but over time, I started seeing that other people like the mission behind this, whether they were Latino or not,” Madera said. “Yes, of course the majority of our followers and customers are Latinos, but what’s really cool is to see how people have been supporting this kind of gathering around this mission saying, ‘This is cool. I see me wearing this even though it’s a brown hand, but it just feels very familiar to me. It feels familiar to my upbringing with my neighbors and my friends.’

“It’s been really cool to not feel like we’re creating something just for us.”