Malbon x Gap Brings the Perfect Amount of Sleaze to the Golf Course

I think we're at a point that I don't need to do an introduction at the start of this article. Malbon has been at the forefront of the Golfaissance before the pandemic brought everyone back to the course. The Los Angeles-based brand has been one of the finest purveyors of golf clothing since its launch in 2017. Tastemaking style, good photoshoots, and a laid-back swagger you're not going to see at Augusta. The brand's bread-and-butter is collaborations, specifically when it gets resources from an established company to make something killer.

Separately, Gap has been the talk of the Esquire offices for a minute now. It weathered a weird comedown off the hypebeast era and has started making fucking great clothes again. Both brands are in a perfect place to come together and offer stylish golfers something (please, I'm begging) other than performance polos and super-stretch chinos.

The collection does that with the perfect amount of on-course sleaze, something you wear when you're good enough that the old-timers at the 19th cut you some sartorial slack. What I'm seeing is a late '90s, early aughts college player. He's still got plaids from his prep school uniform. He almost gave up that golf scholarship to stay at home skating and smoking weed, and his style icon is (of course) a freak Swedish golfer with a flipped up cap bill and a few PGA Tour wins underneath his belt: Jesper Parnevik.

Parnevik—who models the collections with his kids, renegade in their own rights—has since gone down as a sort of moodboard hero for all these golf clothing brands. His cultural impact has well outlived his rankings on the Tour. Of course, he's in the Malbon orbit and the perfect face for such a swervy campaign. The last time I rocked 9.5-inch cotton shorts was prep school, but I'm desperate for the pair in this collection. The sweaters and pullovers are great on-course style, and all the PAR gear is going to show up on your buddy's Instagram, where he's obviously on his local muni.

But I really want some of y'all to rock this to a country club. Turn up to a real club looking like Parnevik, upturned cap bill and all. I would do it when I visit my mom's club down in middle Georgia this weekend, but the guys in that place don't even wear collard shirts anymore. Either way, it'll all look just as killer at beach, skatepark, or bar as it will on the course. Just know this stuff goes quick, so shop the collab before it's gone.