The two coasts dress for golf differently, and the best independent brands on each side show it. New York labels build for short seasons, cold first tees and a round that ends on a subway platform. West Coast labels build for fog, wind and a game that barely stops for winter.
So we put three of our favorites from each coast head to head: two clothing matchups and one for accessories. Metalwood Studio against Whim Golf, two labels that run like design studios. SLOAT against Rookline for clothes made to be played in. Jones Sports Co against Gumtree Golf & Nature Club for the things you carry. Each brand gets six picks, with the West on the left and the East on the right. We’ve left the verdicts to you.
It’s for the golfer who already knows which coast they dress like, and the one who wants a little of both. Every price and product was checked on the brands’ own stores on October 25, 2026.
Two labels that run like design studios and happen to make golf clothes. Los Angeles turns it up; New York keeps it quiet and natural.
Cole Young’s Metalwood has grown from heraldry and ’90s tour polos into a fashion label with a golf accent. The fall line runs on Western yokes, soccer-jersey piping and roomy fits, and the product copy reads like a group chat.
Colin Heaberg and Will Gisel met at Camp Dudley in 2006 and launched Whim in 2019, now working out of an office on Canal Street. Most of the line is American merino, knit in New England and South Carolina, then cut, sewn and embroidered in New York. This year it also took an installation to Milan Design Week.
Both make clothes for a cold first tee and the dinner after, from opposite ends of the fabric shelf.
Named for Sloat Boulevard, which runs past the city’s courses to Ocean Beach. Dan Fibiger and Teague Moriarty launched in August with natural fibers only: GOTS organic cotton, RWS merino and organic Ventile, sewn by family-run factories in Portugal.
Matt Dowling launched Rookline in late 2024, and the team are Long Island natives who have walked Bethpage Black dozens of times. Hudson is the performance line, Southside the crews and hoodies, and Hand & Heritage is cotton and cashmere for a cold first tee.
One makes the bag; the other makes everything you hang on it.
George Jones sewed the first Jones bags in his basement in 1971 and sold them out of the trunk of his taxi. The company still makes the light, unstructured carry bag for walkers, and the accessories share the same plain, sturdy look.
Karsten Jurkschat’s Brooklyn studio makes headcovers and accessories in small runs, many from textiles that already had a life: old quilts, camp tents, the jute sacks its own coffee arrives in. When the fabric runs out, that design is gone, and 2% of every sale goes to carbon removal.
Whim Golf from Manhattan, Gumtree Golf & Nature Club from Brooklyn and Rookline from Long Island, New York.
Metalwood Studio from Los Angeles, SLOAT from San Francisco and Jones Sports Co from Portland, Oregon.
In this matchup, the West Coast brands lean relaxed and loud, with roomy fits and pieces built for wind and fog, while the East Coast brands lean tailored and natural, with merino, cashmere and layers for short seasons and cold first tees.
The 36 picks run from a $20 Jones ball marker to the $499 Whim Woven Merino Swing Jacket. Clothing starts at $80 for the Whim golf short.
