Disclaimer: there is no truth to the following post; only a great deal of truthiness.

The necktie has been the #1 Father's Day gift since 1006 A.D. A mere 1,000 years later, in 2006, NPR broke the news that the gifting of a tie for Father's Day had jumped the shark, calling the "ubiquitous but anachronistic artifact of Western culture" both "sad" and "as cliché as giving a blender as a wedding gift" (oops! is that cliché?).

With the "casualization" of America over the past few decades, the ol' four-in-hand is slowly being replaced by other gifts. In particular, electronics, tools, BBQ accessories, and gift cards are gaining in popularity, but there is one item of clothing that appears to be overtaking the necktie as the quintessential Father's Day gift: the Golf Shirt.

It makes a lot of sense. Many dads golf, and according to recent polls, a plurality of their children believe he should be wearing a shirt while doing it. Just like ties used to afford the opportunity to give Dad something with some color, so does the golf shirt. They are also both excellent gift ideas around $100. But most importantly, the golf shirt has become an accepted top for men for business casual wear (or at least for Casual Fridays). So for the Dad that no longer gets to wear a tie to work, a crisp, new, colorful golf shirt has 999 years left before it will become cliché.

And, as a reward to our most clever, loyal readers, we've got a $50 gift certificate for the comment that offers the best example of another "ubiquitous but anachronistic artifact of Western culture".

Paul Goydos and Sergio Garcia are about to tee off in the first playoff hole at The Players Championship. Of course, it happens to be one of the most intimidating holes in all of golf -- the island green on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass. The two players are polar opposites in a lot of respects, most notably their clothing.

Sergio Garcia could be the only person at the course dressed all in black. Head-to-toe in black and white, with Adidas' iconic three stripes zig-zagging horizontally in some places and vertically in others.

According to the Times, Paul Goydos "is almost certainly the only pro in the field who bought his own cap". In fact, Goydos doesn't have any corporate sponsors, and that may be part of the reason he seems to be the crowd favorite. The cap he wore represents Long Beach State University where he graduated with a degree in Finance. But we noticed his affinity for Fairway & Greene shirts. The photo above appears to be the Classic Stripe in Coral, while on Sunday, he was wearing a green short-sleeve moc turtleneck. The significance of that to us and to Fairway & Greene loyalists, is that Fairway & Greene does not pay players to wear their clothes. Any professional wearing their shirts is doing it because they know it is the finest in golf.

The coverage of Goydos' unlikely rise to the top of the leaderboard involved words like "journeyman", "a ham-and-egg guy", "common man", and "comedian". He made a lot of fans this week with his easygoing nature and self-deprecating humor. 

• Exhibit #1: Asked if he was surprised to be leading, he replied: “I don't know. I've only been out here for 16 years.”
• Exhibit #2: Given the 90 degree heat, a reporter pointed out to him that the top button of his shirt was fastened on Saturday, to which replied: "Because I don't have any shoulders, this is how the shirt stays on."
  

Well, Goydos' tee shot on 17th is in the drink, and Garcia's is a few feet from the hole, so it looks like Garcia will come out the winner today. But we hope Fairway & Greene is sending him a couple shirts on the house for all the free press... 

Way, way back in 2005, when gas was only $2.50/gallon in California, I wrote of our adjacent neighbor -- Club Sportiva. Club Sportiva was the first "luxury carshare" concept, started back in 2003; today, clubs like it are popping up all over the country. In late 2005, On The Fly moved in next door to Club Sportiva, and the two companies are separated by a gate that is left open all day so Club Sportiva members can peruse our merchandise, and our customers can ogle their cars. 

But thanks to the growing legion of readers of our blog, Club Sportiva has offered to let me take some of their cars for a spin in exchange for mentioning Club Sportiva six times in a single blog. Club Sportiva. Done. The first car up was a 2006 Aston Martin DB9 in navy blue with whiskey interior.  

Let's get one thing clear: I am not a professional driver. I barely know how to pop the hood on our company SUV. If you want a detailed descriptions of horsepower or torque or reliability, you best find another blog. I will approach these cars from the perspective of someone who will appreciate how the car drives, how it looks, and who looks at you in it. Sound narcissistic? I've been called worse.

The Aston Martin DB9 is a huge car. But to me, that is quintessentially Aston Martin. The new, smaller Vantage could easily be mistaken for a Toyota sports car to the untrained eye, whereas the DB9 makes a clear statement. For this reason, I actually regret not wearing something a little more bold; I opted for a safe Fairway & Greene golf shirt & vest, Bills Khakis Chamois Cloth pants, a Mulholland Brothers Hippo Duffel in Bridle Tan and a pair of one-of-a-kind Michael Toschi wingtip prototypes to match the interior of the car. The sound of it helps as well. The engine is louder at 20 mph than at 80 mph, and it's loud in the best way possible (the beautiful roar made me snicker at the Lexus-like commercials showing a driver in the car unable to hear anything outside).

The ride was surprisingly smooth, although I enjoyed more like someone scared to death of crashing his friend's car than an owner. It accelerates well, although the paddle shifting is not as responsive as other systems I've driven in the past. Fear of fishtailing kept me from testing its cornering capabilities, but a reasonable 180-degree long, curvy onramp near Candlestick Park had me driving faster than all the traffic on the freeway way before having to merge.

Of the entire inventory of cars available to Club Sportiva members -- and you'll see the rest in the coming weeks -- the DB9 has always been one of my favorites. Driving it only reinforced my opinion.

 

It's not every day that we see one of our top-selling golf shirts gracing the cover of a major golf magazine, but Vijay Singh is sporting an unmistakable top-seller. The shirt he's wearing on the cover of this month's Golf Digest is Fairway & Greene's Short-Sleeve Lisle in Light Blue.

One of the things that makes Fairway & Greene unique amongst golf vendors (equipment or apparel) is that they do not "sponsor" players, or compensate them for wearing Fairway & Greene clothing; pros are wearing it because they genuinely believe it's the best golf clothing on the market. That list includes, among others, Mark O'Meara, Curtis Strange,  Butch Harmon, Jay Haas, Brad Faxon, Jeff Sluman, and JJ Henry.

The dirty little secret is that there are a number of other pros -- some very high-profile pros at that -- that wear Fairway & Greene clothing with only the logos of their corporate sponsors. While we would love for them to come out of the shadows, we can't criticize their taste.

For a brand like Fairway & Greene that prides itself on making the finest golf apparel in the world, creating anything out of a synthetic fabric must feel...well...unnatural. Their raw materials have always been the finest cottons, wool, alpaca, and cashmere. But the golf market is changing in slow and subtle ways, and many customers are asking for "performance" fabrics.

This Fall, Fairway & Greene will launch a new line called "Pureformance". "Pureformance" possesses the typical Fairway & Greene look, feel and luster as well as exceptional wicking and drying properties. Consisting of a double-mercerized pima cotton face, and backed with the most advanced micro denier yarn, the fabric literally moves moisture away from the golfer's body.

The main staple of the line will be the Textured Solid Short Sleeve Shirt (shown above) in five solid colors: Navy, Red, Bottle Green, Marigold, and Chambray. They'll all feature an open sleeve and knit collar. In addition, there's a Pureformance Textured Mock Turtleneck, a Pima/Tencel Half-Zip Pullover, and a Microfibre/Fleece Reversible Full-Zip Vest.

The technical specs on the line are pretty impressive, but we'll get into all of that when the products hit the shelves. For now, there are no commitments to make the Pureformance line a part of their permanent In-Stock assortment, but we think it will be here to stay. Available this June.