A new Irish ladies fashion brand has hit the market and it is the brainchild of golf fanatics and close friends Shauna McIntyre and Stephanie Glennon who have now launched their new golf clothing brand AWGO Golf on the world to bring comfortable and fashionable wear to the women’s game.
A keen golfer, McIntyre has taken the game seriously since her teens but was always dressed head to toe in whatever clothes she could lay her hands on. Now 26, she still struggles to find golf clothes that are both comfortable and functional but is determined to do something about it.
“The idea really came from that we couldn’t really find anything ourselves to wear and when we did find something, every single one of us would buy the exact same skort and we would look like twins because there were no other options. When we got the skorts they weren’t really suitable for golf and were actually tennis skorts with pockets inside,” explains the Grange Golf Club member.
“So we were talking about why can’t brands do this and that then I thought ‘why don’t we do that’? So, it went from there and Stephanie and I have been friends for years and have played golf together since we were thirteen and I was so embarrassed with the clothes I was wearing. I used to wear a hoodie zipped up to my neck to hide the cotton polo shirt I was wearing. We would be wearing crocked trousers and things I wouldn’t have usually worn so that’s where the idea has come from we wanted to create golf clothes that someone would actually wear and that are functional and comfortable to play in.”
In creating AWGO Golf, the Dubliner is combining two passions, golf and business in order to fill the perceived gap in the market at the moment. The female golf clothing business has yet to keep pace with the younger age demographic of golfers coming into the sport in their mind and AWGO Golf are determined to make their mark in the space.
Ahead of the launch this month, McIntyre has already turned her attention away from current stocks and sales to how they can add some winter stock and it would seem like AWGO Golf is aiming high.
“I feel like there is a new demographic of younger women playing golf with all the ‘Get into Golf’ programmes, we have a lot of young female golfers in our golf club but the clothing isn’t there to support the change. Skorts are what made us create something but for our winter launch we are looking at things like golf leggings and comfortable clothes for winter golf. We are already thinking that way as well, people don’t want to wear the trousers that aren’t flattering, the fit isn’t great either so it’s time to create functional and comfortable things to wear on the golf course.”
It takes a golfer to know what golfers want. An avid golfer from the age of nine, McIntyre has found her home in Grange Golf Club where she came through their junior girls’ programme under the stewardship of renowned high-performance coach, David Kearney.
Inspired by those around her, McIntyre owes a lot to the environment created for young girls in the golf club for sticking with golf.
“I’m a keen golfer, not a very good one. Stephanie is far better than me a single figure golfer I’m very much a social golfer in the 20s as much as I try!
“I’ve always had a friend from Grange on the Irish team and as a girl we always thought it was so cool, if it wasn’t for her I might have given it up but she showed that women could be good at golf. Before that I would just go out and play but I wouldn’t go out with the guys I wouldn’t be competitive,” adds McIntyre who rather fell into golf when she was nine years old.
“I have been playing golf since I was nine but properly since I was thirteen. My mum was getting the house done up and there were golf lessons on in the evenings she let me off to those so the men could get the work done. I got into Grange with their junior girls programme, they came to our school and we signed up for the temporary summer membership and then we got our full membership. Grange have done so much for women’s golf, David Kearney was our pro for years and he was the Irish Ladies coach so he was always focused on the girls. The junior programme was the thing that made me keep it up.”
AWGO Golf hope to launch in the coming weeks and fill the gap in the women’s market by adding style on and off the golf course. Targeted for women of all ages, particularly the new cohort of players under the age of 40 this new brand is bidding to take the golfing landscape by storm with their range of comfortable and functional golf clothing.
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