Visiting Turtleson At The PGA Show 2025

Visiting Turtleson At The PGA Show 2025

As someone who pays little attention to the vagaries of fashion, I am burdened by the thought that I am the last person who should be writing about golf apparel.

Still, I know what I like, and when I visited Turtleson at the PGA Show, I found a company that spoke to me with its classic, understated quality. Turtleson has clothes for adults.

Turtleson has been around since 2013, so it doesn’t really fall into the category of “new” like others I’ve written about (such as Rimac, Renegade Golf, Liddle Speakers), but I suppose it could be fit quietly into the “upstart” category like True and Vice. It definitely sits outside mass market brands like Nike, UnderArmour, Puma, Adidas, Cutter & Buck and FootJoy. And the risk of insulting its owners, I’d also suggest Turtleson flies lower under the radar than Peter Millar and Travis Matthew.

I’m not sure why, though. The apparel I saw at their booth was among the best I saw at the 2025 PGA Show — and I browsed a lot of apparel shops. (Why did a guy who confesses to not being much of a clothes horse spend so much time looking at apparel? Because I was frankly amazed at the number and variety of companies in that product space – about which more another time).

While visiting the Turtleson booth, I had nice conversation with co-founder Greg Oakley about the brand and its products.

Oakley said that what Turtleson creates is “wearable gear.”

“We’ve always had what I think is an interesting take on golf apparel,” Oakley said. “We want to obliterate the line between performance and luxury.”

Everything I saw at Turtleson fit that paradigm. The fabrics felt lovely, the colors were rich and the small details were not overlooked.

Oakley pointed out the shirt collars, which are constructed from three layers to help them hold their shape without being stiff; zippers with cloth and leather pull tabs; and thoughtful performance fabric choices. The patterns and colors have flair, but avoid garishness. That’s hard to pull off.

Another of those small details is the understated Turtleson logo that — at least on the pieces I examined — was located nearly out of sight on the back of the shirt, just under the collar line. The little rubberized turtle icons were particularly cute.

I appreciate clothes that don’t turn me into a tacky billboard for a designer (Malbon, I’m looking at you).

The logo has its own interesting story. According to Oakley, it’s the source of the company name.

“I like turtles,” he said, “and the logo we came up with looked like a sun, so it became ‘Turtle Sun,’ but with an ‘o’ so it seemed like a family name.”

In addition to the requisite golf shirts, pullovers, trousers and shorts, Turtleson has a nice selection of outwear. They have a wool vest and suede jacket which I love.

“The golf shop experience is evolving,” Oakley said. “You can now often go to one and get everything you need for work or for golf.”

Oakley is right. As offices have trended a little more casual, and department stores have closed, a well-stocked golf shop may have all the apparel anyone needs. When I started my teaching career thirty-plus years ago, it was jacket and tie for the male teachers every day. By the time I finished, I was often overdressed with my khakis, polos and sweater vests. Other male teachers were in jeans or — horrors — even shorts or sweats (and not just the gym teachers).

Turtleson shirts, trousers and outwear are versatile enough to go from work to course to home. It’s performance gear with business casual style.

With prices for a polo around $110, Turtleson pricing is in line with other premium golf apparel companies (and not that much more than, say Nike).

Turtleson is a company to keep an eye on.