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Michelle RennieFrom Colin Farquharson

Lancashire-born Michelle Rennie, pictured right, married an Aberdonian and has lived in the North-East for a number of years where she became firm friends with Pam Wright, vice-captain of the Europe team in the last two Solheim Cups and a Solheim Cup player before that.
Michelle has recently opened a shop in Banchory (halfway between Aboyne and Aberdeen) that caters specifically for ladies' clothing.

Colin Farquharson has been speaking to Michelle and Pam about the venture:


COLIN: Michelle, you didn't wake up one day and say 'Hey, I'm going to open a golf shop!" What was the build-up to it?
MICHELLE: It came about through discussing ideas with friends around golf … more women seeming to be taking up golf but there's not the clothing or accessories available to them.
We sort of built on that idea and thought about doing a ladies golf clothing shop. The friends I was involved with in this sort of thinking went on to other things but I carried on the idea.
It was just a case of waiting for the right shop premises to come on the market.
I had no shop management experience. I had worked in the travel industry and then I became a chiropodist to fit around my four children.
And then I was at a stage in my life when I thought "They're older now, I could do something for me now." I took up golf three years ago, really enjoying it and I thought I could combine a hobby with a business.
It was Innes Wright who taught myself and my husband, Sandy, to play golf, really introduced us to the game and that's how I met Pam, through her dad, and we became firm friends.
So I was waiting for the right location to set up the ladies golf clothing shop. Thought about Aberdeen but you've got to pay to park there; it's often not the most convenient place to be. I just didn't think the city was the right setting for this kind of shop.


Pam Wright and Michelle Rennie outside the shop in Banchory


When these premises came up in Banchory, I was just delighted. It's proved to be the right choice. Lots of tourists come to this area. I hadn't realised there were so many and people don't mind coming out to Banchory from Aberdeen. They like a day out.
When it was the last Aberdeen local holiday, we had a very busy day, lots of people coming in to see what we had to offer.
We've been open since August 17 and hopefully the people who came out to see us (on the Aberdeen holiday) will come back.
I have been trying to take in lines that are not currently in the professionals' club shops. I think the pro shops do lots for men but there's usually just a little corner for the ladies. To be fair, that's not the case with all pro shops because I am sure there are some that have a bit more than that for the ladies.
There's no point in people coming in here and seeing the same clothing that they can see in a pro's shop. We have to try to bring in something a bit different, that's feminine and well fitted, that they can wear on and off the course and feel stylish and fashionable in it.
There will always be a few makes you can recognise (around the shop), Glenmuir, Sunderland with your waterproofs for instance, but the other clothing ranges are unique to the area.
High Street fashions are coming through in the golf clothing now. If pink's "in" in the High Street, then people want pink here (in this shop). Anything that's been in pink, has just gone (over the past two months).
You have to see what's going on in the High Street. It does flow through … if striped tops are "in," then we have to cater for the public's preferences of the moment.
Having said that, I think that people, as well as following the fashions, still want some Classic lines. Trousers probably don't follow the fashion quite the same. They've got to fit well and be comfortable. Whereas the tops I think you can be a bit more flamboyant with. It's nice to have something that's a bit different.
You don't have to be in the blacks and the navies. You can have some of the brighter colours and feel that you are wearing something a bit more unusual.


Michelle Rennie and Pam Wright

COLIN: Speaking as a man, I don't think what I am wearing on a golf course necessarily has an effect on how I play but, do you think, it's different for a girl or a woman, i.e. if she feels she is looking nice, the feel-good factor will filter through into her golf and she will actually play better because of it?
PAM WRIGHT: I do believe that if you feel strong in what you're wearing, then you'll play well. Women golfers are catered for in clothing lines much better in the United States than in Britain. I think the Continent of Europe is also ahead of Britain in offering fashionable clothes for lady golfers. It's the women that spend the money.
Most of the clothes than male golfers wear, unless they are Jesper Parnevik, don't stand out, they don't want to stand out in a crowd. With the ladies, it's different. We're talking about things they can wear after the round of golf or just to go out with your friends. Ladies golf shops have a dual purpose.
MICHELLE: I did a lot of research into ladies golf clothing on the American websites, trying, among other things, to find some more unusual suppliers and I soon realised that they are far more adventurous in the lines that they offer to women golfers, things like tops with gold lame … which I'm not quite sure would go well over here..
PAM: Of course, the weather is usually warmer for much longer over in the States than here in Scotland in the golfing season. Regular, guaranteed sunshine does tend to encourage the wearing of bright colours.
MICHELLE: Women tend to dress up more for golf in America; they would want to have their hair and the make-up just right before they step on that first tee, whereas here in Britain lady golfers are not worrying so much. It's a different market.
COLIN: Can golf shops like yours dictate in a way to ladies what they will wear in the coming year?
MICHELLE: I don't think you can make people wear this or that. What you have to do is introduce new things slowly. And let people know clothing ranges are out there and what styles, and what colours.
I know already some people have come in, wanting bright red or bright yellow golf shoes ... they also want some bright coloured tops so the trend to wear brighter things on a golf course is starting to hit over here.
COLIN: I know in taking photographs, mainly of men, in action that the trend over the past year or two has been towards all-black waterproof suits, which does not show up so well in pictures. I wish men would start wearing different coloured waterproofs.
MICHELLE: Well, I'm glad to say that even in waterproof suits, which have been traditionally of darker colours, things are beginning to change. I am getting quite a higher percentage of people coming in looking for a bright red waterproof suit or bright pink.
They don't want the blacks and the navies anymore. That's what I'm looking at now so, hopefully, for the spring, we'll have bright coloured waterproofs in stock.
They watch the pros on the TV wearing these bright things and some people want to mimic them.
COLIN: Was it a bit of a gamble opening a golf clothing shop specifically for women?
MICHELLE: I think everbody's slightly nervous when they do something new and I'm no different but I think from research and speaking about it, I felt reasonably confident that the shop would go well because there is not another shop offering these things in the North-east of Scotland. The next nearest shop stocking these ladies' golf clothing lines to us in Banchory is down in Edinburgh
PAM WRIGHT. It's a missed market.

Photos and text Copyright © Cal Carson Golf Agency

 

 
 

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Kirkwoodgolf is published by Gillian Kirkwood
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