PGA of America allows shorts in PGA Championship practice rounds
PGA Championship

Why are PGA Championship players wearing golf shorts in practice rounds?

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If you're tuning into early coverage of the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, you've probably seen players in the year's final major wearing golf shorts in the hot Missouri sun.

This is different from every other PGA Tour event, where players aren't wearing shorts, even when the temperatures swell into the 90s and higher. That's because this event is run by the PGA of America, and in 2017, the organization putting on the PGA Championship decided golfers would be allowed to wear shorts during practice rounds starting in 2017 at Quail Hollow Club.

That means golfers are able to show a little leg in preparing to win the Wanamaker trophy. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, players can wear shorts. When the tournament starts on Thursday and through its conclusion on Sunday (or, God forbid, Monday), players have to wear pants.

This modern-thinking rule should be appealing to players who have been hoping for the PGA Tour to join the European Tour in allowing their players to wear shorts in practice rounds. The European Tour approved that change in 2016, and players took advantage by showing their gams during practice days.

So, you'll get a great view of players' calves for the Monday through Wednesday practice rounds, and then it's gametime and the gams go into hiding...in the hot, hot heat.

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Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is currently a +2.6 USGA handicap, and he has covered dozens of major championships and professional golf tournaments. He likes writing about golf and making it more accessible by answering the complex questions fans have about the pro game or who want to understand how to play golf better.

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