For six decades, Roger Dunn Golf Shops have been a Southern California fixture, much like its sun-splashed sandy beaches and diverse landscapes.
The chain, started by former professional golfer Roger Dunn, weaved its way into the SoCal golf culture with its first store at a North Hollywood driving range that he operated in 1965. His purpose? Offer golf equipment at discount prices and to make the game more accessible to a broader audience.
“The PGA mandated you had to mark up products at least 40 percent,” Dunn told Southland Golf magazine before his 2012 death. “I thought that was too much. So, at the end of the model year, I would buy up merchandise at a deep discount, and even with a 40 percent markup it was still cheaper than anywhere else.”
Dunn, who competed on the PGA Tour in the 1950s, built up the brand over the next decade and opened a Santa Ana 63,000-square-foot flagship superstore in 1978; expansion into Hawaii came next, and by 1986 there were 16 stores in California. It didn’t take long for the “You’re number one at Roger Dunn” slogan to become a catchphrase in the Los Angeles community.
In the late 1990s, his son, Steve Dunn, bought out his father before selling the chain in 1993 to Worldwide Golf Shops. Today there are 11 Roger Dunn Golf Shops in SoCal.
In a competitive and fast-changing retail industry, it’s not often that smaller chains thrive for years, let alone for multiple decades. That’s why Adrienne Cass, vice president of apparel strategy at Worldwide Golf Shops, spearheaded a limited-edition lifestyle collection (released in September) to celebrate Roger Dunn Golf Shops’ 60th anniversary. The Roger Dunn Collection could be described as heritage with a modern golf style that imbues Hollywood elegance combined with Palm Springs leisure from the 1950-60s “swinging cool” Rat Pack era.
Stated differently, “Built for the course, inspired by the culture.”
The collection borrows from Dunn’s blue-and-white patterns with a scheme that gives a loose nod to the Los Angeles Dodgers colors. T-shirts, hats, hoodies, quarter zips – among several other zip types – tout a laid-back style at affordable prices for every golfer. There’s also a track jacket, the only piece in the collection that’s black.
The appeal of the Roger Dunn Collection, as explained by Cass, lies in its versatility. The apparel is designed to be worn both on the golf course and as part of everyday streetwear, seamlessly blending functionality and style. This approach pays homage to the rich heritage of Roger Dunn Golf Shops, allowing wearers to connect with the brand’s storied past while enjoying pieces that fit into contemporary, everyday life.
“When it came around to the 60th anniversary, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to let the brand take a more physical form for our beloved customers,” Cass says. “It’s really celebrating the generations of golfers we've served, and I wanted to produce a collection that was more lifestyle-focused and really resonated with the daily grind of who our golfer is.
“It's like when your parents are like, ‘I wore that when I was growing up.’ We thought that was interesting and different, and so we reinvented [this line] as a young brand. I definitely felt like we needed to lean into that old look but make it cool.”
Golf has always been about its past, present and future. Of course, there’s always a segment that dives deep into nostalgia.
When Cass embarked on the campaign to create the Roger Dunn Collection more than a year ago, she partnered with Sport Design Sweden — a company renowned for its collaborations with global professional sports teams, leagues, and both summer and winter resorts. The partnership brought a wealth of experience and creative vision to the table. During the initial stages, Sport Design Sweden presented Cass with a wide range of styles and visual concepts to consider for the new collection.
After reviewing the assorted options, Cass was drawn to the retro aesthetic, feeling that it most authentically captured the generational spirit and the true essence of Roger Dunn. She was committed to ensuring that the collection reflected both timelessness and freshness, emphasizing a look that would resonate across generations. Throughout the design process, Cass was unwavering in her insistence on upholding lofty standards of manufacturing, ensuring that every piece in the collection would not only evoke nostalgia but also meet the demands of quality and style expected by today’s consumers.
However, it was more than simply sitting through presentations and brand guidelines. Who are the Roger Dunn consumers, what do they represent and would they have brand affinity?
Cass relied on empirical data as she studied store patrons. She was convinced its history needed to be incorporated into the collection. That was another reason for the retro campaign. The line also needed to manifest what it would be like to walk through one of its stores, from the look and feel.
“Here we are, we're a brand that actually was alive [in the 1960s],” Cass says. “And so there's this heritage and an authenticity to that vibe. We see [our consumers] all the time going back and forth from their club or the range or a mini course into our store, getting tweaked on their fittings, on new clubs, doing repairs, grip replacements, all that stuff, and then going back out there. They’ve been so loyal.”
In many ways, the collection celebrates Dunn posthumously. In the 1960s he took a chance, invariably changing moods toward the stuffiness golf arguably exemplified. His quotient relied on affordability translating into more golfers. When he first started teaching golf at the Studio City Golf Course in 1962, he didn’t realize then it would take him three years to get up and running at the North Hollywood driving range.
“I think for me,” Cass says, “more than anything, it's not as much about the clothes as it is a moment to really celebrate Roger Dunn.”
