Original Penguin Hoodie Review

If ever a brand should have a collection of cool and stylish hoodies in their line-up it is Penguin. We’ve heard far too much about the suitability of hoodies in the game and we now seem to have thankfully moved into a new era of common sense. In October 2020 you might have thought that Tyrrell Hatton was waltzing round Wentworth in a mankini and flip flops given the furore around his hoodie.

He wasn’t the first, nothing like it, but he was leading the PGA Championship by a bundle of shots and plenty didn’t like it. It was so boring that it was laughable. If you don’t play the game then you’ll very quickly be put off by this type of chatter inside it – it doesn’t take much to make golf look out of date sometimes and the fact that we can still bicker about dress codes escalates things very quickly.

Now, a year and a bit on, we’re in far safer territory. The hoodie is now part of the major scene, we’ve seen it at the Ryder Cup and nobody bats an eyelid when a player emerges in one.

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To give this its proper title – the Sticker Pete fleece pullover hoodie in dark sapphire is a fantastic addition to any wardrobe. Bizarrely I’d never played golf in a hoodie before, I’ve always owned plenty but maybe I’ve just needed to have my eyes opened a bit. My first round with it came at 8am at Prince’s in Kent in the middle of October, with temperatures struggling to get into double figures, and it was absolutely ideal. The biggest (welcome) surprise was how warm it was. The soft fleece make-up of it provides plenty of insulation, given its light nature it doesn’t look like it’s going to keep you toasty but it’s amazingly warm. So much so that it’s now become my go-to mid layer over winter and you’ll rarely need anything else on top. 

It’s also very well fitted. I’m 6”4, overweight and I wore an XL. In my head an XL hoodie will swim on me, not because I don’t have a middle-aged paunch (I do) but more because of the way it’s been designed. This is spot on and it comes in a wide variety of colours and styles.

The hood has yet to come up but it doesn’t get in the way of anything, as the anti-hoodie brigade will claim, and the smaller details make this a must-have part of your golfing wardrobe. The ribbed cuffs mean there’s never any readjusting over the ball and the kangaroo zipped pocket just provide some extra space if required.

In 10 years of marriage my wife has never complimented me on any item of golfing apparel, quite often raising a concerned look at an item that should never leave the house or stifling a giggle. This hoodie broke the mould in a good way proving, in some small way, that golf can be cool even for an overweight 50-year-old man.

Related post: Best Designer Golf Clothing

The Penguin back story

This is a beauty. In 1955 a gentleman called Abbot Pederson had too much to drink while waiting for a flight and purchased a stuffed penguin that he named Pete. He accidentally knocked the head off the penguin, a helpful stewardess wrapped a tie around the penguin’s neck and remarked that it would look good on a shirt. Pedersen then went home and embroidered this character ‘Pete the Penguin’ on to his new shirts. Within a few years the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Clint Eastwood and Arnold Palmer were wearing Original Penguin by Munsingwear. These days you’ll be most familiar with Cameron Smith, who nearly won the 2020 Masters, in their stylish clothing.