Sergio Garcia sports a TaylorMade golf cap. (AFP)

Ishan Bajoria can hardly wait to get his hands on the latest range of Adidas Golf’s Cool Max Extreme range of T-shirts, retailing at Rs 2,500 a piece. He is also eyeing a pair of Ecco “World Class” golf shoes, which should set him back by a neat Rs 27,000…

The 17-year-old golfer with a seven handicap feels it’s in order to have these accessories to go with his TaylorMade Burner XD iron set. Even his friends who don’t swing an R7 Super Quad driver are keen to make a lifestyle statement by wearing a Greg Norman Collection Play Dry T-shirt or a pair of stylish Oakley shades.

The extravagant experience of golf is driving high-end retail across a clutch of brands and Calcutta is also teeing off to put its best foot forward. “We might account for just about 10 per cent of the country’s organised golf retail business, which could be nearly Rs 30 crore, but awareness of high-end brands is on the rise,” says Vivek Jairath of Pro Shop at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC).

Jairath, along with business partner Arun Nanda, had opened Golf Stoppe, the “city’s first golf boutique”, on Garcha Road back in 1998. Now, Calcutta has the two Wills Pro Shop outlets at RCGC and Tollygunge Club, Different Strokes run by Vandana Agarwal, Asian Sports of Sanjeev Jhulka and golftrade.in run by Protouch.

The Planet Retail outlets and the Royal Sporting House store-in-store formats also retail golf accessories. “Calcutta may never catch up with Delhi, which has 16 courses against our three-and-a-half. But there’s no denying that more and more youngsters are aspiring to turn out like a Tiger Woods or a Sergio Garcia,” says golfer-turned-coach Indrajit Bhalotia of Protouch.

The sports lifestyle industry is growing in the country by leaps and bounds, agrees Rahul Singh, the CEO of Greg Norman Collection, India.

With membership to both the golf clubs in Calcutta restricted, the number of active golfers is not increasing dramatically, and hence, the demand for Callaway X-20 irons or a TaylorMade ‘rescue wood’ isn’t really red-hot.

“If business is still growing, it’s solely because of accessories, which now constitute nearly 35 per cent of sales, as opposed to a mere five per cent only five years ago. Youngsters are so brand-conscious these days, they know exactly which mock neck or seasonal shade they want when they walk into the store,” smiles Jairath.

So, Adidas Golf’s “Climacool” T-shirts, which promise to reduce the impact of the sun and high temperature, blocking 93.3 to 95.8 per cent of UV rays and has vents in critical heat zones for improved air-flow, is fast disappearing off the racks. “The vibrant colours and high comfort factor of the range, makes it the perfect style statement off the course as well,” says Andreas Gellner, the managing director of Adidas India.

Bhalotia, who trains young golfers, concurs that there’s “a high fashion element” involved in, say, a Greg Norman T-shirt. “A bulk of the designer clothing is bought by non-golfers. All major companies have golf polos, which are higher priced,” he adds.