Style + Beauty

Is new LPGA dress code 'body shaming' players?

By Fox News
Published | Updated

The LPGA has introduced a stricter dress code for its players that some are describing as "body shaming."

Starting Monday, tour pros will not be able to wear shirts with plunging necklines, leggings, or short skirts.

LPGA President Vicki Goetze-Ackerman issued the new guidelines in an email, which quickly drew criticism from Teen Vogue magazine.

"[W]e don't see why someone can't look professional in leggings," the magazine stated in an article on Sunday. "If anything, policing these women's bodies and clothes takes away from their professional accomplishments. And if the sport wants a positive image, body-shaming is not the way to get it."

Golfer Paige Spiranac, who has been criticized for wearing revealing clothes on the course, also weighed in.

Golf Digest excerpted the new requirements handed down in Goetze-Ackerman's July 2 email:

  • Racerback with a mock or regular collar are allowed (no collar = noracerback)
  • Plunging necklines are NOT allowed.
  • Leggings, unless under a skort or shorts, are NOT allowed
  • Length of skirt, skort, and shorts MUST be long enough to not see your bottom area (even if covered by under shorts) at any time, standing or bent over.
  • Appropriate attire should be worn to pro-am parties. You should be dressing yourself to present a professional image. Unless otherwise told “no,” golf clothes are acceptable.
  • Dressy jeans are allowed, but cut-offs or jeans with holes are NOT allowed.
  • Workout gear and jeans (all colors) NOT allowed inside the ropes
  • Joggers are NOT allowed

The new rules come just months after the LPGA said it would allow athleticwear on the course, and a day after Sung Hyun Park, 34, from South Korea won the U.S. Open Championship, edging out runner up Hye Jin Choi by two strokes.

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The Open was held at President Donald Trump's golf course in Bedminster, N.J. The President's attendance at the tournament drew protestors, including a group that wore t-shirts with “THIS IS NOT NORMAL” on the front, and “RESIST!” on the back.

There were no reported confrontations between security and the protestors.