FORE Magazine

Top Menu

  • About Me
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Home

Main Menu

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login

logo

FORE Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
Equipment
Home›Equipment›Iliac Golf: A Southland Golf Fashion Exclusive

Iliac Golf: A Southland Golf Fashion Exclusive

By Corey Ross
February 23, 2017
6759
1
Share:

When Bert LaMar launched his iliac Golf luxury lifestyle brand in 2005, he did it a manner very much akin to a secret club. The only identifier of the brand on golf shirts and fine leather head covers was a red crest, the company logo.

It is only within the last two years that LaMar has added the word iliac to company golf gear and apparel. LaMar admits the low profile branding strategy was counter-intuitive, but he initially wanted his customers to feel like they were part of a private club.

“How do you Google search a crest?” he asks rhetorically in his showroom in Carlsbad. “It was very anti-social media, so in that respect we were a brand that was under the radar.”

Beginning with Pelican Hill GC, Torrey Pines GC, Costa Mesa CC and Arroyo Trabuco GC, among others, LaMar has finally taken the brand public by making it available at a select group of Southern California courses as well as the golf shop at The Royal Hawaiian resort in Waikiki.

LaMar said expanding the brand’s presence is just as much about customer service as it is marketing.

“I feel like I owe it to my customers,” he said. “We have a big customer base on the web site (iliacgolf.com), but they don’t have a place to go and try it on. So I think it’s really important to put it in a few places, but I’m putting it in places where I can still be really hands-on.”

The iliac line started with a specialty in premium leather head covers and uniquely styled shirts and is now a full-scale lifestyle brand (shoes, pants, belts, etc.).

LaMar, a native California who previously competed professionally in and designed for the skateboard and snowboard industries, took his talents to the golf course and into golf design with a vision of celebrating the sport’s classic look and style and updating it.

“We’re vintage, but we’re also very fashion-forward,” he said. “We want to bring golf’s classic style to today’s golfer.”

LaMar has done just that. Arroyo Trabuco Head Golf Professional Michael Block said the brand is a natural fit for their Orange County club.

“It was a no-brainer for us to work with Bert and iliac because their style fits so well with our culture at the club,” Block said. “To be able to offer the iliac brand in our golf shop is just one more way that we can set ourselves apart, not only from other golf clubs, but even local clothing stores.

LaMar turned to golf design after an attempt to play professionally didn’t pan out.

“I tried to turn pro for a few years, but didn’t make much money at it,” he said. “But I fell in love with the vintage classic style of the sport and wanted to do something that honored golf’s rich tradition. Everything iliac is rich in tradition.”

LaMar remains a competitive golfer himself and has won the club championship at The Crossings five times and is a two-time San Diego City champ. He said continuing to compete and train himself, as well as designing for his TOUR players, inspires his creations and designs.

“I’m always kind of inventing things out of TOUR necessity,” he said. “I’ve sometimes solved a problem they didn’t even know they had. That’s designing from the highest level. The TOUR is where a lot of my ideas come from.”

This connection extends to iliac’s customer base. Lamar said his customers, whom he calls iliackers, aspire for their play and appearance to be the best.

“This is TOUR-level high fashion but also the technical performance of the product carries over to the amateur,” he said. “We’re for people who are serious about their game and serious about their apparel. There’s also a learning curve with the product because it’s different than anything else out there.

“But once people become an iliacker, they’re usually an iliacker for life.”

Previous Article

The Resurrection of Patrick Cantlay

Next Article

There’s a New Driver in Town

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Corey Ross

Related articles More from author

  • Equipment

    Blast From The Past

    March 27, 2018
    By Scott Kramer
  • Equipment

    Bridgestone Balls Keep Rolling Along

    September 20, 2017
    By Scott Kramer
  • EquipmentFORE Her

    KINONA: One Size Does Not Fit All

    July 24, 2018
    By Madison Lomas
  • EquipmentSpring 2018

    Self Reliant: Diagnosing Your Own Swing at Home or on the Range

    April 25, 2018
    By Scott Kramer
  • Equipment

    King of the Hills

    October 1, 2018
    By Scott Kramer
  • Equipment

    Bertha’s Back

    December 17, 2018
    By Scott Kramer

1 comment

  1. tvl 2 March, 2018 at 06:10 Reply

    Your products takes golfing to another level the line looks and feels great and has a great style to it it’s like everybody going to the Kentucky derby the girls were bonnets they dress like millionaires you have the same… I think it’s good to look good and feel good on the golf course 🏌️‍♂️

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Recent Posts

  • FeaturedProfilesSpring 2022

    Bob Does Hollywood: The Hardest Working Man on Instagram Finds Gold in Golf

  • FeaturedSpring 2022The Podium

    Fan-Demonium: Up Close & Personal at WMPO’s 16th

  • FeaturedFirst CutSpring 2022

    Nine is Fine (and here’s why): Get Creative when you Play and Find your New BFF

  • FeaturedSpring 2022Travel

    The Pubs of St Andrews

  • FeaturedKnow the RulesSpring 2022

    The Provisional Ball: What? How? When?

FeaturedSpring 2022Travel

The Pubs of St Andrews

The challenge seemed daunting at first. On an eight-day trip to St Andrews, my job was to rate the pubs in this lively college town where golf began six centuries ...
  • Scotland Must-Plays & Hidden Gems: 10 Terrific Tracks that Prove the Old Course Isn’t the Only Game Around

    By Joe Passov
    April 21, 2022
  • Bob Does Hollywood: The Hardest Working Man on Instagram Finds Gold in Golf

    By Adam Hawk
    April 21, 2022
  • Not Your Father’s Game: With Two Facilities Newly Open and Callaway at the Helm, the Topgolf Explosion Comes to the Southland

    By Scott Kauffman
    April 21, 2022
  • The Provisional Ball: What? How? When?

    By Jimmy Becker
    April 21, 2022
© 2016 FORE Magazine About Us | Contact Us | Advertise