Course of Style: Ahhhh, that's so cute ...

In fact, this may be just about the cutest thing in the world — children dressed to play golf, like the little boy wearing a Hogan hat, knickers, and knee socks, or the little girl in her golf polo dress holding a teeny-weeny wedge that looks giant in her hands. The clothes come from the Littlest Golfer Inc., a new company founded on the idea of bringing high-performance clothing to even the smallest children — ages three months (!) to 12 years.

Do the little ones really need golf-specific clothing in order to get into the game?

"Well, of course they don't," said Jennifer Maurer, a marketing consultant for the Asheville, N.C., firm, "any more than they need Batman costumes or mommy's dress-up clothes. The inspiration for the company was a love of golf and a love of children and the recognition that golf builds great character and provides admirable role models.

"What golf doesn't do, currently," she added, "is reach out to small children and make golf accessible, less intimidating. The Littlest Golfer invites children to dream one day of being a Tiger Woods or Stewart Cink or Annika Sorenstam."

As a matter of fact, we do remember those early videos of a tiny Tiger on the tee, pounding the ball even then (but we don't recall what he was wearing).

The Littlest Golfer clothes keep kids safe from sunburn (with built-in SPF protection), have moisture-wicking fabrics, and feature friendly cartoon turtles as logos. (The boy turtle is Putter; the girl is Sandy). Shirts go for around $30; knickers $37; dresses $37; and fleece outerwear $34. (There are also mother-daughter and father-son styles, so the family can dress alike.)

The Littlest Golf collection is currently available at a few golf shops, like the Country Club of Asheville and the Golf Chic Boutique in Cincinnati, and online at littlestgolfer.com.

NO SWEAT SOCKS
It's not the sexiest part of your wardrobe (we hope), but golf socks are important — especially those cute (here we go again) little socks known as performance shorties, or no-show athletic socks, which are one of the bright spots right now in the golf apparel business.

TaylorMade-adidas Golf reports that sales of performance golf socks are up 10 percent in a very difficult retail environment. The socks are made of Clima Cool fabric, which is both moisture wicking and anti-microbial, and have a compression wrap around the arch of the foot for support (sort of like the Adidas golf shoes), padded heels and toes (for long walks on hilly terrain), and mesh tops for ventilation. They cost $11.99. Although designed specifically for golf, they work for all sports.