There are corners of the golf world that resist the relentless march toward performance optimization, and Metalwood Studio is one of them.
Founded by Cole Young, a college golfer turned designer, the brand was born in Los Angeles in 2020 out of Young's desire to merge his love for streetwear with golf, creating apparel inspired by the aesthetic of 1990s and early-2000s tour culture.
In a landscape crowded with moisture-wicking fabrics and algorithmic colorways, that founding premise reads almost like a manifesto.
The brand's own about page says it best: Metalwood Studio is an ode to golf in the nineties and early 2000s, when the technology boom was just starting, the pros of yesteryear were trading persimmon woods and balata balls for something faster and more aggressive, and they had exchanged flares and four-button placket polos for the baggiest, frumpiest silhouettes they could find, long before the yoga-but-make-it-golf clothes of today.
That is a precise and deeply felt observation, and it explains why the brand resonates so loudly with anyone who grew up watching tournament golf on weekend afternoon television, transfixed less by the scorecard than by whatever Greg Norman or Fred Couples happened to be wearing.
Each release is produced in limited quantities, emphasizing exclusivity and collectibility, and many pieces reference iconic designs and trends from golf's golden era, making them especially appealing to both golf purists and modern fashion fans.
The scarcity is not a gimmick; it reflects the archival seriousness with which Young approaches the work.
Young draws inspiration from vintage golf advertisements and iconic imagery, referencing nostalgic fashion moments famously captured on the links to reinterpret golf's dress code.
This is a designer who does his homework at the source, flipping through old issues of Golf Digest the way a record collector crates-digs at a flea market.
That archival instinct reached its most public expression yet in the Maxfli by Metalwood collaboration, described as Metalwood's largest co-branded project to date.
The design process was a true collaboration, with Maxfli offering access to its archives while giving Metalwood Studio the creative freedom to reimagine the brand's iconic imagery.
Young has described his source material frankly:
"Drawing my inspiration from my own collection of vintage golf magazines with old Maxfli ads, we've created something that honors the brand's past but with a fresh take for today's audience."
The result honored a brand with over a century of golf history while filtering it through a sensibility that belongs entirely to the present.
Since its inception, Metalwood Studio has always tread the line carefully between its golf roots and fashion influences, but while the LA-based brand continues to explore its connection to golf through collaborations with the likes of Maxfli and FootJoy, its seasonal releases are increasingly pushed toward the fashion crowd who are more likely to attend Paris Fashion Week than the PGA trade show.
That tension, golf credibility pulling in one direction and streetwear ambition pulling in the other, is precisely what makes Metalwood interesting. Neither side wins outright, and the brand is better for it.
The physical store anchors the whole operation in something real.
Metalwood Studio occupies 128 South La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, a corridor that has long been a reliable address for independent retail with strong points of view.
Apparel, vintage golf clubs, and accessories fill the space, and the shop also offers full club repair.
Walking in, you are not browsing a brand so much as entering a specific argument about what golf culture should look like, and there's a good chance you'll leave feeling that same sentiment.
https://metalwood.studio/