Antigua's Desert Dry Xtra-Lite golf shirts are not too light, not too heavy

By Mike Bailey,
Senior Staff Writer

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Antigua's Peformance Collection for men, such as the Exceed, features the company's new Desert Dry Xtra-Lite fabric technology. (Courtesy of The Antigua Group)

One thing that the average golfer probably doesn't put a lot of thought into is apparel, but you can bet the serious player does. That's because the performance of the fabric can directly affect how a person's swing feels, not to mention regulate perspiration and temperature.

With that said, sports-specific apparel companies like Antigua have been refining golfwear fabrics for years. In celebrating its 30th year in business, Antigua has introduced its latest in performance golf shirts using its new proprietary Desert Dry Xtra-Lite fabrics in a men's and women's spring line for 2010.

"We're very excited about our new Desert Dry Xtra-Lite technology," said Ron McPherson, president of Antigua. "We feel there is a consumer who will really appreciate the Xtra Lite product, and we have developed a special logo and hangtag for these garments."

The new material combines the company's Desert Dry moisture-wicking feature with specially constructed ultra-light fabrics for maximum wicking performance and optimum comfort. The end result is that material wicks moisture more rapidly than previous products, feels lighter on the body, traps less heat and has less restrictive movement – all good when you're playing golf.

According to the company, the three-dimensional construction is what makes the fabric extremely light without being sheer or see-through. The fabric is interspersed throughout Antigua's Spring '10 collection.

Desert Dry Xtra-Lite fashion

Antigua's Performance Collection for Spring features a lightweight athletic drape, which moves from active brights and active-wear styling and replaces them with a rich, sophisticated color palette and clean, updated styling. The new technology is available in both the women's and men's lines.

"Our target audience is the weekend golfer who expects their apparel to perform," McPherson said. "When golfers began demanding performance apparel several years ago, we not only continued to excel as a genuine golf brand, but we easily shifted to performance apparel."

Antigua's new Performance Collection: The verdict

I had the opportunity to try out a couple of the new Desert Dry Xtra-Lite shirts in Arizona recently. And while the temperature was nowhere near what it is for most of the year in Arizona, it was fairly warm on one of the days.

There was never any hint of the shirt getting wet from perspiration, and my guess is that it would hold true even if the temperatures were in the 90s. Florida or South Texas during the summer would, of course, provide the ultimate test, and I'm guessing that these new shirts from Antigua would do quite well.

More importantly, they move very well with the body. As expected, I never felt the material grab in the backswing. It felt light without feeling insignificant. In short, while Antigua is pricier than bargain apparel at discount chain stores, it's very good performance at a medium price (around $65 retail).

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February 17, 2010

Mike Bailey is a senior staff writer based in the Houston area. Focusing primarily on golf in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America, he contributes course reviews, travel stories and features as well as the occasional equipment review. An award-winning writer and past president of Texas Golf Writers Association, he has more than 15 years in the golf industry. Before joining the WorldGolf.com team in 2008, he held positions at PGA Magazine, The Golfweek Group and AvidGolfer Magazine. Read Mike's golf blog here and follow him on Twitter here.