You reach the first tee just after nine, drop a ball, and the pleats swing open with your backswing then fall straight again.

The course is still damp and you are walking to the first green with a putter in one hand. Your phone and a spare ball are in the front pockets, the white waistband sits flat under the hem of your polo, and nothing rides up when you bend to line up the putt. The box pleats read as a skirt from the front, which is the whole point of the cut, but there are two legs under there and you can stride out on a fairway without thinking about it.

Laid flat, the shorts are one colour with a white contrast waistband carrying belt loops and a small printed maker mark. Box pleats fall from the waist seam front and back, and the side split opens on a white underlay that flashes as a stripe when you walk. Two slash pockets sit at the front hips and a single welt pocket sits at the back. The maker lists the cloth as 89.9 percent polyester and 10.1 percent spandex, and puts the pair on the scale at 225 g.

Key Benefits

• Pockets that genuinely open Two slash pockets at the front hips, and the maker photographs a hand pushed inside one of them past the knuckles. A single welt pocket sits at the back with its jetted opening visible in the close up.
• Box pleats over two real legs The pleats give the swing of a golf skirt while the garment underneath is a pair of shorts with an inseam and two separate leg openings.
• A white contrast waistband with belt loops It is flat, not gathered, and it closes with a button and a fly. Belt loops are there if you want to add a belt of your own.
• Side splits on a white underlay The split at each side opens on a white panel, so the stripe appears when you walk and disappears when you stand still.
• A blend with some give The maker states 89.9 percent polyester and 10.1 percent spandex, so the cloth has a little stretch in it rather than sitting rigid.

Best for: women who play a weekend round and want the look of a pleated golf skirt with the coverage and the pockets of shorts, in a colour that is not black.

Why It Works

Most pleated golf bottoms make you choose. A skirt gives you the swing and the pleats but no useful pocket and nothing under it. A plain short gives you the pockets and loses the line. This pair puts box pleats and a side split on an actual pair of shorts, so the front reads as a skirt while you keep an inseam, a back welt pocket and two front pockets deep enough to swallow a phone. The white waistband and the white underlay in the splits are the only contrast, which is why the pink and the blue both stay easy to pair with a plain polo.

Quick Product Facts: Pleated shorts, not a skirt and not a skort; 89.9 percent polyester and 10.1 percent spandex per the maker; two open front pockets plus one welt pocket at the back; flat white contrast waistband with belt loops, button and fly; box pleats front and back with a white underlay in the side splits; two colours, a navy blue and a soft orchid pink; sizes 26 to 30; 225 g on the maker scale; packing list is one pair of shorts.

How It Fits Your Routine

Saturday morning you pull them on over a plain polo, thread a belt through the loops if you want one, and load the front pockets with a ball, a tee and your phone. The back welt pocket takes a scorecard and a pencil. Nothing about the walk between holes asks anything of the shorts.

Off the course they behave like any pleated short. The white waistband and the side stripe give them enough of a sports line to look deliberate with trainers, and the pleats carry the same swing on a terrace as they do on a fairway.

The maker prints no washing instructions and no care symbols anywhere on the sheet, so treat them as you would any polyester and elastane blend and wash them cool. The pair arrives on its own: the polo, the visor, the socks, the shoes and the club in every photograph are styling, and no belt is on the packing list.

FAQ

Are these shorts or a skirt? Shorts. The front is pleated and photographs like a skirt, which is why the supplier title kept calling them different things, but the back and side views show two legs, an inseam and two separate hems. There is no wrap skirt panel and no inner short layer, so this is not a skort either.

Is the waist elastic, or is there a drawstring? Neither. The waistband is a flat woven band with belt loops, a button and a fly, and it does not gather anywhere across the back. The sheet does say Elastic comfort, but read the rest of that line: it is describing the 10.1 percent spandex in the cloth, not an elastic waistband. The white cord you can spot at the waist in the styled photographs belongs to the polo, not to these.

Are they breathable and quick to dry? Yes. The maker builds them from an 89.9 percent polyester and 10.1 percent spandex blend rated as breathable and moisture wicking, the kind of activewear cloth that lifts sweat off the skin and dries fast between holes. The face is smooth woven fabric rather than mesh, so you get that performance without any see through panels.

What do the numbers 26 to 30 mean? They are five waist sizes, the way womens bottoms are usually numbered, running from 26 at the smallest to 30 at the largest. For the closest fit, measure your own waist in inches and pick the matching number; if you are between two, size up for a little more room.