NIKE CURSE

Football’s World Cup is heading towards the latter stages with the familiar sound of the vuvuzela. I like the noise, but if you fancy a pie at halve time, could it be used as a ‘pie shooter’? Aimed at rival fans, referees and Sepp Blatter.

No doubt some of you watched the Nike ad during the World Cup, entitled ‘Write the future’. Featuring Ronaldinho, Drogba, Ribery, Rooney and Ronaldo. Alas to Nike's horror the stars of the advert have one-by-one seen their tournament cut short.

It’s always nice to see over-hyped stars backed by a multi-billion dollar corporation fall flat on their faces.

Will the Nike curse continue and wreck the hopes of Woods, Immelman, Kim, Cassey and the likes at the Open Championship from St Andrews?

---------------------------------------------------

SPEED BUMP

Monty and speed are not an obvious word association.

'Mr Loophole', Nick Freeman, lawyer for the rich and famous, has overturned Monty’s driving license ban and landed the UK tax payer with a nifty legal bill of 30k.

The unfortunate officer did not follow proper proceedure when using his hand held speed gun when clocking Monty’s speeding BMW. The law states that you are only meant to aim at suspected speeding motorists who don’t have enough wonga to call Mr Loophole. Ok, I made that bit up. A fair cop.

However, it is good for the environment that Monty will not be wearing lycra and cycling around the British Isles this summer.
---------------------------------------------------

CLUBHOUSE RULES

 





















If you could design a clubhouse, what would it look like? Here at Golf Refugees we’ve stumbled across a real beauty for our clubhouse.

We didn’t desire any of those concrete / brick combo monstrosities but a charming little clubhouse where you could relax with a pint after an errant shot-littered round.

Designed by Japanese architect Terunobo Fujimori from charred wooden timbers. You enter by climbing a ladder barefoot and squeezing inside.

Naturally no golf shoes or smelly socks allowed in the clubhouse.

---------------------------------------------------

SALUBRIOUS GOLF

Illustration by Christoph Niemann. Words by Brent Blackwelder

What would golf be like in a perfect World?

You'd be playing on an organic course. The maintenance equipment would be charged by solar power. Recycled water would be used for irrigation, and used efficiently and sparingly. There'd be a great variety of wildlife habitats.

This idea that you've got to make everything look like a miniature golf course with a green carpet is crazy. It's the same problem that we see with these lawn fetishists - all the water and chemicals and energy that are used for a lawn that just sits there. So let's get back to the rugged qualities of the game. People ought to read the history of golf.

We've not been very good stewards of the earth as a species. We should be a blessing to the rest of life, not such a curse. The whole idea of living with and appreciating and understanding our surroundings is something we need more of. We have this incredible nature-deficit disorder worldwide. We're sitting all day in front of a computer in an office and not getting out for a walk in the woods.

Golf is a great opportunity to be outdoors. It should be a fun, interesting, great walk out there; a healthful, salubrious experience.

---------------------------------------------------

CROUCH

Lofty England striker Peter Crouch takes a break from footy training pre-World Cup.

When asked by a journalist "what he’d be if he wasn’t a footballer?"

Crouchy replied "a virgin."

-------------------------------------------------

SWEATSHOP FASHION

Hands up who’s got a Nike t-shirt in their wardrobe? I have, though I now use it as a duster. In a recent article Treehugger suggests;

‘Sweatshops are a hidden reality in an increasingly globalised world. It's difficult to know under what conditions your shirt was made, especially when it comes from halfway around the world. Of course, it's important to point out that while many sweatshops are neither owned nor operated by the big companies, it shouldn't excuse them from turning a blind eye to labour or human rights violations or acting accordingly. As clients of such factories, these companies (and we consumers) have the greater power ultimately to pressure for safer and fairer working conditions: by putting your money where your mouth is.’

Treehugger provide a list of fashion brands suspected of using sweatshops and unethical labour practices that need to work harder to clean up their act;

H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, GAP, Wal-mart, Calvin Klien, & our old friends Nike.

Nike

As the juggernaut of designer athletic wear, Nike built its empire on shoes made with cheap foreign labour. Though it seems to have taken some environmentally-sound steps in some of its recent initiatives, it may look like greenwash when considered next to policies that some Nike contractors are implementing. In 2008, for example, an undercover investigation by a British news channel showed that a Malaysian contractor was confiscating migrant workers' passports and forcing them to sign contracts to work off their immigration 'debt' -- in effect, as indentured slaves. And in 2010, former employees in Honduras alleged that Nike still owes 1,700 workers in $2.2 million in severance pay after it closed three factories, two of which had begun to unionise.

-------------------------------------------------

AERO CLUB R&D

Drawing with CAD. Crunching the CFD numbers. Golf Refugees in the wind tunnel
------------------------------------------------