IS TIGER GAY?

Is Tiger gay?

Probably not a question you’re likely to hear.

But why not?

After reading a survey from 300,000 golf club members, there were numerous commentators using the data to support the changing nature of the once elitist golf club membership.

However one piece of data shouted out; 86% of the respondents were male.

Not much change in the gender gap of golf club membership.

But why not?

I did my own little survey and popped into my local golf club and asked the young lads in the pro shop what they thought of the Ladies European Tour.

The consensus was ‘bunch of lesbians’.

I then asked if they’ve ever questioned the sexuality of Tiger, Phil, Luke, Rory.......

And one of them turned to me and asked
‘Are you a queer?’

So there you are. Old habits die hard.

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BEDFELLOWS

I heard a whisper that the R&A and Polo Ralph Lauren are going to jump into bed together.
 

It’s probably just me, but why wear a shirt depicting a ‘guy on horseback' for golf?

Would you play football in a rugby shirt?

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SOLHEIM CUP 2011

Is Catriona Matthew one of the most underrated golfers? 

She doesn’t make much noise, either verbally or visually. Just goes about her business in a very professional and polite manner.

You don’t get to win a major championship after giving birth just a few weeks before without having a great game and mental strength. Even Tiger didn’t achieve that.

Matthew creamed the Pink Panther 6&5 in the top singles match for the victorious European Team at the Solheim Cup.

It was her fifth Solheim Cup singles victory in succession.

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WEED KILLER

New Malton Golf Club in Cambridge is the first all organic golf course. 

Co-owner, Paul Stevenson said "it is strange that golf clubs can spray poison on the green and then a golfer can walk straight on it – it doesn’t seem a sensible approach. All of the Uk’s 1,800 golf clubs have a responsibility towards the health and safety of their members as well as the environment."

The greens at New Malton are treated with a mix of citric acid and sugar instead of weed killer.

And going ‘green’ has had a positive effect on more than just the wildlife, costs have reduced by £50,000 is just one year.

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EYESORE

Here is the first picture of Donald Trump’s proposed clubhouse for his controversial golf course on the Aberdeenshire coast.

A single-storey design made from granite with echoes of Trump’s other Scottish home, a 19th century mansion called MacLeod house, named after his mother. 

The golf course is due to open next summer after a long struggle against locals and environmentalists. We all know that money talks and greased palms are the way of the business world but what about the clubhouse design?

Golf Refugees feel it is a missed opportunity to create a beautiful, innovative building using sustainable materials.

Ironically, Trump is currently appealing against a planning application to build a small wind farm near the golf course, citing that it will destroy the views and act as a local eyesore.

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WEEKEND WINNERS

Congratulations to weekend winners;
Justin Rose (PGA), Great Britain & Ireland Team (Seve Trophy), Melissa Reid (LET) and Lexi Thompson (LPGA).

Winners prize money comparison;

Justin Rose (PGA - $1.4 million dollars)

Lexi Thompson (LPGA - $195,000 US dollars)

Melissa Reid (LET – 52,500 euros or $72,240 US dollars)

The only losers are those who do not play sport.

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SPORTS LIFE STYLE

We like Puma gear, especially from a design perspective.

We also like to know where stuff is made, and if you look inside a pair of Puma shoes you may find they are Made in Cambodia. 

Ten years ago an agreement was made where Cambodian factories were given preferential access to markets in return for guarantees about working conditions. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) would make frequent factory visits to make sure workers were being treated well and paid a minimum wage which equates to $61 US dollars a month. Everyone’s a winner; jobs for Cambodia and cheap manufacturing labour costs for western brands.

Figures released this month state a total of more than 1,500 female workers have been involved in mass fainting incidents so far this year.

The Cambodian Ministry of Labour said a variety of factors were involved, including “insecticides, smoke, high temperatures, stress and manual labour of lifting and storing”.

The Huey Chuen factory, where two of the ‘mass fainting’ incidents occurred, was making shoes for Puma.

The German sportswear brand commissioned an independent investigation and concluded that regulations had been broken. “The breaches of these standards include excessive hours of work as well as multiple occupational health and safety violations,” Puma said in a statement in June.

”At Puma we believe that our position as the creative leader in Sportslifestyle gives us the opportunity and responsibility to contribute to a better world for the generations to come.”

Next time you’re running or playing golf in a pair of Puma shoes spare a little thought for the Cambodian worker.

Your nice new shiny Puma trainers are probably being made by a young female worker enduring excessive hours, inhaling smoke and insecticides in a poorly ventilated factory where passing out is a an occupational hazard.

Sweatshop labour? You decide.

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LOCAL TALENT

London is warming up nicely for next years Olympics.

Nicole Scherzinger, ex-Pussycat Doll, has just popped over and opened the £1.4 billion Westfield shopping centre in east London. Europe’s largest urban shopping mall and gateway to the Olympic park.

Yes, we’ve had some riots and our last couple of summers have been on the chilly side. But we have Lord Coe and Boris. What could possibly go wrong?

Our thoughts turn to golf’s inclusion at the next 2016 Olympics won by the city of Ro De Janeiro. One of the big questions is who should design the Olympic golf course?

A few hats have already been thrown into the ring; Greg Norman, Arnold Palmer, Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Nick Faldo.

Sir Nick, to his friends, has come up with an idea to select eighteen past champions to each design a single hole.

Golf Refugees idea would be to use local talent.

Please select a Brazilian architect and course designer(s) to build the Olympic golf course in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazilians look great and tourists just look like, well, tourists. I’m sure the locals will design a great looking golf course.

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WALKER CUP 2011

Our boys took one hell of a beating. Not from the fancied US amateur team but from gale force winds lashing down the Royal Aberdeen links course. 

Star players for the victorious GB & Ireland team were Welsh lad Rhys Pugh and unbeaten Irish starlet Paul Cutler.

Also on top form were ‘the voice of golf’ Peter Alliss and the BBC’s extensive terrestrial coverage.

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WONDER WOMAN

To my left the original Wonder Woman played by US actor Lynda Carter in the hit 70’s TV series.
And to my right Melissa Reid, will she be the Europeans wonder woman at this months Solheim Cup?

That reminds me I must nip down to Marks & Spencer and get myself some new undies and a string vest.

Pic: Golf Punk

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AUDREY HEPBURN

Tops are getting tighter and shorts are becoming shorter. 

Do today's lady tour players need to look back at fashion icons such as Audrey Hepburn to discover their own golf style?

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READ IT AND WEEP

Golf Refugees recently took the opportunity to sample the new pro shop at Woburn Golf & Country Club, part of their multimillion pound clubhouse re-fit.

Delving deeper into the apparel labels we came across a ‘100% British’ claim for a pair of IJP’s tartan pants.

They say the devil's in the detail and there in the small print were the words ‘Made in Morocco’.

How can you claim a garment is 100% British when it’s made in Morocco?

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NEW BALLS PLEASE

What’s the future for golf balls?

More rules to curtail performance? More layers?
 

Well one thing's for sure, each one of these NON-biodegradable gems of engineering will be with us for next 100 – 1,000 years. Whether they are being played with or not.

Not a great legacy for the game of golf.

With a little directive from the governing bodies of golf and by utilising the huge depth of the world's talented material scientists and engineers, the next generation of performance golf balls, fit for the 21st Century, could be developed.

Wouldn’t you all like to see a Pro B1 golf ball? B for ‘Bio’.

Golf Refugees intend to develop a biodegradable ‘performance’ golf ball.
 

We have already identified a suitable bio material for the core and are relatively confident it will perform well compared to its ‘longer lasting’ siblings. The cover material is a different matter, though we are hoping to find a good solution. A local University will be using Finite Element Analysis software to provide comparative performance data.

What’s the point in the golf industry continuing to produce millions of toxic golf balls?

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SENIOR MOMENT

Whilst wondering around last weekend at the European Senior Tour, we started to think of potential sponsors for future events.
How about The Werther’s Original Masters, Stannah Stairlift Open or The Steradent Cup?

The car parks were chocker, full to the brim.

We followed Sam Torrance and Barry Lane, who both smoked their way through the pine-tree-lined fairways. Luckily it was a bit damp on the final day, otherwise it could have turned into a mass cremation.

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ONE LEG TOO FEW

‘One leg too few’ is the famous comedy sketch by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.With Cooke as the casting agent who interviews Moore as a one-legged man auditioning for the role of Tarzan.

None of us know what lies ahead. I can imagine if I lost a leg that my days of playing competitive sport would be over and I would just mope about feeling sorry for myself.

But then there are people like double amputee Oscar Pistorius who made history this week by reaching the men’s 400m semi final at the World Athletic Championships.

Pictured here is Swedish golfer Caroline Larsson who played at the Pre-Qualifying School for the Ladies European Tour.

Fellow professional golfer Carin Koch said “She’s unbelievable; she hits it so good. She’s such a great person and very inspiring, positive and just a lot of fun. She doesn’t say anything bad about what has happened to her; she just takes all the positives and tries to do everything as good as she can with a new situation in her life and it’s just very inspiring.”

A one-legged Tarzan. Why not?

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JAMES GARNER

You normally associate beach golf with bikini clad girls, but here we have the equally dashing US Film & TV star James Garner. 

I remember Garner from the excellent 70’s TV show ‘The Rockford Files’, where James plays an ex-con-turned-private-investigator called Jim Rockford. Though my eyes were usually focused on his hot lawyer friend Beth Davenport.

Apparently Garner took up golf in the late 50’s to try and beat his elder brother Jack, a retired golf pro. "Took me about 30 years" said James.

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