TEAR UP THE RULE BOOK

If you visit an automotive show, brands show off their latest models but also their concept cars, which provide you with an idea of what their designers are thinking about for the future. Why doesn't this happen at golf shows?

Golf manufacturers should let their designers and engineers ‘tear up the rule book’ and provide us with a glimpse of what we should be using to make golf more fun and easier for recreational / amateur golfers.
Better still; let's have a one-ff tournament which allows these concept clubs and balls to be played with.

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CLIMATE PICTURE

New research from universities in the US, Australia and the UK has tested how different pictures make people feel about whether climate change is important, and whether they can do something about it.

They mostly split into three categories: pictures of climate impacts, energy futures - meaning new energy sources like solar panels - and pictures of celebrities and politicians.

Images of climate impacts made people feel like climate change is important, but they also made them feel like there's not much they can do to stop it.

The researchers found that pictures of energy futures - including solar panels and energy efficiency measures - were most likely to make people feel like they could do something about climate change, because they represented ways people could act by themselves.

Look at this example of successfully deployed renewable technology. How's your efficacy doing?

Images of celebrities and politicians - like Richard Branson, and Al Gore - "made participants in this study feel quite strongly that climate change was unimportant".
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HIGHLY UNLIKELY

Will all the major golf tours; PGA, LPGA, European Tour, LET and Asian Tour advise there players to wear a natural-fibre garment underneath their sponsored synthetic moisture-wicking, anti-bacterial shirt to act as a barrier between their skin and toxic chemicals used to make polyester / nylon sports apparel? As recommended by the European consumer organisation who tested and extracted toxic chemicals from sweat solutions via synthetic sports shirts last summer, 2012.
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SPIRAL BALL SLEEVE ARTWORK BY MXVGOLF

Our friends across the pond at MXVGOLF have designed a sleeve for our new 2013 Spiral Golf Ball.
We like it, how about you?
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MXVGOLF PUTTER

MXVGOLF REVEALS THE NEW MXV1 PUTTER AT THE PGA MERCHANDISE SHOW 

Center Strike Technology™ with unique round face design offers truer roll

BROOKFIELD, CT -- MxVGolf announces its new MxV1 Putter. It will debut at January 23, 2013 at the 60th PGA Demo Day Orange County National Golf Center & Lodge in Orlando and January 24-26 at the PGA Merchandise Show, Booth #921, at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL

The patent pending MXV1 putter conforms with The Rules of Golf for both the USGA and R&A, allowing it to be played in all professional tournaments throughout the world.

The MxV1 Putter is based on the principals of Newton’s Cradle and its example of momentum (mass x velocity or MxV). “Through its development we discovered that the same concept (of the Cradle) applied to our club by advancing a truer roll and a more  accurate strike towards the center of gravity, our as we call it, Center Strike Technology™” said Brian Wittman, inventor of the MxV1.

“Our heavyweight (420 grams) MxV1 is at the crossroads of evolution and revolution. There is simply no other viable putter on the market today that approaches the center of gravity the way we do.  By essentially striking a ball with another ball, you almost can’t miss the center of gravity. The radius of our putter face is the same as a standard US Golf Ball (1.68 inches) and even with a minor tolerance we have found more accurate strikes and optimal roll, time after time... not to mention its quite a head turner on the green.” 

Each MxV1 Putter is precision engineered in stainless steel with a black carbon matte PVD finish. The putter features a ball alignment marking in orange and white on the leading edge of the club face radius and a cut out ball profile on the back edge. The back edge profile can also be used to lift the ball off the green.

A tapered steel shaft is mounted in the center of the putter head and features the Argyle Comfort™, mid-sized pistol grip, promoting a controlled confident stroke that produces an improved alignment and truer roll.

A custom leather head cover is included and features a magnetic closure, a soft plush interior and full embroidered logo graphics.

The MxV1 Putter is available in right hand and left hand shaft configurations with a standard lie of 70 degrees (custom lies available) and can be pre-ordered now for delivery after the PGA Show in January. Available from select pro shops and MxVGolf’s website with a retail price of $199.  For more information on the MxV1 putter, please visit www.mxvgolf.com.
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30,000 REASONS

Many of you will have read Rory gets paid £30,000 a day to endorse Nike Golf gear. Good for Rory and Nike.

That’s 30,000 reasons for Rory to turn a blind-eye to the less than ‘living wage’ Nike pays its contracted factory textile workers, who are predominately young women.

And 30,000 reasons to ignore Nike contracted factories who wash away their dye-coloured water into local rivers causing wide spread pollution.
 
But what reason do you have?

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HOW IS YOURS MADE?

Made in a factory which generates its electricity solely from ‘cleaner’ renewable energy; wind and solar power rather than ‘dirty’ coal fired power stations?

Made in a factory which recycles its dye-coloured water rather than washing it away into local rivers causing widespread pollution?
 
Making something is difficult. Can you be proud of how your golf shirts are made?
 
Tour pros please get in touch if you would like to wear the only ethically made, organic, carbon neutral golf apparel.
 
http://www.facebook.com/golfrefugeespage
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TO ALL GOLF PROS

Please read and discuss:

Sports apparel facts.

You need chemical factories to make the ingredients for synthetic sportswear and some of those ingredients are highly toxic heavy metals and chemicals.

When you read functional descriptions such as; anti-microbial, anti-odour, anti-static, moisture-wicking and easy care these are mainly chemically based.

It is chemical upon chemical upon chemical etc.

Your skin interacts with these chemicals via sweating.

European consumer organisation (BEUC) tested synthetic sports shirts last summer, 2012, and extracted toxic heavy metals and chemicals through a simulated sweat solution.

BEUC recommends you wear a natural fibre t-shirt next to your skin to act as a barrier between your skin and potentially harmful chemicals contained in synthetic; polyester/nylon moisture-wicking sports apparel.

BEUC acknowledged their testing procedure in the future should include toxicity of chemical combinations rather than just focus on individual substances.

Golf Refugees forwarded the BEUC sports apparel testing report conclusions to the European Tour, asking them to advise their members accordingly. The European Tour failed to respond to Golf Refugees request.

If you are a golf pro, do you know what you are actually wearing? If not, ask your apparel brand. Apparel brands have access to Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), supplied by chemical companies. This lists all the chemicals used in textile finishes and describes their inherent risks.

It makes you wonder why sports clothing brands do not make this information available to their sponsored golf pros and consumers.

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NIKKI DISANTO

With snow on the ground in the UK, here's a summer pic of the multi-talented Nikki DiSanto wearing Golf Refugees Maurice Flitcroft ladies T in the San Diego sunshine.
 
http://www.golf-refugees.com/maurice.htm
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SEVE AND MAURICE FLITCROFT

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A GREAT GOLFING HERO?

Who is your golfing hero?

Arnold, Nicklaus, Hogan, Tiger, Rory? It makes perfect sense to have one of the world's best players as your hero.

Golf Refugees' golfing hero is Maurice Flitcroft (you can see our 'Maurice' organic t-shirt being modeled here by Mariangela).

He wasn't one of the world’s best golfers, in fact he couldn't really play at all, but he still achieved something remarkable. You could describe him as one of those Great British sporting underdogs.

Golf was his chosen sport, he practiced on his local beach in Barrow-in-Furness and dreamed of playing in the British Open.

But he wasn't a member of any golf club, and hence had no official handicap, which meant he couldn't enter Open qualifying as an amateur.

So he decided to enter as a pro.

On that infamous day, what little talent he possessed deserted him and he recorded the highest score in Open qualifying history, 49 shots over par.

The governing body of golf, the R&A, looked upon this as an embarrassment and decided to ban Maurice for life, as only small-minded-rules-officionados can do.

But this spiteful reaction by the R&A did not deter Maurice, and he continued to pursue his golfing dream by entering the Open time and time again under various disguises and pseudonyms.

A great golfing hero in our eyes.
 
http://www.golf-refugees.com/video_maurice.htm -------------------------------------------------------

THE ORIGINAL

Many of you across the pond may believe that Nike launched the first black golf ball.
 
But you would be wrong. Golf Refugees created the original black golf ball, featured in GQ USA magazine, several years before the Nike rip-off.
 
http://www.golf-refugees.com/balls.htm
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JUST DO IT

The words are spoken by Lance Armstrong in a TV advert for Nike.
“Everybody wants to know what I am on. What I am on? I’m on my bike busting my ass six hours a day. What are you on?”
Nike put together the commercial after Armstrong was accused of using drugs to win the Tour de France.
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MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Have those brilliant marketing peeps at Nike missed a global branding opportunity by not putting a swoosh on face masks?

Could their contracted golfers wear face masks, as part of their head to toe apparel deals, when playing golf tournaments in countries such as China with high levels of pollution caused by burning fossil fuels to make goods for western brands.
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TROPHYLESS

Styling by Mariangela

For golfers yet to win a trophy.
http://www.golf-refugees.com/trophy.htm
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THE REAL NIKE STORY

Should this be the ‘real’ Nike story today?
Nike supply chain factories in Indonesia formally submit requests to be exempt from paying the new 'higher' minimum wage to its predominantly young female textile workers.
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DEAR RORY MCILROY PART 2

Apart from ‘loads of money’, what else should Rory ask from Nike?
How about ‘remove all lead from my Nike golf apparel’?
Why, well ‘Lead’ is highly toxic element that does great damage to human health.
It’s bizarre that lead has been banned from petrol and paints but is still used in sports apparel.
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SISTER BY SIBLING

Would you like to see Paula Creamer wear this on tour in 2013?
Designers Sister by Sibling's take on a classic polo shirt.
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DOZEN BOX TOP DESIGN - SPIRAL BALL

The most visible ball in golf. Why play with a plain golf ball?
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DEAR RORY MCILROY

Dear Rory,

Have you asked Nike which chemicals are in your new synthetic golf clothing?

We've made a check list to help you:

• Alkylphenolethoxylates (APEOs)
• Pentachlorophenols (PCP)
• Toluene and other aromatic amines
• Dichloromethane (DCM)
• Formaldehyde
• Phthalates
• Polybrominated diphenyl ethers ( PBDE’s)
• Perfluorooctane sulfonates (PFOS)
• Heavy metals – copper, cadmium, lead, antimony, mercury among others

If you are a bit squeamish don’t read the next bit.

The chemicals used in branded clothing to create the desired effects; antimicrobial agents, binders, UV stabilizers, include chemicals which have been proven to be toxic, or to cause cancers or genetic mutations in mammals.

Don’t forget you can always wear organic fabrics.
All the best for 2013.
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CUSTOM CAR

One of our first drawings 'custom car'.
I guess we could have called it 'custom cart' or 'custom buggy'.
http://www.golf-refugees.com/custom%20car.htm
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DO YOU WEAR SOOTY CLOTHING?

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LOVE THE WAY IT'S MADE

Just for a moment imagine you are a designer for a new range of shirts for golf professionals and amateurs. You will have to make a number of challenging decisions that will test your moral and business judgement.

Do you use petroleum derived synthetic fabrics or natural fabrics?

Do you use additional chemical finishers? After reading ‘material safety data sheets’ (MSDS) you appreciate some of these chemicals are skin irritants and even carcinogenic. After further research you understand there is currently no regulatory toxicity tests on any combination of chemicals used to make sports apparel.

On the positive side these chemical finishers make synthetic fabrics such as polyester and nylon moisture-wicking. They can also be used to enhance anti-bacterial and stain removal properties.

Do you pay your textile workers, predominantly young women, the absolute minimum as stated by local jurisdiction or a living wage?

Do you use a factory which generates its electricity from coal fired power stations or ‘cleaner’ renewable energy such as wind and solar power?

Do you use a factory which recycles its dye-coloured water or one that washes it away into local rivers causing widespread pollution?

Do you tell your customers which chemicals you use and how your sports apparel is made?
Making something is difficult. Can you be proud of how your golf shirts are made?

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ONE POUND ONE SLEEVE

Though there is a catch.

It costs the same to post one sleeve within the UK, as it does four sleeves, thanks to Royal Mail’s pricing policy.
UK offer only, minimum order of four sleeves. One pound per sleeve of three 'graffiti' graphic golf balls excludes delivery.
E-mail your orders to;

refugees@btinternet.com
http://www.golf-refugees.com/balls.htm
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POWER TABLE

Which energy resources do golf brands choose to make their apparel?

Low carbon ‘clean’ wind & solar power

Golf Refugees

High carbon ‘dirty’ coal fired power stations

Nike, Adidas, Puma, Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste, Oakley, Lyle & Scott

Hugo Boss, Polo Ralph Lauren, Under Armour, Galvin Green and

many more.

Coal plants are the most polluting of all power stations.
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THIS YEARS MODEL

Please let us know your favourites; 1,2,3,4,5 or 6.
Ethically made, carbon reduced golf apparel, manufactured solely from wind and solar power.
http://www.facebook.com/golfrefugeespage
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JANUARY SALES

50% off selected items. Here we go with our logo t-shirt ‘a square peg in a round hole’

Now you probably already have a few t-shirts, so what makes this one a little bit special? Well it is ethically made, which means the textile workers are paid a ‘living wage’.

All of the power generated for the factory is derived from renewable energy; wind and solar power. This allows Golf Refugees to use 'carbon reduction' label for its ethically made organic cotton t-shirts. Organic cotton is very different to conventionally grown cotton which uses synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. The factory also cleans and recycles 90% of its water. Other leading sportswear brands decide to use a much cheaper option by flushing away their dye-coloured water into local rivers causing widespread pollution.

To summarise it may look like all your other t-shirts but it’s not. It’s made with ‘care’. Care for the textile workers and care for the environment. You could describe them as hidden values.

Available in moss green and dark grey, men's sizes S, L, & XL for just £6.99 / 8 euros / 10 dollars excluding P&P. Just e-mail us your order stating 'January sales' to; refugees@btinternet.com

http://www.facebook.com/golfrefugeespage
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