CAPTAIN MONTY IN KABUL

Picture shows Monty in jeans giving golf lessons to local Afghan soldiers.

With western troops slowly moving from a combat role to training local Afghan soldiers, who better to send in than Captain Monty?

Just in case they run out of bullets, with Monty’s help they can always spray some Pro V1’s at the Taliban.

Monty has also set-up some target practice, utilising the football pitch at the International Security Assistance Forces HQ. Where hitting the goal posts earn you your stripes.

"These kids, they were born into war and grew up in war and it's been a very difficult," said Monty, adding he hoped that the Afghans might even qualify a golf team for the 2016 Olympics.

There are plenty of bunkers to practice in.
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TAINTED UNTIL 2020

When you next read a review of a golf shirt made by one of the big sports brands; Nike, Adidas, Puma, please put the following disclaimer underneath:

We really didn’t want our consumers to know about all the hazardous chemicals we use in our supply chains, including the banned nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE's), which cause hormonal disruptions. But now that research from Greenpeace has ‘let the cat out the bag’, we have reluctantly agreed to announce a commitment to act together to try and ‘detox’ our hazardous chemical usage by 2020. Obviously we still want our customers to purchase our chemically tainted shirts until that time or when Greenpeace give us a clean bill of health.

Adidas spokeswoman said “We have been clear with Greenpeace from the beginning and have always said we need an industry-wide solution in order to succeed – there can be no winners unless the industry acts together.”

What is alarming to me about this statement from Adidas is that they could not see the benefit of unilateral action for it’s own customer's and textile-worker's safety.

The effects of NPE’s can be seen over the long term; these compounds don’t kill you dead on the spot, they have very subtle, long term effects and they can act in very small concentrations.

NPE’s can disrupt the body’s hormonal system by mimicking the female hormone oestrogen. And high oestrogen levels have been linked to birth defects, learning disabilities even some forms of cancer.

These chemicals are toxic, they aren’t biodegradable and they can cause all sorts of problems.

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AWOL CARLOS TEVEZ

So here we have a recent picture of a joyous Carlos Tevez playinggolf back home in Argentina when he should be making up with Mancini and his team mates back in sunny Manchester.

But this picture also got me thinking about the strong links between football (soccer) and golf.

You only have to watch ‘Match of the Day’, a BBC programme which screens highlights of weekend matches, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Hansen and Lee Dixon (all ex-footballers and all single digit handicap golfers). 

Why do so many footballers play golf?

Is it because they have time on their hands during the week, before and after training? Or is it because they earn so much money and can afford to play at the most exclusive golf & country clubs?

Are there any physical and/or mental similarities between kicking a football and striking a golf ball? I guess balance is integral to playing most sports.

I should declare that I am a Manchester City supporter.
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MADE IN ENGLAND

Message to George Osborne (Chancellor of the Exchequer) and Mervin King (Governor of the Bank of England).

In the New Year, instead of pumping an extra 50 billion pounds of Quantitative Easing (QE) into the economy to further help the balance sheets of our banks. Can you please divert this money into UK manufacturing?

The banks have already been bailed out for hundreds of billions. It really is time to re-balance the UK economy.

I’m sick and tired of hearing about credit default swaps and other financial services products. Most of them have either been miss-sold or are nothing short of going into a casino and placing a large bet.

When 30% of your economy is based upon this ‘busted flush’ scenario it’s time to think again.

I can recall when Margaret Thatcher was calling for the closure of uneconomic pits and steel works. I bet she never thought that thirty years later it would all be about bankrupt private banks.

Let’s bring back ‘Made in England.’

Golf Refugees have recently started a research project looking into biodegradable materials for golf balls. Numerous other SME’s (Small Medium Enterprises) are all trying to undertake research into sustainable materials for future products.

There is going to be a revolution, a design and manufacturing revolution, where future products will have to be designed with a ‘cradle to grave’ philosophy.

Let’s hope George can resist the lure of the banker's den and give a little to UK manufacturing in his autumn statement.
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QUESTION TIME

If you are looking to purchase a new golf club, golf ball or golf shirt.

What questions should you be asking?

How about these?

What materials are used to make the product?
Where are the materials sourced from?
Where is the product made?
Do the brand's manufacturing facilities meet environmental standards of the brand's native country?
Do they pay a living wage and allow union representation for the people who make their products?
What happens to the product at the end of its life cycle? Are the materials recycled to make other products? Are they biodegradable?

The above assumes you can see the price tag and appreciate that professional golfers are paid to endorse particular brands.

Feel free to copy and paste these questions and send them to your favourite golf brand(s).
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THE FUTURE

All brands, big and small, have to ask themselves how their products are made, what materials they use and what happens at the end of their product's life?

It is no longer good enough to ignore these questions, leaving a pollution legacy for others to bury in landfill sites, whether they are in your own backyard or in many cases transported to someone else's back yard.

Future products designed without such consideration are just rubbish and offer us no future.

For us golfers, golf balls need to be biodegradable. It is not sustainable to leave 350 million golf balls a year in the USA alone, to rot over a period between 100–1,000 years.

Golf apparel needs to made from materials which are recycled and or compostable.

All golf courses need to have compost toilets and minimal water, pesticide and fertiliser usage. Personally I cannot understand any refurbishment or new golf course development which does not embrace these practical measures.

Praise should not be heaped upon new courses which offer no sustainable solutions. No matter which ex-professional golfer or billionaire businessman is behind them. They are just a pollution eyesore.

Governing bodies need to show some backbone and insist upon sustainable measures for future golf equipment and natural golf courses.

Why did the R&A set up a separate, poorly funded body called the Golf Environment Organisation? To keep green issues at arms length? They should be fully integrated into the R&A’s mentality.

I am confident that some brands already believe, and will deliver by producing their future products with a ‘cradle to cradle’ design philosophy.

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WILD THING

The golf swing is often described as a double pendulum.

Artists So Kanno and Takahiro Yamaguchi have created a ‘senseless drawing’ graffiti machine with a pendulum arm and spray cans.

I think I can see John Daly's swing.
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