Golf Digest: Sinks To a New Low....

 

For loyal viewers of my blog you all know how much I detest women who are involved with golf because of a boyfriend, fiancé, husband or family member who is part of the PGA and LPGA that have no respect for the game and the etiquette behind our dress code.  So when I was informed last week that one of my number one targets that I like to comment on is in fact on the cover of Golf Digest for this month’s issue in of course not appropriate golf clothing I was fuming…well that might be an understatement.   

Having said that I thought maybe I am jumping the gun and its fine because its their so called “fit issue.”  Then I get an e-mail from one of my members about a the “Globe and Mail” article on this very topic and think to myself this deserves some discussion on my blog. We all know sex sells however I never thought that Golf Digest was so desperate for revenue that they would stoop to this level and put a model on the cover who is not known of having any great golf talents just because she’s the fiancé of Dustin Johnson.   

So my first problem is the fact that she’s not even a talented golfer gracing the cover of Golf Digest.  Second problem is that she is portrayed as a sex object with that pose that has nothing to do with “fitness.”  It is degrading against women who have fought so hard to be seen as equals in the golf industry and in life.  I reviewed the article online and was even more upset at the lack of interview about anything important from Paulina.

Stacy Lewis, who has been featured on my blog from time to time who has won two major titles, has also never appeared on the cover of Golf Digest. Last year she was briefly No. 1 in the world on her way to winning the Vare Trophy for the tour’s lowest scoring average.

Asked for her reaction to the magazine’s cover choice, Lewis said: “It’s frustrating for female golfers. It’s kind of the state of where we’ve always been. We don’t get respect for being the golfers that we are. Obviously, Golf Digest is trying to sell magazines. But at the same time you’d like to see a little respect for the women’s game.”

Also from the article:

“Besides Gretzky, the only woman to be given sole billing on the cover without having won a pro or major amateur event is Golf Channel personality Holly Sonders, in May 2013. (Nicklaus’ wife, Barbara, appeared on the March 1975 cover with her husband’s instructor, Jack Grout.) Model Kate Upton posed alongside Arnold Palmer in December’s issue.”

According to the Times, only 11 women since 1969 have appeared alone on the cover of Golf Digest. One of those women, Juli Inkster, also vented her frustration with the magazine.

“It’s frustrating because it’s Golf Digest; it’s not Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue,” Inkster said, adding: “I think they should maybe recognize some of the great women golfers that we have. It’s like, What do you have to do to get a little respect? I’m guaranteeing you right now, it was not a woman editor who chose that cover.”

Inkster said: “OK, so I think next month the cover should be Paula Creamer’s fiancé, who’s a fighter pilot, or Brittany Lincicome’s hot boyfriend, who’s a long-drive hitter. Put one of them on there.”

Having a fitness issue is so important.  However when Paulina was asked about the poses for the day she said: “Those were hard! I had to hold those poses in the beaming sun for several seconds, all while trying to look pretty. And I was pretty sore the next morning.”  Several seconds and she has the audacity to complain.  No person that is gracing the cover of a magazine where the focus is fitness should complain about holding a pose for several seconds.  Obviously she does not practice yoga on a regular basis.

This issue of the Golf Digest is a joke.  It used to mean something when you got to grace the cover of Golf Digest that you had fulfilled a dream of being a champion in some sense.  Now they have taken that away from past people who have been on the cover.