People who dislike exclusivity based on discrimination against gender, race, faith, sexuality or political hue are termed ‘reasonable people’. That such xenophobia seems anachronistic in the developed world in the 21st century is a reasonable enough stance. Wimmin like to shame bastions of maleness in an often aggressive manner, and the voice of what the…
Tag: golf
Golf, Hobby Horse, Political
Coloured by Barbarism
by Dominic O'Byrne •
When a fundamentally good and decent man is publicly savaged in an England that one used to associate with words like tolerance, understanding, courage and fair play, you have to question how long before that society begins devolving into paranoid and aggressive tribalism <a ref="When a fundamentally good and decent man is publicly savaged in…
Business, Golf
Is the R&A Anchored in Reality?
by Dominic O'Byrne •
I’ve been known to miss a putt or two but I’m missing this R&A / USGA anchoring issue by a mile. And there’s a bloody great hole involved here too… likely in the reasoning behind wanting to push for the ban on anchoring. Golf’s ruling bodies risk becoming a laughing stock over the issue of…
Business
Sir Alex Ferguson and Des Tutu
by Dominic O'Byrne •
You would have been proud of me, Dear Reader. My left brain was kvetching and boiling with guilt about not posting the minimum recommended once weekly blog, right brain countered that followers already deluged with blogs, tweets and e-nuggets of questionable import had earned time out. So I posted nothing. I scoured the golf news…
Business, Golf
Golf Lessons for the Hard-of-Thinking
by Dominic O'Byrne •
Thirteen years in the golf industry and I never encountered James McCormick. Along the way, I did indeed meet crackpot inventors, gullible fools, hopeful dreamers, nasty bastards and outright charlatans among a lot of thoroughly decent and gifted people. McCormick is in a league of his own, though… Golf Equipment makes a lot of money,…
Business
TaylorMade Adidas Buying Adams Golf is No Joke
by Dominic O'Byrne •
There is an old joke that goes, “Did you hear about the Dachshund that killed the Pit Bull Terrier…? it got stuck in the Pit Bull’s throat and choked it.” So cavernous is the maw of TaylorMade Adidas (TMAG) Adams Golf would barely have touched the sides as it went down, and Yes! Golf even…
Business, Golf
Golf Europe 2012 in Augsburg is an offer you can’t refuse, say new owners
by Dominic O'Byrne •
Although late in coming, some helpful further information from the new owners of Golf Europe throws some new light on the proposed 2012 trade fair and future events… In the light of dwindling attendance figures from 2002 until 2010, by the time of the show’s last appearance at MesseStadt (the monster venue at the end…
Golf
McIlroy Quits ISM – the reverse perspective
by Dominic O'Byrne •
Chubby Chandler is respected for – among other reasons – having paid his dues. Retiring from the professional game in 1989 he gambled in true Frontier style with a 10 grand overdraft on setting himself up in sports player management. Hats off to him… balls of steel… all of that. Our paths cross once or…
Business
A European Golf Trade Event… Write-off or The Right Stuff?
by Dominic O'Byrne •
In May this year, Messe Munich announced the ‘postponement’ of Golf Europe 2011. While it’s true that we all have seen a decline in exhibitor and visitor numbers year on year since 2002, a good many businesses regretted the lack of an event this year; dwindling numbers aside, the event still represented the best opportunity…
Golf
Not Sure About Solheim Competitiveness
by Dominic O'Byrne •
Golf fans hoping for a glimpse of the genteel side of professional golf will likely be disappointed with a Solheim Cup spectacle, writes John Huggan in The Scotsman ( bit.ly/ocm6Yf 18 December 2011). The reported bad behaviour of previous US players Beth Daniel, Dottie Pepper and Christina Kim would never be tolerated by a lady captain’s…