For the first time since starting out of the Ladies European Tour, Russia's Maria Verchenova has finished top of the leaderboard, signing for a 67 at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco. “How did she do it?” I hear you cry...perhaps the key to her success is in what she’s been doing when not playing golf at all...
Over the winter months, the Russian hasn’t huddled from the cold like us mortals; she’s being out running six days a week and even lifting weights to stay in shape! “I was keeping myself fit through the whole winter and going to the gym and preparing to play so I felt I was going to be pretty close” she explained, as if it was no particularly big deal. I’ll be honest; I never considered running half a dozen times a week would help my golf...maybe I was wrong!
As if a strict winter fitness routine wasn’t enough, Verchenova also found time to design her own range of golf clothing! Apparently the range is inspired by women’s tennis...so it should be interesting to see how it goes down on the golf course! She says her golf clothes “will come out really soon in about two months or so and it's going to be really young and fashionable and bright colours for really young girls... Hopefully the first year I will just wear it and show it and the next year we will try to sell it.”
I think it’s safe to say we‘re all looking forward to seeing what she has in store.
Bearing in mind the millions spent on developing sports equipment worldwide, golf clothes really haven't come on as quickly as they probably should have been. When it comes to clubs and golf shoes, the choice is vast; they cater for everybody; no matter what your size, shape or ability, there are clubs designed to improve your game. Of course, none of this matters if you can't swing the damn things because you're too tied up in layers of golf clothes, keeping out the rain!
Well, no longer does this need to impact your game for finally technology has caught up with golf clothes! The result is this - layering techniques. The idea is that, instead of big, heavy clothing in cold or wet weather, you should combine various clever items of clothing; achieving better results without any negative impact on your performance.
To be honest, I'm going to stick with my old jacket... The way I see it, golf costs me enough money as it is, without having to invest in half a dozen layers of high-tech insulation clothing! Bring back the wooly hats!
In the 9 months he has been the most powerful man in the world, Barack Obama has played 24 rounds of golf. That’s not every single week, but it still sounds like the life, doesn’t it? I mean, I always thought being president of the USA would be quite an intense, almost overwhelming job…but apparently he has more spare time than any teacher you’ll find in this country. Not only does this seem slightly unfair, but apparently the president isn’t even required to wear golf clothes during his round, as the following picture shows:
Ah yes – that was a joke, did you see? Anyway, the strangest part about this little statistic is that Mr. Obama apparently rarely played golf at all before earning his seat in the Oval Office! It’s as if this move in presidency has finally given him the personal space he really needs to relax and take some Me Time. Whilst fighting a war in Iraq. Still, he’s not the first American president to love our fine sport; in fact, only a single one of the last 18 presidents of the USA wasn’t a golf player - Jimmy Carter, in case you’re interested. Our prime ministers, on the other hand, never seem to take much of an interest. Must be too busy running a country or something, who knows…
Attendants at the funeral of Stuart Hutchison, a 22 year old golf pro who died in a car crash last Wednesday, will not be wearing the traditional black attire this Friday. Instead, at his family’s request, people will attend the funeral “dressed for the final round” in golf clothes, as a tribute to their friend’s love of golf. “Stuart was always in golf clothes”, his mother Isobel explained, “we wanted people to come dressed for golf because it’s Stuart’s final round.”
Stuart Hutchison was a keen golfer from childhood; capable of playing at only three years of age, according to his mother. Although always talented, Stuart set his mind to becoming a professional and, with the help of Stuart Pardoe, he managed to achieve the required standard before the tragic accident occurred. Unlike many modern players, Isobel went on to explain, it was never Stuart’s ambition to play the circuit; “he really just wanted to be a golf club pro and play”.
This event is a terrible tragedy, but perhaps it might encourage others to think about why they play the game – is it really for the passion?
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