"Damn it, people, this is golf!"

Daily Telegraph: Sex slices golf readers

Sex sells, they say, but not when it comes to golf. There is a happy morality tale in the story of the magazine, Golf Course News International, which decided to revamp itself with, well, vamps.

From sober pictures of nicely manicured greens and sedate views of bunkers, it suddenly went in for semi-clad women and a cleavage on fire on its front cover.

Far from wooing a new audience of swingers (and we don't mean of a nine-iron), the move horribly backfired.

Sponsors withdrew, readers complained, circulation was threatened and now the magazine has reverted back to its usual, more sober, much safer, state.

They do say that men can only do one thing at a time and clearly the greatest of them all — never mind the propagation of the species — is golf.

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The first new issue set the tone with a front cover depicting a blonde model in a black bikini top with a flaming golf ball disappearing down her cleavage. The justifying headline was: Women And Golf, The Burning Issue.

The edition also had a "world exclusive" on doctors prescribing more sex as an aid for playing better golf. But its most eye-catching feature was The Hunt For The Birdie Bucks. This was a piece on the female golfers most likely to be courted by marketing men - for their looks as much as their ability.

Italian professional Sophie Sandolo - known in her native country as "La Bod Bella" (Look here. - F.G.) - was captured posing on a green in a revealing string dress while Australian Carlie Butler was photographed in a tight, red glittery top.

Issue two opened with an article on "shaft king" Jim Davey, who runs a custom golf club fitting company, and an advert for a ball-washing machine, illustrated by a naked model squeezing a bar of soap. A spot-the-difference competition asked readers to identify 10 changes in a picture of a bikini-clad model against the background of a golf course.

The revamped magazine has not gone down well in traditional golfing circles, with the St Andrews Links Trust saying it was unlikely to display it at its practice ground any longer.

"It has caused a bit of stir and I can't see that the advertisers are going to like that sort of thing," said a spokesman. "A lot of magazines seem to have gone down this route but I don't think it works in golf."

At Turnberry, the Ayrshire course that has just got back on the Open Championship rota, golf course director George Brown said he thought he was flicking through Playboy magazine. "At first I didn't recognise it as GCNI and the further I got into it the more I realised it was not portraying our industry in the right way," he said. "It didn't do much for me and I have a crew of 30 young, healthy - if you know what I mean - greenkeepers working for me and I don't think it did anything for them either."

Calum Todd, one of Scotland's leading golf course architects, said he no longer subscribed to the magazine for which he used to contribute articles.
"When it changed I withdrew my name from it because I didn't want to be associated with this trash. It was a well-respected trade publication and a great forum for debate within the industry and among course architects. Now it's like a soft-porn magazine and I and many of my colleagues want nothing to do with it."

The British and International Golf Greenkeepers' Association, which represents the profession, said the magazine had "misread" its market.

"Greenkeeping is a now a serious profession and they are very qualified people so a lot of them feel that the way in which this publication is written is very insulting," said spokesman Scott MacCallum. "I have heard nothing but derogatory comments."

Letters in issue two confirmed that two major advertisers had withdrawn their business.

Issue three, out this month, has been toned down, but the cover still has an image of a glamorous model in strappy high heels swinging a club. Inside is another picture of "sexy Sandolo" as well as a feature on Brit Beauties Tipped For The Top.

Gareth Main, the editor who took over for the third issue, said the new owners had deliberately set out to attract a new audience. "This was basically to get attention because before it was dull and boring. Shots of women on the front were there to grab attention.

"There is a theory that sex sells but we concede it may have been taken a bit too far in the first two issues. But the good thing is that it got the magazine talked about. If we use similar material in the future then it will have to be justified and in context."

Main conceded that many of the adverts in the third issue had been placed by parent company Seoul Nassau. "But we hope that now we have toned things down advertisers will come back. We have a meeting with them next week."

Asked if golf clubs had told the company they would no longer display the magazine, he said: "That was the general consensus, yes."