Time.com & Ignorance

I am grateful to the editors of Time.com for choosing to write an article about Play Golf Designs, a well respected golf business with tremendous potential. However, I was hurt, offended and outraged by the way our firm was characterized.

First, The Headline – “Lady Golfers for Rent: Escort Service for Duffers? - Was stunningly offensive and an absolute mischaracterization of Play Golf Designs. Our professionals are some of the World’s best Professional Golfers and are hired to participate in golf outings throughout the world, just as male pro golfers are. They are hard-working and talented, just as male pros, and PGD and our professionals deserve the same respect and acknowledgement for their ability. In regards to the fact that our professionals happen to be attractive, as well as talented athletes, does not give Time.com, or anyone, the right to call our business an “escort service,” which has a clear connotation that is unequivocally wrong.

Also, I was misquoted several times in the article, and those statements were used to make it look as if I was insulting the LPGA. The LPGA is the highest platform in women's golf, a platform to which many of our professionals aspire.

Lorena Ochoa is the world's number one female professional and deserves notoriety for achieving great success. When discussing Lorena with the reporter, we spoke about fashion only. My quote, "Who cares!” was made in reference to her attire, not to Lorena or her skills. The fact that it was used by the reporter to insinuate otherwise is unethical. Lorena is a role model, an amazing player and of course a noteworthy icon in women's golf.

The Professionals at Play Golf Designs are also outstanding role models and have helped to expand the interest in women's golf. We are a strong and upstanding business that generates interest and awareness in golf. Although I am pained and disappointed in how Time.com characterized us, I firmly believe our fans, clients, vendors and potential customers truly know who we are, and what we stand for: Great golf, great outings and creative and fashionable fun. I am a professional business owner and we deserve more respect than time.com displayed in us.

Play Golf Designs is not ashamed to showcase its professionals as beautiful women. In fact, our strategy honors women and follows a tradition of beautiful female athletes being unafraid to be beautiful. From Jan Stephenson to Natalie Gulbis, and many others, the LPGA itself has long benefitted from the popularity of its top athletes who also happen to be beautiful. In tennis, Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova, as well as Venus and Serena Williams have been lauded for their beauty, as well as their skill. They've even appeared in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue, as was race driver Danica Patrick. If one of these athletes is hired for an outing or exhibition, would Time.com dare call them "escorts?" I doubt it.

Sincerely,

Nisha Sadekar, President - Play Golf Designs Inc.

Time Article Link: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1900046,00.html