Where is the Glamour of Women's Golf?

Where is the Glamour?
A Simple Lesson & Formula To Success

PGD have decided to take a different approach to our normal Press Release. Let's focus on a write up that Nisha and I came up with about a month ago. I was at first reluctant to post it but then realized everyone else is blogging about this so we should as well!

This week the PGD Team has decided to talk about the future of the LPGA and what type of tour the future stars of the LPGA are working towards playing on.

I myself, Tina (Miller) Lloyd, unfortunately feel the LPGA has lost a bit of its glitz and glamour. When was the last time you KNEW what channel the LPGA was going to be on without having to visit their website? On the men’s side you just know it is going to be a Golf Channel broadcast during the week and a NBC broadcast on the weekends. What are the girls in college and on the Futures Tour really working toward?!

With the resignation of Carolyn Bivens, what a better time to discuss what the LPGA needs to do in terms of Marketing to “amp” up the girls out on the LPGA. President of PGD, Nisha Sadekar, and myself, have been bashed about our stance on what the LPGA needs to do, but have stood firm ground in our belief that women’s golf will survive this tough time if the necessary actions are done.

Remember algebra equations? (Yes, I know it makes me want to throw-up as well, but this one won’t! Promise.) Well here is our simple formula to success on the LPGA:

g2+f2+e2=LPGA SUCCESS!
Copyright ©Play Golf Designs 2009

You might ask, what does this stand for? Well that is why we are here…to educate you! Golf/Glamour+Fitness/Fashion+Entertainment/Energy=LPGA SUCCESS! The talent is already out playing the game- their golf games are amazing, the personalities are ready to shine…come on LPGA get with it! What we offer at Play Golf Designs will help the LPGA, 24 Elite Professional Female Athletes who excel in the game of golf. We are not in a competition with the LPGA but would rather work, side by side with them.

“This is what we have said from the get-go. It is hard to have face value for the tour when you are lacking the ingredients in the equation. It is not a competition between PGD and the LPGA but rather should be a partnership. We have been misinterpreted by media in the past, for the same exact thing that every media outlet is now saying the LPGA has been lacking, good marketing. We continue to work to advance women’s golf in any way that we can, both on and off the course!”

We hope the LPGA will continue to strive to better levels to promote all of its players, rather than a select few and we will continue to try and create more buzz about women’s golf, even if it means going out on a limb at times. The future does not have to be dull for women's golf, and if the marketing department would follow our formula, or event that of which was implemented by the former commissioner Ty Votaw (5 Characteristics of a Celebrity), the LPGA would not be so lackluster at this point in time.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on this post. Please let us know how you feel about this via our twitter page, www.twitter.com/playgolfdesigns

For more information about Play Golf Designs or to begin planning your next event visit www.playgolfdesigns.com

For media inquires please contact:
Tina Miller Lloyd
Director of Marketing and Communications
(tina@playgolfdesigns.com)

Kim Kouwabunpat: In response to Time.com

"I’m appalled by the ignorance displayed in the recent article written on Time.com about Play Golf Designs Inc. It’s clear that Sean Gregory has failed to do his due diligence in researching what PGD is truly about. The claims he makes of PGD being an “escort service” are offensive, unfair, and completely inaccurate. I personally have hosted several PGD golf outings, and I can assure you that Nisha Sadekar runs her events with class and only the utmost professionalism. We are professional athletes who compete at the highest level and all of us take our professional image very seriously. If you were to profile the 22 athletes on the PGD roster you would find that they consist of former top collegiate golfers from leading Division 1 universities such as Stanford, Duke, UCLA, and University of Texas, former NCAA champions, current LPGA touring professionals, and top developmental tour players. I highly doubt that any one of these professional golfers, whom are very highly respected amongst their peers and colleagues, would ever join or even be associated with an organization that could be construed as an “escort service.”

Why isn’t it ok to dress fashionably and be proud of our femininity without being criticized? A polished, well-rounded look is marketable and a marketable image is good business.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but Gregory probably did not realize that in writing this controversial article, he is jeopardizing the business, careers, and livelihoods of Play Golf Designs and the 22 Professional Golfers on its roster. Since joining PGD in 2006, my career has benefited greatly from the positive exposure and PR provided by Sadekar and PGD. Gregory’s misguided comments are essentially tearing down what we all have worked hard to build within our careers. As a responsible journalist Gregory needs to make sure he knows what he’s talking about before making such ridiculous comments that could negatively impact so many dedicated individuals.

I’ve been an avid competitive golfer since the age of 10. Just by the amazing nature of the game, golf has taught me so many important life values such as hard work, perseverance, determination, etiquette, and most of all, integrity. I see the game as a wonderful educational tool to teach any young person what it means to have class and teach them the same tools golf has taught me throughout my life. I hold onto my morals and values with conviction and would only be associated with outstanding organizations like Play Golf Designs.

I’m proud to be fully involved with Play Golf Designs and support Sadekar in her courageous movement towards a Nouvea World of Women’s Golf. We need people like her to break down barriers and to challenge stagnant stereotypes. I don’t see women’s golf progressing in the right direction at the moment. In the end, we will all be thanking Sadekar and Play Golf Designs for bringing women’s golf to the next level and letting the world see how amazing, beautiful, and strong women can be.

http://web.me.com/kimk04/Site/Kims_Diary/Entries/2009/5/23_Time.com_Article_Displays_Ignorance.html

Kim Kouwabunpat

Stanford University

‘04 Ladies Asian Golf Tour

‘07 Duramed Futures Tour

‘05-‘07 CN Canadian Women's Tour '06-'07

Play Golf Designs, Inc.

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