November 8 — What started out as a joke by a British golf pro has morphed into a light-hearted but serious effort to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research.
Follow me. Jonathan Gidney, a rookie tour pro who aims to play on the European Tour, teased his Twitter fans in October (official Breast Cancer Awareness Month) that when he attracted 1,000 followers he would play a round of golf in a skirt.
Gidney reached his goal shortly after 2009 British Open winner Stewart Cink and LPGA Tour star Christina Kim (both Twitter junkies) re-tweeted their support. The 23-year-old Englishman has since parlayed what could have been just another mildly sexist stunt into a proper charitable event.
Skirt Golf. Gidney organized Skirt Golf, an 18-hole Stableford competition among golfers with handicaps no higher than 24 (men) and 36 (women) for December 5 at Astbury Hall in West Midlands, England. The event will consist of 24 teams of four golfers each, with proceeds from the entry fees going to Cancer Research UK.
Gidney’s foursome will include Ken Downing, a course designer and member of the rock band Judas Priest. Gidney’s caddie will be Andy Freeman from Atlanta, Ga., who won the opportunity in a drawing from among Gidney’s tweeps.
Each team will win an extra point for any member of its foursome — woman or man — who wears a skirt. Spectators are welcome to participate in a closest-to-the-pin contest on the 18th hole and a longest-drive competition that the machine in this video will measure.
Vendors chip in. Gidney has attracted top vendors to his fund-raising idea, with FootJoy and Kent Manufacturing Co. providing him with shoes and golf socks. Indeed, with pink the official color of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Gidney will be a vision in his pink-striped MyJoy shoes from Massachusetts-based Acushnet Co., KentWool stockings,Trion:Z bracelet, size-10 skirt and, yes, boxers.
For more info, check out Gidney’s Skirt Golf website.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Boston Golf Examiner and National Golf Examiner websites.)
Related posts:
- Fighting cancer on the course
- Annual Friends Fighting Cancer Charity Golf Classic
- Connecticut Conquers Cancer Golf Outing
- Mickelson moans about weather at 2010 British Open Championship
- Sarah Brown turns down Futures Tour
