Before I dig a deep hole here, let me say that I know Paige is a serious golfer. I also suspect she’s one smart Cookie (forgive me), since she’s figured out how easy it is to get attention in the world of golf. Fake eyelashes and the suggestion of stilettos and you’re good to go. It’s too bad, though, that it’s not enough to be a serious athlete. You have to appeal to men’s fantasies to get media coverage and Golf Digest has obliged this month: Barbie plays golf. On Mars.
As you may know, Paige had our Spectator shoes on in the October issue of GD, and I’m grateful for that, exposure being the all-important oxygen for brand recognition that it is. But she was standing on a table in a restaurant – swinging a golf club (never mind the china) – and not on a golf course, creaming the ball off the tee, which she is utterly capable of doing if you believe her YouTube selfies. Below, she appears to be playing golf on a spaceship in a silver lamé dress. Beam her up. The girl likes to travel.
I’m sure she had little to say about what the photo-stylists were asking her to wear and who they were aiming to attract, and that probably explains the super short dress and the dominatrix pose. All that’s missing is the whip. But if we play along, don’t we get what we deserve? NextGen Gulbis, eschewing golf for pinup status? The golf industry persists in trying to sell us skirts that barely cover the family jewels and this is probably why. You can see all the way to Cleveland when we bend over to mark a putt. And the spandex suit on the right? Imagine that in Arizona in May.
Now this. The mega-talented, Lexi Thompson, as Pretty Baby or Wonder Woman. (Has the gauntlet been thrown down by Paige?) Lexi is lovely and young and talented – and shouldn’t have to paint her lips and slather on heavy make-up to grab media attention. Her drive ought to do that. There’s something about this particular image that makes me feel ill at ease, up there with baby beauty pageants. I hope someone in her entourage (maybe her mom?) will tell her she’s spectacular as she is, with her scrubbed face, infectious smile – and killer drive – and tell the folks who want to sell this version of her to go stuff it. The original’s the real deal. And so much more appealing.
P.S.
Here is Lexi in 2010, after the Curtis Cup victory. This is what sexy athleticism looks like in my book. The ultimate combination of fitness, power and, ok, insouciant P-I-N-K. (You know I’m a sucker for color.)
