Paige Spirinac: Good for women's golf or not ?

[Orikoru]

Paige gets a whole lot more grief than she deserves in my opinion. She's a good golfer but not good enough to make a living out of it so she's made a career out of being good looking while holding a golf club. People question whether she should do this or not and give her a good load of abuse for it but no-one cares when male athletes do similar with topless photos, calendars etc.

None of us are good enough to have made it onto the upper levels of golf but love the sport. If I got a sponsors invite to play at an event because I looked good or had a presence online damn right I would take it, and so would everyone else here!

Fair play to her. She looks good, plays golf well and makes a fortune. I wish I could match her on any of those counts!

100%

Because she's nice, good looking and wants to do some good for the world by tackling online abuse so other young girls don't have to deal with losers. Oh and earn a living while she's at it.

If that isn't a positive role model I don't know what is. Okay so she wears swimwear, it's not like she's doing adult entertainment. If you had a killer body and someone offered you a fortune to do Men Health you'd be down there like a shot. Easy to say otherwise when you've never been faced with that situation.

Get with the 90s lads, there are far less-talented doing far worse and guess what - they are idolised more. I think she's great for golf. It makes it look like a sport that young attractive people can enjoy, not like something sad old losers do when they're not on forums because it's too cold outside.

:smirk:

I'd certainly rather she was the image of golf than Donald Trump.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Because she's nice, good looking and wants to do some good for the world by tackling online abuse so other young girls don't have to deal with losers. Oh and earn a living while she's at it.

If that isn't a positive role model I don't know what is. Okay so she wears swimwear, it's not like she's doing adult entertainment. If you had a killer body and someone offered you a fortune to do Men Health you'd be down there like a shot. Easy to say otherwise when you've never been faced with that situation.

Get with the 90s lads, there are far less-talented doing far worse and guess what - they are idolised more. I think she's great for golf. It makes it look like a sport that young attractive people can enjoy, not like something sad old losers do when they're not on forums because it's too cold outside.

:smirk:

I agree with nearly all you say.
I just find it hard to imagine people being persuaded by social media and it's fans, because I am not. I don't use twitter or facebook and so don't see it's impact.
For me, personally, it's the exponents of a sport I have interest in, not media people.

 

[Curls]

I agree with nearly all you say.
I just find it hard to imagine people being persuaded by social media and it's fans, because I am not. I don't use twitter or facebook and so don't see it's impact.
For me, personally, it's the exponents of a sport I have interest in, not media people.

Fair point, me too, but then we're not the younger generation who are influenced by these platforms, many of whom see Facebook as an out-dated site their dad's use to look up ex's.

 

[Imurg]

The question should be "is Paige BAD for Women's golf"
If she's turning women and girls away from the game then she probably is.
But is she turning them away?
I doubt it.
If what she is doing doesn't hurt golf then why would anyone worry
In fact, if a miniscule number of her followers take up golf then that can only be good.

 

[Hacker Khan]

My post was aimed specifically at PS not at the use of Social Media in golf - players like Charley Hull will have more impact than someone who doesn’t actually play the game - whilst doing junior golf speaking to the young girls and boys they aren’t inspired by PS - it’s Charley Hull or Creamer or Rory etc - people are drawn to the game by the people who are playing the game as opposed to someone who is pretty and played one event. I believe she has little to no impact on the game of golf right now. When you see PS she maybe wearing golf outfits but she isn’t playing the game to any sort of level so how will she inspire people ? She is more than likely to attract pretty girls who can make a fortune plastering themselves wearing little on social media

Different market I'd argue. Charlie Hull may well inspire young golfers who already have started playing the game. Paige has a much bigger reach where she can entice people to give it a try to begin with. Within female junior members of golf clubs Charlie Hull may well be better known, outside of junior golf Paige will resonate more with potential golfers just down to the number of followers she has. She has 130 times more Instagram followers than Charlie Hull. Fully appreciate that there is a lot more to it than just down to followers on Instagram and that targets a specific demographic, but that can be a way into the sport for some and something Paige will be able to do a lot better than Charlie Hull. Once they have started and want someone to look up to in terms of golfing ability then use Charlie for that. Both can work.

 

[Hacker Khan]

I agree with nearly all you say.
I just find it hard to imagine people being persuaded by social media and it's fans, because I am not. I don't use twitter or facebook and so don't see it's impact.
For me, personally, it's the exponents of a sport I have interest in, not media people.

I'd avoid concerts then where 1000s of kids watch YouTubers on stage playing video games. It will blow your mind

 

[User101]

I've never heard of Charlie Hull.

 

[Hacker Khan]

I agree with nearly all you say.
I just find it hard to imagine people being persuaded by social media and it's fans, because I am not. I don't use twitter or facebook and so don't see it's impact.
For me, personally, it's the exponents of a sport I have interest in, not media people.

Middle of last year my department at work was sent to go on 'social media' training. There was lots of moaning and groaning from some people accusing the company of forcing them to set up twitter and linkedin accounts, which the training was not doing. It was more trying to show them how a curated social media presence is increasingly becoming a necessity in more and more professions. And the trainer said to us that actually having an uptodate Linked in account is more useful for the individual in todays workforce than the company they work for. But still some people refused and said they had not interest in it.

Then towards the end of last year we went through a round of redundancies and unfortunately some of the people on the course lost their jobs (not because of the lack of social media use I will add). But when that happened I'd never had as many requests in my life to endorse these new converts to linkedin for their skills.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Fair point, me too, but then we're not the younger generation who are influenced by these platforms, many of whom see Facebook as an out-dated site their dad's use to look up ex's.

And social media is incredibly powerful way of communication - as Labour in UK have proven and Trump in US is doing. My lad's job is the Promotions Manager for a big nightclub in Sheffield - and a key part of his job is spreading the word and engaging with folk through various social media - and he uses different forms of social media to use to engage with different groups in different ways. But he knows all about this - he's 25.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I've never heard of Charlie Hull.

oops - spello - Charley Hull

 

[User101]

oops - spello - Charley Hull

Says it all doesn't it...

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Is she good for the game? Perhaps if she was winning everything and majors, then she might be. As she is, I doubt she has any influence on females of any age taking up or playing the game.
The World is full of reality tv persons and social media milkers, but actually winning and being the best is what makes people pay attention to you.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Different market I'd argue. Charlie Hull may well inspire young golfers who already have started playing the game. Paige has a much bigger reach where she can entice people to give it a try to begin with. Within female junior members of golf clubs Charlie Hull may well be better known, outside of junior golf Paige will resonate more with potential golfers just down to the number of followers she has. She has 130 times more Instagram followers than Charlie Hull. Fully appreciate that there is a lot more to it than just down to followers on Instagram and that targets a specific demographic, but that can be a way into the sport for some and something Paige will be able to do a lot better than Charlie Hull. Once they have started and want someone to look up to in terms of golfing ability then use Charlie for that. Both can work.

She does have a lot more followers than Charley Hull - but I suspect most of those extra followers aren’t following her because of golf -

It is a different market - Hull for the golf market and PS for the social media celeb market - the market were people are only interested in what someone is doing or wearing or sleeping with etc not what Golf Comp they are playing in

People won’t connect PS to golf because she doesn’t play on any tour - they don’t see her alongside the likes of Lewis , Ko - they see her along the likes of the Khadashians - someone who is known via social media not via their ability to play a sport.

PS will have a connection to social media fame - not to a sport imo -

Golf on social media will be getting more from the likes of Lexi Thompson - successful lady golfers

 

[SatchFan]

I've just popped on to Paige's Facebook page and surprise, surprise it's nearly all about golf.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Is she good for the game? Perhaps if she was winning everything and majors, then she might be. As she is, I doubt she has any influence on females of any age taking up or playing the game.
The World is full of reality tv persons and social media milkers, but actually winning and being the best is what makes people pay attention to you.

Indeed and Spirinac is not going to get anyone making that connection between golf, her profile and social media. They will simply see an online celebrity. That said, there are some on twitter that are just average, indeed relative new golfers (The Jazzy Golfer, Mother of Golfers etc) who are working hard to grow the ladies game. They play but then don't have the same media profile as Spiranac so can't get the word out to as many

 

[Hacker Khan]

Is she good for the game? Perhaps if she was winning everything and majors, then she might be. As she is, I doubt she has any influence on females of any age taking up or playing the game.
The World is full of reality tv persons and social media milkers, but actually winning and being the best is what makes people pay attention to you.

Genuine question, without looking could you name me any of the current top 3 ranked women golfers?

 

[Hacker Khan]

She does have a lot more followers than Charley Hull - but I suspect most of those extra followers aren’t following her because of golf -

It is a different market - Hull for the golf market and PS for the social media celeb market - the market were people are only interested in what someone is doing or wearing or sleeping with etc not what Golf Comp they are playing in

People won’t connect PS to golf because she doesn’t play on any tour - they don’t see her alongside the likes of Lewis , Ko - they see her along the likes of the Khadashians - someone who is known via social media not via their ability to play a sport.

PS will have a connection to social media fame - not to a sport imo -

Golf on social media will be getting more from the likes of Lexi Thompson - successful lady golfers

If they are accessing her through Instagram they will have to be pretty stupid not to, seeing as well over half of her posts involve her hitting golf shots or playing golf.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Feng the Chinese lady, only as she went to #1 and the first Chinese lady to do so. After that, struggling and assume they'll be Korean.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Genuine question, without looking could you name me any of the current top 3 ranked women golfers?

Feng , Ryu , Park/Thompson or might be Jutangurn

If they are accessing her through Instagram they will have to be pretty stupid not to, seeing as well over half of her posts involve her hitting golf shots or playing golf.

I suspect most will be looking at what she is wearing as opposed to playing a golf shot

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Just done a google search:-

https://www.instagram.com/_paige.renee/?hl=en

pretty hard not to notice she is a golfer from the pictures.

Asked son if he had heard of her, no:rofl: