This Week at TravelGolf.com: Feb. 6, 2007

Australian calendar girls dig in their high heels over ban, Natalie Gulbis invite

Australian golfers of the female kind are itching to reveal themselves to you, but Golf Australia, the body that rules the sport Down Under, has put the kibosh on that.

Instead, they've invited American golfer Natalie Gulbis to prance around their fairways.

Makes sense to me.

Actually, it doesn't make any sense at all. A group of 13 Australian women golfers got together to pose for a calendar intended to raise funds for breast cancer research, a golf scholarship and for, uh, exposure for their sport.

The calendar got worldwide attention but Aussie officials banned it, to the anger of those trying to promote women's golf in the country.

"The adage 'sex sells' seems only to apply to U.S. and European sports these days," the calendar's makers said in a press release. "Aussie women golf pros remain under-funded and unknown."

And undressed, it should be pointed out. Actually, the calendar is fairly innocuous by today's standards, certainly tamer than anything Sophie Sandolo has put out. The calendar includes Kristie Newston, daughter of Aussie golf legend Jack and rookie of the year Nikki Garrett.

Newton and Garrett posed for photos, semi-clad and showing a lot of leg and a ton of cleavage, at times their womanhood hidden by their golf bags. Nothing much is revealed but apparently that is even too much for the old codgers at Golf Australia.

The Aussie women are not happy about the hypocrisy of covering up their own women, yet inviting Gulbis, who spoke to TravelGolf.com recently about her own increasingly popular calendars.

Gulbis "has clocked up over $2.4 million and has proven that good looks, combined with the power and skill of an American marketing juggernaut, can achieve celebrity status without necessarily having to win," the press release said.

The Aussie women take pains to say there is no "personal animosity" toward Gulbis but that to pay Gulbis appearance fees that might have gone to Aussie women "is surely at odds with a culture that has shaped Australia's proud sporting history, based primarily on first supporting our own."

How does all this cat-fighting affect you? Well, you can now support a great cause by buying the calendar online at half-price at womensgolfcalendar.com.

As always, TravelGolf.com welcomes your comments.

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