‘He's played a complete Nicola Sturgeon there': Offensive golf banter revealed

Telegraph

21 hours ago

For centuries, the golf course has been the idyllic setting where businessmen have brokered deals while trying to prove their competitive sporting prowess.
But a study has found that despite attempts to make the game more appealing to women, 'sexual innuendo' and 'laddish banter' remain par for the course for networking male executives.
A university academic has also revealed how television personalities, politicians and sporting stars – including Phillip Schofield, Sally Gunnell and Nicola Sturgeon – have become crude jokes about poor play or tricky shots.
Dr Andreas Giazitzoglu, a sociologist, spent weeks at an unnamed 'premier' golf course in the North East where he joined 'wealth managers' entertaining prospective clients during 29 rounds of golf.
He took secret 'field notes' of the conversations both during the game and at the clubhouse.
The subsequent study – called 'How men use symbolic masculinity to network through golf' – concludes that 'being a good bloke' and indulging in 'gendered' or 'sexist' humour 'solidifies relationships' and proves someone is a 'good man to do business with'.
However, Dr Giazitzoglu and Prof Andrea Whittle, his co-researcher, concluded that women, homosexuals and minorities who joined golf clubs to try to do business remained outside the 'old boys' club' occupied by 'certain privileged males'.
Men called their clubs 'big dog' or 'big boy'
The study states: 'Sexual innuendo and laddish banter occurred on the golf course. The men referred to their drivers with nicknames like 'big dog' or 'big boy'. Others called them 'the Don', referencing the male head of the family.'
Those who hit bad shots or lacked power were teased with homophobic taunts.
It adds: 'The flight path of golf balls and challenges they faced were also given names rooted in heteronormative and misogynistic language.
'The men developed their own jargon based around the sport.'
Dr Giazitzoglu, from Newcastle University, is a keen golfer who plays off a handicap of 5.6 at the unnamed £1,000-a-year club.
He said he 'observed' shots being referred to as a 'Phillip Schofield' (where it 'appeared to be straight but ended up being bent'), a 'Sally Gunnell' (where a ball travelled far but along the ground and so was 'an ugly little runner') and a 'Nicola Sturgeon' (a difficult putt deemed 'a nasty little five-footer').
The paper adds: 'When a client chipped onto a green through a short pitch, I heard a wealth manager remark, 'You've got a touch like a Frenchman in a brothel'.'
He noted how the businessmen were so eager to make their prospective clients 'feel special and leaving the day feeling like a winner' that they would even 'throw' a game, even if they were better players.
Giving 'convincing accounts' of wealth, including owning 'the right kind of cars, the right branded golfing apparel' helped the men construct a 'symbolic status' and turn 'networking interactions into investments'.
When the banter continued in the clubhouse over drinks, Dr Giazitzoglu noted: 'So strong was the pressure to perform this type of masculinity that I also found myself conflicted by simultaneously feeling uncomfortable but nonetheless joining in the laughter.'
The study concludes: 'Sexual humour and other forms of gender harassment not only unite members of the 'old boys club'; they also prevent 'others' joining it.
'Perhaps this is why the researcher did not encounter any female wealth managers.
'The same might also be true for men who fail to personify or perform the forms of masculinities venerated in these symbolic interactions, for instance due to their sexual orientation, class, or ethnicity.'
Dr Giazitzoglu carried out his study and interviews, which were funded by Research England and Newcastle University, between 2021 and 2023. Only after doing his research did he reveal he was going to 'critically analyse' the golfers, however he guaranteed them anonymity.
The study was published in the journal Gender, Work & Organization.