Naked at the Golf Course - A Naughty Fad Hits the Fairways

Remember planking?

About a year ago it was quite the fad.  For several months you couldn't go anywhere on the internet without running into the image of someone's rigid body, face down arms with arms their sides, in an incongruous location.  The craze was completely global, and for a while people were planking everywhere, from the Pyramids of Egypt to the floor of the NY public library. The more dexterous among them could be found perilously positioned in overhead luggage bins, on top of towering billboards and high in the branches of trees.  Golf courses presented creative plankers with numerous options, as well. 

However like most internet memes, planking's popularity was short lived, and after spawning some interesting off-shoots, ( teapotting - owling - Tebowing) it's settled into internet oblivion where it will languish while other fads step up to enjoy their fifteen minutes. So along comes... Dogging.

In fact, dogging's been around for quite a while, but it now seems poised to reach planking-like levels of popularity.  With dogging, the supposedly staid and solicitous Brits have taken things to a naughty new level, and they've got one golf course doing some emergency reputation management.

Dogging... in a nutshell... is a variation on planking that incorporates sex, nudity and some very social networking.  Also included are elements of swinging and voyeurism... all in the great outdoors.  As with planking, the object is to produce a photograph... or video... that will ultimately be posted to the internet.  But an effective "dogging post" must illustrate a sexual situation, either with nudity or with something a bit more graphic blatantly pornographic. Unlike planking no particular body position is required, though, not surprisingly, some degree of rigidity is often featured in dogging posts.

Once practiced almost exclusively in cars at rural parks, or on isolated lover's lanes, dogging has transcended those cloistered confines and is now taking place in public parks, suburban parking lots, on village lanes... and on golf courses.  Till now, most of the "golf dogging" was done on anonymous fairways or in ubiquitous pot bunkers, but last week Lincoln Golf Center in Thorpe-on-the-Hill, found itself in a rather embrassing position when a curvaceous female dogger boldly flaunted her assets in front of their facility's sign... and then posted photographic proof on her "dogging profile page".  Not to be outdone, several of her fellow doggers made a beeline for the golf center and posted similar shots. Now the family-friendly course is scrambling to "clean things up".  Hopefully legitimate patrons will understand the situation and continue to patronize the center.  Meanwhile, with evidence that dogging is finding its way to the US,  course owners here may want to stay alert to avoid their own dodgy dogging dilemmas.

By the way, in case you're wondering how this fad came to be known as dogging (I certainly was), it seems "walking the dog" was often used with unsuspecting spouses as pretext for clandestine encounters that resulted in cyber-exhibitionism.  As the practice became more popular it came to be known as dogging... and the rest, as they say, is history.

Artful Facebook Nudity Leads to Golf Team Suspension

Is artful nudity a breach of golf etiquette? Photo via SFGate

Competetive golf is a demanding, highly diciplined pursuit, so it's only natural that players might want to let loose a bit when they're not on the course.  

Off-course activities can sometimes go awry however, and the inventive young men of the Bethany College golf team appear to have earned themselves a suspension for their playful take on a team portrait.

The photo in question had the attractive athletes posed in row on grassy hillside.  The team's camaraderie was visible in their jaunty smiles, and their collective nudity added a refreshing element of light-hearted, joyfulness.

Yes.  That's the thing, the guys were all stark naked... but each and every one of them had taken care to assure that their "male parts" were artfully obscured behind a strategically placed driver.  A couple of the guys even added a club cover.

Controversial photographic inspiration - photo: Joe McNally/Getty Images

It seems the Bethany "Swedes", were inspired by photo of the UCLA Men's Golf Team... in a similar state of déshabillé... that was published in Golf Digest way back in 2004.  One can only imagine the Bethany boys were completely confident that their fun-loving photographic foray wouldn't be deemed offensive. When the pic found its way to the pages of Facebook however, someone was indeed offended and that person sent an angry email to the team's coach.  Hence the (three game) suspension.

Some see the suspension as an epic over-reaction to a harmless bit of fun, while others feel the punishment is fitting of the crime.   Many have attributed the severity of the suspension to the fact that Bethany College is a small Lutheran school in a socially conservative state (Kansas), however, when the UCLA - Golf Digest photo was published there was also a substantial negative reaction.  It turns out male nudity... even when there's no emphasis on sex or sexuality... is still quite provocative.  Unfortunately the Bethany College Swedes seem to have learned this the hard way.

The team is planning to appeal the suspension. 

Sources: kansascw.com , sfgate.com

Nude Golf has a New Venue: Karlskoga Golfklubb

Newsflash: Karlskoga Golfklubb, in central Sweden, is relaxing their dress code... significantly.

Effective immediately as soon as it warms up a bit, "country club conservative" will be replaced by "clothing optional" on the fairways of this established course. You see, the golf club has recently partnered with a local "naturalist club" and Karlskoga General Manger, Sven Nödtorftig, embraced the concept of golf in-the-altogether, with enthusiasm although he was careful to reassure those who find the idea of nude golf... and nude golfers... unsettling. "We aren't forcing everyone to play naked," he declared, "and you will see the naked players playing at specific times, such as early morning or late afternoon".

Mr. Nödtorftig BTW, is himself a naturist, and presumably looks forward to playing in the buff as the sunny season begins.

I've written about nude golf on a couple of occasions, most recently a couple of months ago regarding Nude Golf International, a global nude golf tournament that takes place in New Zealand.

However, it was the awesome Exilgolfer who tweeted me about this latest nude golf development,... and he's got additional details... and photos.

Though most everyone I've spoken to on this side of the Atlantic seems to find the idea of playing golf in the nude quite preposterous... and one does need to be careful regarding sun exposure...  the concept seems to be catching on in other lands.  It's a trend worth watching. IMHO.