“The guy needs to wake up a bit.”
After Charley Hull called out a sexist golfer on Twitter, she explained her side of the story – and why she beat him in a match.
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There’s an unfortunate hypothesis that keeps popping up in the golf Twitter world: How would a man with a low single-digit handicap perform against a field of LPGA pros?
The general public largely understands that this is a stupid question. LPGA pros are professional athletes, and to think that a man in single digits could keep up with them is outrageous. Yet the noise from a vocal minority remains.
Just this week, Golf Twitter had another encounter with one of these delusional keyboard warriors. Lou Stagner, statistics guru and golf coach, posted a DM on Twitter that he received from an anonymous user, and John Doe used all the classic talking points.
“I have a 3 handicap, play from 6,900 yards and hit my driver 290 yards,” the man said. “I would do every step on the LPGA and be a top 20 player [sic].”
Stagner’s post received a lot of interest, with most taking aim at the man and his hubris. In fact, his contribution was so well received that LPGA professional Charley Hull even got involved.
“Shall we settle this game,” Hull wrote. “I let him play on the red tees while I play on the white tees.”
Come to find out the Hull pranksters were a happy moment for those who make a living from this type of content. As the 27-year-old explained in a phone call with the media on Wednesday, she is not a regular Twitter user and until recently didn’t even know she had an account.
“My agent has been running it for me for five years,” Hull said. “I logged in there and found a message that I sent to my cousin a few years ago. When I logged in I saw this guy tweeting this thing and I replied because I thought it was pretty funny. I thought, ‘The cheek of him.'”
The tweet soon went viral and many fans and media outlets came forward to express their support for this potential match. But even if the match went ahead, it wouldn’t be a fair fight, Hull said.
“They think us girls are like your average golfer,” Hull said. “We have so much skill and I think they are quite surprised when they watch us in real life.”
Hull, who has won six times worldwide and is preparing for her sixth Solheim Cup later this month, said she plays a lot of matches at home with men’s professionals from the European Tour and Challenge Tour and they play from the same tees. Despite the length advantage, Hull hold their own in their games and win a majority of the time.
“I feel like this guy needs to wake up a little,” Hull said.
When asked which element of the game would give LPGA pros the greatest advantage, Hull was quick to respond.
“All around,” she said. “I feel like our short games are a lot tidier and I feel like we’re pretty tidy overall. We have good short games, we have good putting. Some amateurs are really good off the tee but don’t have a good short game. Or they’re really good at putting, but they can’t get it off the tee. That’s why we’re just more consistent.”
Simply put, you better bring your best. But even if you do, it probably won’t work out well.
These players are professionals for a reason.
https://golf.com/news/charley-hull-twitter-sexist-golfer/ “The guy needs to wake up a bit.”
