9.8.09

Review by Buy-tees.net


Never have so many balls been lost by so few. I’ll be straight with you here, I know nothing of golf, I’m not really a fan of sport in general, but golf has to be there up with cricket, darts and snooker in the boredom stakes. Although in the case of golf it might just be down to the fact that most of us wouldn’t have a hope in hell playing against anyone even mildly professional - I’ve tried a little crazy golf in my time and even then I sucked. Still there are rogues amongst the vast swathe of checked trousered faded celebrities in the game, the most (in)famous of all being UK golf hacker Maurice Flitcroft. He has the dubious accolade of being the worst player ever at the Open Championship. Maurice passed away in 2007 however his legend lives on, and the British Golf Museum at St. Andrews have even considered including his exploits in their hall of fame. Maurice has also been celebrated by the golf hacking t-shirt brand Golf Refugees, in fact they feature a whole world golf hackers and their awkward position in the sport. Even if you’re in my camp and haven’t the slightest about the game, you should find their tees worth a laugh or two.
Golf Refugees keep busy in a wide range of subversive methods, they’ve filmed a vid with MTV, taking three skateboarders and encouraging them to play golf through the hazardous streets of London. One of their tees called Crest, ‘ Refugees Street Golf - Hit And Run’, celebrates the event. Then there are their Black Balls which via Thermal Distance Technology are supposed to improve your game, they are the originators, everyone else including brands like Nike ripped them off btw. What’s more they write their own blog, again with a subversive slant, including encouraging their readers to daub graffiti over their own balls, golf balls that is. They even sell a line of graffiti balls, a random 3 of which have been painted by UK graffiti artist Rough who they reckon might be the next Banksy, hmm… I thought this guy was the next Banksy - hah.
From what I can tell Golf Refugees aren’t welcome in the golfing mainstream establishment, and to celebrate their dubious status within the sport’s fraternity they like to shout about it loudly and proudly through their range of funny carbon neutral 100% organic cotton tees. Take a look and see what I mean…
Maurice Tee by Golf Refugees

As mentioned earlier, Maurice Flitcroft is the nearest to a legend golf hackers have, he wasn’t very good, in fact he was the worst, but his standards were attainable for the man on the street (make that course) and so it’s understandable that GR would pay tribute to the guy, especially as he passed away in 2007. I’d like some closure on the British Golf Museum, I can’t seem to find any other mention other than they’ll consider including Flitcroft memorabilia, including 15 years of irate correspondence pleading for the organisers to allow him to play in the Open again. Sadly it never happened. The year Flitcroft played, the 1976 Open, it was also the debut season for a 19 year old Severiano Ballesteros who’s career would take a very different turn. Read the full story and see GF’s video here. Pay tribute to Maurice Flitcroft and all golf refugees with this stylish Maurice tee priced at £19 / €22 Warm grey print on brown, dark grey, moss green or red Embroidery on sleeve carbon-neutral organic cotton Sizes: S M L XL.
Trolley Tee

Adapt or die, that’s the law of the jungle, and obviously the same applies in many circles of life, including golf hacking. If you’re a refugee you won’t need to splurge your hard earned on expensive gear, for the paltry price of a £1 coin there are many local establishments with many specialist trolleys in stock. Also available at your nearest riverbank, canal or rubbish tip. The fact is there’s rather a lot of inverse snobbery at most golf clubs, normally, looking at what golfers wear, you’d be laughed out of most swanky restaurants, N. London dinner parties, the theatre, charity functions that involve royalty on any level (however obscure) and just about anywhere you can find the hoi polloi dressed up to the nines. Checked trousers, dodgy hats, those weird shoes, those gaudy colours, the naff jumpers, it’s all so tacky. Yet the moment you turn up without a caddy and nothing but a shopping trolley to carry your hand-me-down clubs and watch those sneers of disapproval, it’s enough to knock the pompom off your tartan cap. Trolley - a very funny tee available in black with embroidery on sleeve in carbon-neutral organic cotton. Sizes: S M L XL £19.99 / €22.
Trophy Tee

It’s not in the winning, it’s in the taking part, OK that maybe B.S but still it’s nice to think there are still people out there in it for the thrill of the game. I am sure I can count Golf Refugees amongst that number, which is handy as I very much doubt they will be stacking up the trophy cabinet in the foreseeable future. The trophy cabinet of course being an old refrigerator they found on a dump and have set in pride of place behind the shed. Britain has a strong tradition of losing, if anything winning too much is probably bad for our nation’s character, you’ll still hear footie bores harping on about ‘66. Get over it, we suck, so let’s just have some fun out there. No matter what sport you fail at this would be the perfect tee! Get Trophy in a Blue(ish) grey print on moss green, dark red, yellow or brown with embroidery on sleeve carbon-neutral organic cotton. Sizes: S M L XL £19.99 / €22.
Custom Car Tee

Last but not least (in no uncertain terms) is GR’s Custom Car tee, hilarious. Probably one of the few times I ever showed interest in golf is when a local recreation park was unfairly sold off by the council to a private golf club, I was a kid at the time and very confused by the proceedings. At first I thought it was some kind of adventure playground, there were sandpits to play in, plenty of grass to run around on, and if you had the change the best electric gokarts I’d ever witnessed. Unfortunately my brain took a while to adapt, I was shattered when I realised the only people who were allowed to play there were old men who insisted on driving them at stupefyingly slow speeds, after which they proceeded to knock small balls into small holes with sticks. So the game of golf was introduced to me for the very first and very last time. I’d have gladly traded in my bike and Action Man, my Buckaroo set and Space Hopper for one of these beauties. This could be the beginning of a whole new era for golf, extreme golf? Get this hilarious tee in white on navy blue with embroidery on sleeve carbon-neutral organic cotton. Sizes: S M L XL £19.99 / €22.
It’s a golf t-shirt brand, but not as we know it, boldly going where they are not invited, join in the fun and cause a stir at http://www.golf-refugees.com/.
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