Kathryn Newton at ATT: Some Help for LPGA?

[golfday]

5 hours ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

Allegedly a +2 handicap which naturally begs the question of whether a 4 handicap male can beat Kathryn Newton.

There is no gender element in handicaps, only score, slope and course rating. So I would say the answer is yes a 4 handicap could, but they wouldn’t often.

[golfday]

10 hours ago, kelpie said:

Just caught her game yesterday for the first time. Young, swagger, great swing, wish she was interviewed. Seems like she'd be a good ambassador for the LPGA? 

The LPGA could use a lot of good ambassadors, her included. But it would also be great to see some big names like Bill Murray, Larry Fitzgerald, and Macklemore support women’s golf too.

[Ghostwedge]

I watched it. The ladies had solid swings, the guys not so much. The guy who does the Champions Tour commercials can play. Then there was Macklemore, 12 practice swings then hit it sideways stuff. Had no clue who he was, told was a white rapper. Uh.... Ok. Googled up a video, been watched 214,000,000 times so far. SMH.....

 

[Shilgy]

14 hours ago, phizzy30 said:

I get what you're saying.  Don't get me wrong, she's got a solid swing, however, it's her short game that made me think she's not quite a + handicap based on her round yesterday. 

Ladies +2.....ladies course rating and slope. Would make her a men’s 5 or 6. 
Not to be confused with the thread about LPGA players where a men’s handicap was being estimated.

[DavePelz4]

11 hours ago, golfday said:

There is no gender element in handicaps, only score, slope and course rating. So I would say the answer is yes a 4 handicap could, but they wouldn’t often.

 

Clearly you're new around these parts.  There has been a long standing and fruitless debate about a male 4 handicap beating an LPGA pro.  Hit the search function and find one of the threads and I apologize in advance for the rabbit hole you get pulled down into. 

[ThinkingPlus]

26 minutes ago, Shilgy said:

Ladies +2.....ladies course rating and slope. Would make her a men’s 5 or 6. 
Not to be confused with the thread about LPGA players where a men’s handicap was being estimated.

Probably closer to a 4, but it varies course to course.  A 5 is possible.  I have very rarely seen 8 stroke differences so 6 is unlikely even if based on nothing, but very long courses.

[golfday]

44 minutes ago, DavePelz4 said:

 

Clearly you're new around these parts.  There has been a long standing and fruitless debate about a male 4 handicap beating an LPGA pro.  Hit the search function and find one of the threads and I apologize in advance for the rabbit hole you get pulled down into. 

 

Hahaha thank you for the heads up. I think I’ll stay out of that rabbit hole for now.

[Strategery]

Had not heard of Kathryn Newton, so googled her and watched her swing. Wow, it is excellent!

I think the OP may be on to something with her doing some LPGA promoting; make golf cool for young girls.

[Bad9]

21 minutes ago, Strategery said:

Had not heard of Kathryn Newton, so googled her and watched her swing. Wow, it is excellent!

I think the OP may be on to something with her doing some LPGA promoting; make golf cool for young girls.

Wouldn't it be better to spend that time and resources promoting actual LPGA players and showing young girls how cool they are?

[Strategery]

1 hour ago, Bad9 said:

Wouldn't it be better to spend that time and resources promoting actual LPGA players and showing young girls how cool they are?

[Shilgy]

20 hours ago, golfday said:

There is no gender element in handicaps, only score, slope and course rating. So I would say the answer is yes a 4 handicap could, but they wouldn’t often.

Tell that to the USGA....courses are rated differently for men and women.

[TiScape]

She was the only reason I watched whatever that was. Perhaps that’s why she was included 😉 

[Socrates]

If I was 30 years younger, the future Mrs. Socrates. 

 

Dresses well, good looking, can string words together to make a coherent sentence and can golf.  Done deal.

 

Did I mention that outfit was smoking hot?

[jt2gt]

On 2/11/2021 at 3:19 PM, jt2gt said:

Yes, it would be cool to have ladies like this partner up with LPGA players for some kind of golf promotion.  Who was the player last year that had a pretty good swing and played decent...she was an actress or reporter or pageant person, can't remember?

Guess golf channel hired her. Kira I think is her name. 

[Strategery]

On 2/12/2021 at 2:47 PM, Shilgy said:

Tell that to the USGA....courses are rated differently for men and women.

[ray9898]

LOL....a brand ambassador no one has ever heard of.  Sounds like a winning plan.

[aenemated]

Oh wow ... 

 

So like, my GF's 15 y/o daughter asked me about her recently; like if I'd heard of her. I thought she was asking about an LPGA player and I was like "Nah, don't know her. The Korda gals, Lexi, Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson ... I know of them!" 

 

Didn't think much of it at the time but seeing this thread, it makes sense. She's asked me to take her to the range sometime as she's apparently gotten interested in golf ... which she never was before till her mom and I got together. 

 

And watching the vids, she's got a great swing and presents things in a great, approachable way. Cool stuff! 

[billyspan]

Are we really just searching for the next (first?) LPGA version of Arnie/Seve/Tiger? Athletes that transcend their niche and become a global celebrity?

One bit of knowledge can be gained in looking at who NIKE sponsors. NIKE knows very well that celebrity or performance sells, but the real value is added when you combine those two attributes in a single athlete. Tiger, Rory, Day, Li...top athlete-celebrity in their respective markets? (Honestly, it is still really just Tiger in this context) BUT, who does NIKE sponsor on the women's side? I think they would tell you, uh...Michelle Wie West. But she is only half of the equation. Who is next?

[bscinstnct]

8 hours ago, aenemated said:

Oh wow ... 

 

So like, my GF's 15 y/o daughter asked me about her recently; like if I'd heard of her. I thought she was asking about an LPGA player and I was like "Nah, don't know her. The Korda gals, Lexi, Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson ... I know of them!" 

 

Didn't think much of it at the time but seeing this thread, it makes sense. She's asked me to take her to the range sometime as she's apparently gotten interested in golf ... which she never was before till her mom and I got together. 

 

And watching the vids, she's got a great swing and presents things in a great, approachable way. Cool stuff! 

 

KNewt go Sicko Mode, yo 

 

Nothing wrong with that...

 

 

 

 

[RainShadow]

On 2/11/2021 at 3:22 PM, jimbonecrusher said:

She would be a great choice, but I am wondering if the younger female TV/Movie watcher will remember her.  On an international scale, she would be a good pick.  When it comes to attracting the young demographic, then a person that is closer to age might work.  Look how many kids were wearing orange Puma flat bill hats the first few years and even nowadays because of Ricky Fowler.

That's the rub. 

 If you want to get young women/girls into golf, you need to have PR people that they known or are at least somewhat familiar with.

Very few 10-16yo girls are gonna know who Catherine Zeta-Jones is, but I'd bet they  know who Kathryn Newton is. ( I'm late 50's and I'd never heard of KNewton until PB coverage)

[PedronNiall]

On 2/12/2021 at 1:46 PM, Bad9 said:

Wouldn't it be better to spend that time and resources promoting actual LPGA players and showing young girls how cool they are?

The problem for the LPGA tour is it has about zero crossover value. PGA, Euro Tour, and even mini tour events have celebrities at all levels attending them, playing in the pro-ams, putting on concerts, and drawing eyes, traffic, and dollars to men's golf. The women's tours have almost none of this in the west; they've definitely done a better job of it in Korea and Japan. There are threads discussing this over in the LPGA section of the forums, but the ladies' tour is lacking big time when it comes to playing on the things that would bring it more dollars.

 

I can about guarantee you having Taylor Swift show up for an event, be part of a clinic, and put on a show would draw more views than anything the LPGA tour has put out media-wise in years. Video games have paid to have Ariana Grande and Katy Perry made into characters in them, no doubt making big returns on that cost. It's short-sighted not to see the value star power brings to any sport. aenimated's post above shows that it gets the attention of people who wouldn't have ever touched the sport otherwise.

 

How many extra viewers do you think MLB games get at times just by having the right celeb throw out the first pitch, even if they do it horribly? Someone doesn't have to be a part of your sport to hype your sport. It brings an audience that otherwise wouldn't watch and brings in dollars that otherwise wouldn't be spent, especially guaranteed paychecks from advertisers who know the views will be there.

[lefty1978]

On 2/26/2021 at 4:21 PM, PedronNiall said:

How many extra viewers do you think MLB games get at times just by having the right celeb throw out the first pitch, even if they do it horribly?

Zero 

[joostin]

Ambassador for LPGA directly...nah.  But as someone who loves golf, is pretty darn good, is in movies, and is cute, her social media presence probably does more for the game than any old school ads could do, which are mainly seen by the golf watching crowd.

 

Younger gals (and guys) are definitely out there inspired by seeing her play on social even if they didn't tune in to the pro am.  Thumbs up KN!

[Talldog]

On 2/11/2021 at 12:47 PM, jimbonecrusher said:

I think the LPGA would be smart to try to couple some of the players with a few non-LPGA players in order to be "brand ambassadors" and help grow the idea of "golf girls" or the other initiatives they have going. 

It's called a pro-am.

 

Combining some LPGA & male amateurs would be a good idea too.

[Dan33185]

9 hours ago, lefty1978 said:

Zero 

Agreed, I can think of exactly one moment where I cared about any "celebrity" throwing a first pitch, and that was President Bush after 9/11.

[PedronNiall]

On 2/28/2021 at 5:19 PM, Dan33185 said:

Agreed, I can think of exactly one moment where I cared about any "celebrity" throwing a first pitch, and that was President Bush after 9/11.

You aren't representative of all people by any means. You know what I think is annoying to no end? Movie previews that give away the entire movie. You know what kind of movie previews are most likely to get the average person into theaters? Previews they give away the entire movie. 

 

Just because something doesn't move the needle for the average golfwrxer doesn't mean it doesn't move the needle for the average American. They wouldn't bother paying celebs appearance fees or paying to advertise their presence if it didn't make a difference.

[Dan33185]

11 hours ago, PedronNiall said:

You know what kind of movie previews are most likely to get the average person into theaters? Previews they give away the entire movie. 

 

What an apples and oranges comparison, but ok.

[Brandyb96817]

On 2/11/2021 at 10:45 AM, Bad9 said:

How is an actress hardly anyone ever heard of a help to the LPGA?

I've been a fan of hers for a long time... okay, here's the breakdown. Her screen career started at age 4 on a soap opera and she had a recurring roll on Supernatural which is a tv show that ran 15 years, that's where I got to see her chops. Loved her, been following her since. She's been in The Society, Big Little Lies, Blockers, and this past year, Freaky. Blockers and Freaky are hilarious. So her dad who is a semi-pro or retired pro golfer taught her to golf at age 8. She's put out a bunch of how-to golf videos and she almost went semi-pro herself. She's played with Michelle Wie as friends on her off time. She's played in a number of celebrity tournaments for years. Hope this helps to shed some light! I love golf because my grandfather got me into it but I suck so I felt like wow! Somebody else loves golf too! So I think she'd be great as an embassador! Does that help any? 

[Bad9]

4 hours ago, Brandyb96817 said:

I've been a fan of hers for a long time... okay, here's the breakdown. Her screen career started at age 4 on a soap opera and she had a recurring roll on Supernatural which is a tv show that ran 15 years, that's where I got to see her chops. Loved her, been following her since. She's been in The Society, Big Little Lies, Blockers, and this past year, Freaky. Blockers and Freaky are hilarious. So her dad who is a semi-pro or retired pro golfer taught her to golf at age 8. She's put out a bunch of how-to golf videos and she almost went semi-pro herself. She's played with Michelle Wie as friends on her off time. She's played in a number of celebrity tournaments for years. Hope this helps to shed some light! I love golf because my grandfather got me into it but I suck so I felt like wow! Somebody else loves golf too! So I think she'd be great as an embassador! Does that help any? 

Sorry Kathryn I was critisizing you just pointing out you're not particularly well known, at least on Golfwrx judging by the responses in this thread.

[north_east_pro]

She did an Insta QandA yesterday where she confirmed her handicap is +2 and that her lowest score in a competition was 5 under par.

 

Said it with plenty of swagger too. 🤑