An Olympic Sham

Filed in archive Golf News on February 8, 2009

I received an email today from the folks at Mastro Communications in New Jersey.

They represent one of the companies that's underwriting a website where golfers can "vote" to have golf added to the roster of sports in the 2016 Olympic Games.

This June, the International Golf Federation, which is quarterbacking the effort, makes its pitch to the IOC executive board in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Unfortunately, the website appears to be little more than an exercise in gathering email addresses of golfers.

Once you vote "yes" or "no", your vote cannot be "registered" until you provide your name, country of residence and email address.

So, while you think you're helping the cause, in fact, you're simply helping a marketing firm build a database that they can sell to their clients who will then begin to pepper you with unsolicited emails.

And it doesn't seem as if your vote will make any difference to the IGF or the IOC at all; the IGF is already moving forward with massive support from golf organizations globally and the IOC does not accept petitions from the public.

The site itself is replete with grammatical errors, words omitted and links to pages that are "under construction".

Now I could be wrong about the intent of this website and on Friday, I requested further information from Mastro Communications.

They have not responded to my request for clarification but if I am in error, I will make it right in this space.