Love Sex and Desire: Carly Booth posed nude for magazine before Ricoh Women's British Open: how this private school girl's naked ambition is causing a stir at home of golf

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Carly Booth posed nude for magazine before Ricoh Women's British Open: how this private school girl's naked ambition is causing a stir at home of golf

Carly Booth posed nude for magazine before Ricoh Women's British Open
She said she took some persuading to do the shoot for ESPN Magazine
Miss Booth has said she wants to make golf more appealing for girls

You can almost hear the collective gasp of horror in clubhouses across the land.
Carly Booth has staked her claim as the new face – and more to the point new body – of women’s golf by stripping off for a daring photoshoot.
The 21-year-old posed nude for a sports magazine before taking part in the Ricoh Women’s British Open in St Andrews, Scotland this weekend.

Carly Booth posed nude for a sports magazine before taking part in the Ricoh Women's British Open in St Andrews, Scotland

And if the former private schoolgirl’s naked ambition wasn’t enough to shock some of the more genteel members of the golf community, her tattoos might be.

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She has five in total, one of which – on her hip – is a quote adapted from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

Miss Booth has said she wanted to make golf more appealing for girls

The professional golfer, who attended the independent Glenalmond College in Perthshire, said she took some persuading to do the shoot, for ESPN Magazine’s ‘The Body Issue’. ‘It took me a while to decide that it was something I wanted to do,’ she said.
‘The more I looked into it and saw the type of athletes that had done it before, then I realised it was a great honour to be asked.’
Her father Wally, 73, was relaxed about the pictures – but not about the tattoos. Mr Booth, a former silver medallist in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games, said: ‘I looked at the picture – it isn’t sexy or anything – and just saw the tattoo because I didn’t know she had one.
‘When I was younger people with tattoos were getting them taken off, so I’ve always been against them.’
Miss Booth said she wanted to make golf more appealing for girls. ‘I paint my nails, I wear big earrings,’ she explained. ‘I wear a lot of colour, but I wear pink the most.
‘I think it’s only going to be a positive outcome if we all try to make ladies’ golf a bit more glamorous.
Male golf has been more dominant. We want young girls to see us and think, “Oh, I love her – I love what she’s wearing”. We want them to pick up the sport and we want to be good role models.’