New UP Club Spurs Talk on Whether Golf Can Ever Be for All

(SPOT.ph) A newly minted club over at the University of the Philippines is off to a rocky start—they've already issued a formal statement apologizing for a certain hashtag they used on a Facebook post, even as their very existence has become a hot topic online. The UP Golf Club apologized on October 16 for the use of  #wagnyopokaminakawansacampus on one of their posts, saying that it was added in response to social media comments.

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UP Golf Club apologizes for "controversial hashtag"

"We sincerely apologize for the decision to add the hashtag “#wagnyopokaminakawansacampus", which unfortunately caused a misunderstanding of our club's principles and mission. We take full responsibility for the abrupt decision in including the said hashtag,” the statement reads. This hashtag was originally attached to an October 13 post of the club's meet up at a golf range in Quezon City, and was removed on the same day based on edit history, but not before the Internet could react. 

According to the statement, the club was "prodded" to include the hashtag after comments with "threats of mugging, sexual harassment, and assault on our members." The statement reads, "We also deplore the social media comments that conveyed messages to endanger the safety of our members."

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UP Golf Club: Can golf ever be for all?

While it was that lengthy hashtag that received the most pointed backlash, the new club became buzzy simply by virtue of what it is: A golf club in the Philippines' leading state university. And as seen in the first hashtag on the now viral Facebook post, they say #golfisforall. 

"The club is aware of the barriers to entry that exist to participate in the sport," they add in the statement. "Acknowledging this allows us to stay true to our vision and be committed to making the sport more inclusive and accessible to people from different backgrounds." More "community projects and events" have been added to their slate to put this ethos into practice, including free beginner golf tutoring, free golf clinics, open-to-all range sessions, and training for aspiring UP students. All this will funded by income-generating projects and sponsorships, reads the statement. 

While the comments' section on the formal statement was more of a mixed bag, with some congratulations, there were still those that pointed out it wasn't simply the use of the lengthy hashtag that is problematic. Golf is, after all, known to be a rich man's game, from the tools you need to the time, and yes, the space. A club like this signals something different from the University of the Philippines, where students are called mga isko at iska. Will offering free lessons change that?

The National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates (NNARA) – Youth UP Diliman issued their own statement on October 14 to express why "golfing is not giving," prefaced by acknowledgement of the "democratic right to organize and join organizations." They outlined their statement with three points: golfing is not for all if it results in displacement, golfing is not for all if it does more harm than good to the environment, and golfing is not for all if it perpetuates wage slavery of hardworking Filipinos.

Meanwhile, others responded in the usual Pinoy Internet culture way: memes of their very own specific type of clubs. In other words, clubs that seem out of place in an institution like the University of the Philippines. The correlation is clear. Can a sport, as it is now, meant only for a few ever rightfully exist in a school meant for all?