The Stuff Question: Editors' Blog: Golf Digest

The Stuff Question

Monday, March 19, 2007 Comments

"Without ads, who would pay for the media, the Good Fairy?"

The April issue has landed with a thud, and the cry you hear is from some readers who are working their way into the editorial. Here's David. "This is the situation that your editorial board has reached with your magazine. Do we want Golf or just stuff? We all know what golf is. And we know that, when we can find the articles, they are pretty good about golf, players, courses, etc... Getting to the articles is getting impossible because of all the stuff. It is eight pages to get to the table of contents which is printed just like the ads so it is easy to miss. There are enough renewal cards to fill my recycle bin. There are enough oversized, thick ads that just flipping to a page is damn difficult. I expect this behavior from those editors of fashion magazines. Not serious sports magazines. Please change. Or I will."

David wasn't alone. Jeff Welch and Joe Bonn both wrote about "annoying" heavy-stock inserts and the number of reply cards. We hear you. In fact, you've long been heard, and Golf Digest has for some time maintained limits on thickness and frequency of inserts. In a huge issue such as April those limits are tested. We walk a difficult line here. The fact that we have Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Hank Haney, David Leadbetter, Jim Flick and so many other great teachers and players writing exclusively for us—not to mention some of the best sports writers in the world—is due in large part to the great support of advertisers. In May, for example, you will receive a terrific booklet with all of our worldwide course rankings, thanks to special support from Rolex. What's more, and you may argue this, but studies show that you wouldn't like our magazine as much without advertising in it, especially equipment advertising. In the end, you are the judge of whether we suceed in achieving a proper balance between editorial and advertising. Thanks for telling us how you feel about it.

— Bob Carney

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Archived Comments (5) Click to expand

I play cheap golf so I give no attention to ads for $400 drivers and $200 shoes. However, I was interested and informed by the feature in last week's issue of GolfWorld in which pro golfers took us through the clubs in their bags. The kinds of clubs they carry and the reasons for the adjustments they make to them revealed aspects of the the pro mind at work that I don't recall GolfWorld getting at in its other features and columns. You do have a small item listing the clubs in the winners' bags each week. Perhaps you could expand that and add the players' commentary. Complementing this "through the bag" idea would be an occasional feature in which a player takes us through a course hole-by-hole. Nicklaus made us all aware of the importance of "course management" but I don't ever recall reading an article in any golf publication in which a top pro takes us through a course.

Posted by Arvid Sponberg March 20, 2007 4:46 PM

Arvid, I agree. I'm also a fan of this edit. We do this in Golf Digest monthly, but I'll pass along your comments to Mike Johnson at Golf World about expanding the list on his page.

Posted by Bob Carney March 20, 2007 6:33 PM

I agree with the comments on Davis Leadbetter's Chi Swing. If you really want to learn to golf swing, find a series of video's by John Jacobs. Simple and to the point they explain the how and why of the golf swing. I know Mr. Jacobs is retired but any input from him would be a boost to golfers.

Posted by Chuck Weisbaum March 21, 2007 1:24 AM

Chuck, thought you and our readers might want to revisit this story Golf Digest did on Jacobs. What a remarkable man and wonderful teacher. http://www.golfdigest.com/search/index.ssf?/features/gd200602jacobs.html

Posted by Bob Carney March 21, 2007 3:03 PM

Did anyone but me catch the irony in the February issue in a letter to Stina Sternberg on page 78? A writer asked if her girlfriend's chest could restrict making a good golf swing. Stina answered "for many women with large chests it's a real problem". This is belated redemption for Ben Wright who lost his career and was pillaried by the Golf establishmnet for making a similar comment on the air some years ago. I say Frank Chirkinian and the golf media owe Ben a long overdue apology.

Posted by Pat Sullivan March 22, 2007 3:42 PM