Golfweek Debuts Monthly Issue, New Attitude

The bad news first: another print publication has contracted. Golfweek, the trusted weekly serving the game over 40 years, will now be published 12 times a year.

The good news: Golfweek's new monthly issue, available as a print and/or digital edition for just over $20 a year, successfully targets golfers who eat, sleep and love golf. Plus, they will continue with a weekly digital issue that keeps the "week" in Golfweek as relevant as ever.

Editor Gerry Ahern, brought on board by publisher Dave Morgan when Gannett purchased Golfweek last fall, explains the changes and new attitude in this post today. He even reaches out to readers for feedback:

Serious golfers, Golfweek is your magazine. We aim to be bigger, better and more compelling than ever. You can help us get there. Share your thoughts on the new look and feel of the print magazine, the digital magazine, the email newsletters and the website. How can we serve you better? Send your ideas, comments and suggestions to gahern@golfweek.com.

While I've gone through just some of the stories in the 82-page issue, I'm looking forward to reading this in print even more. The January issue appears to have a good blend of the traditional Golfweek franchises, only with some meatier features that might have been shorter in the weekly format. There is a sense of discovery with each page your turn and a feeling that Golfweek is aggressively trying to serve smart, core golfers who enjoy reading about the business of golf.

The table of contents:

A Donald Trump feature by Martin Kaufmann and Bradley Klein gets plenty of space, a list of the top 40 influencers in the game is sure to generate some discussion (and probably some hurt feelings). Other welcome editions include mental game coverage from Dr. Bob Winters, guest columnist Brad Faxon, a short profile of caddie John Wood, a review of Tiger's Bluejack National, an instruction piece from Ariya Jutanugarn and player profiles on junior golfer Noah Goodwin and LSU’s Sam Burns.

The design does not drift far from the current Golfweek look, but printed on higher quality paper, should provide something you can put on a coffee table. That is, if you don't mind looking at illustrated versions of Donald Trump and Tiger Woods this month.

Comments

[OB]

This table of contents lacks stories on golfers getting high, Rickie Fowler's new hair, 28 ways I can lower my score by peeing on the greens and a Q&A with someone under the age of 30 who photographs well. Sign me up.

[The Vog]

Golf Digest can go fly a kite now. GO Golfweek!

[ol Harv]

Longtime Golfweek subscriber and reader who knew it was only a matter of time. No publication did quite the job GW did when it came to college, amateur, and especially mini-tour coverage. Always fun to follow guys that were once fellow competitors in junior and college golf. Unfortunately, because of ad revenue decreasing so dramatically, space has become so limited which leads to less and less coverage of the low profile events. Still have many old, old issues that I treasure. Hope the monthly format works for them.

[GolfGirl]

Donald Trump on the cover is something of a buzzkill, IMHO.

[well read]

"The bad news first, another print publication has contracted"
This is not bad news, it is progress, Now if only Golf Digest would "contract"...and go away for good.
These rags have disentegrated into trivia, pushing puff pieces of zero value to any audience.
Just received my latest Golf Digest, only 100 pages including 31 pages of ads. Quite a few of these were "selfie" ads for GD and Condé Nast owned entities. In other words, the ad space ain't sellin so let's fill it up "our own self".
Some good news though, a half page ad at the end of the latest Golf Digest: "Erectile Dysfunction Affecting Your Drive? Get Back In The Game, Find Your Best Cure" What a mess, the golf print media.

[Bud]

Sorry to see it go. GW was the last remaining golf magazine that I paid for. I subscribed many years ago, when it covered competitive golf and the golf industry. I looked forward to what was once a weekly magazine to read with my morning coffee. I think that it was down to about 20 issues per year recently. I have no interest in a monthly - I can't see how that will differ from the competitors trash. GW has slowly been going the way of the others (Golf & Golf Digest) with poor content and dropping of competitive golf coverage and good golf writing.

I guess that there are no more good golf magazines. I don't want a monthly "cure your slice" article or advertisements posing as articles. I have to laugh at the magazines filled with golf tips, and the standard letter to the editor on how a tip added 10 years to drives and cut handicap in half.... Anyone trying all of these tips would end up a mess!

It seems that magazines much re-write equipment press releases as articles on "club tests" or "what's in the bag". There is an amazing correlation between travel articles and resort advertisers. Lastly, the hipster articles on cigars, range finders, electronics, cars, etc. are completely worthless attempts to find an audience.

Someone needs to write quality golf articles. Otherwise web blogs will have no content to link to....

[Golden Bell]

well read,
Presuming there are ads to support it, what do you want to see in a golf publication?

[Schlasser]

Mr. Well Read; you wrote "...and go away for good" regarding Golf Digest. Are you suggesting that since you don't care for that particular magazine, no one on earth should have the opportunity to read it? If you don't like it, don't read it. But why would you want no one else to have a chance to read it?

[Finished]

It's not Golfweeks fault or Golf Digest. the audience is just not there. Just not enough interest in the game of golf to sustain the print media. Kids don't read golf magazines and don't really play golf either.

[John]

I know some folks at GW so I wish them only the best, but I also know fully well that being bought by Gannett is NEVER a good thing.

[Don]

The last decent golf magazine is now gone. It had the few remaining good golf writers.

Now we're left with magazines full of "articles" that are really promos for equipment manufacturers and resorts.

Tiger & Trump on the cover? They forgot the scantily-clad female golfer and the "You won't believe..." headline.

[BrianS]

It isn't just golf people, all magazines are dead men walking. Why in the world would people pay for a hard copy - by definition - behind the times, when just about all of the content is migrating online, in many cases for free ? Newspapers as well. The Ipad and its counterparts did away with the last barrier - the ability to carry the thing around the house and read wherever - and I mean wherever - you want.

[Tony the Tiger]

What a great 1st cover for the new iteration of this magazine!

Donald Trump is exactly what a moribund America needed and Tiger Woods coming back to save the day for golf!!

2016 is going to be gggrrrrrreeeEEAAAT!!!!!

[Shivas]

What a joke. Maybe now they'll pare back their Rating Panel back by 3/4 to 200 like it once was, given the 75% reduction in publication.

Fat chance.

Expect higher Annual Fees for access-seeking. And expect premium tariffs on Rater Retreats to jump like Obamacare premiums.

[Kentucky Blue Grass]

Yawn...

[Bert Stamps]

Shouldn't this call for a name change?

[Shivas]

can you even imagine the whining on the golf access websites if rating panels were cut by 3/4?

It'd be comical to listen to all phonies, poseurs and cheapskates face their inevitable come-uppances and the end of their freebie gravy trains.

[Geoff]

Bert,
They still plan a weekly digital edition similar to what they do now and what Global Golf Post does. So in theory it will be very much a weekly.

[Pat(another one)]

BrianS, I never had a problem with magazines going wherever I wanted in my house. :-)

[Brad Ford]

If they want to grow the subscription base, they need to avoid politics.

[jonathan knoxville]

Very much agree with each of Shvas' postings.

[sam]

Does Trump even like golf?

[Andy]

Is the new magazine not going to cover the tour events? That was always the best part of it, that the previews for the majors and the occasional historical feature.

[DavidC]

Opened the digital edition of the monthly and have to say, it's pretty darn good. Or maybe Golf and Golf Digest have gotten so bad that my expectations were low, but there was plenty of really good stuff to read. Now we'll see how they do on the weekly tour coverage and web. But a nice start Golfweek.

[Steve Elling]

Shouldn't it be called GolfMonth?

[Carl Peterson]

It's a good thing, for golf writers, that there are jobs at Lowe's.