Birdies & bogeys

Even if you’ve never picked up a golf club outside of a roadside mini-golf course, you’ve no doubt run across people, especially on Monday mornings, who can’t wait to describe, in painstaking detail, how they mucked up their weekends playing golf. And they can’t wait to get out there again next week.

They’re a dedicated and frustrated lot, for sure.

At least their dedication is paid off by having two superb magazines about the sport — Time Inc.’s Golf and Condé Nast’s Golf Digest.

Ahead of the US Open, one of golf ’s four major tournaments, we took a look at both magazines’ June issues (they both tout US Open previews) and believe Jerry Tarde, editor-inchief of Golf Digest, has the better product to get fans ready for this year’s US Open.

For starters, Tarde’s publication has a much better sense of humor. Both titles have a Q&A with 2016 Open champ Dustin Johnson, but Golf Digest’s is better. They both have stories about the making of the Erin Hills course where the Open will be played, but Golf Digest’s was written by someone who helped design the course and has more inside dope than its rival. Plus, Tarde dishes up The Digest, a two-page spread of humorous golf-related items that is very well done.

Tarde, on the job for 33 years, also offers up this piece of advice for readers thinking about attending a PGA Tour event. It comes from Erin Walker, wife of golf pro Jimmy Walker. Get there early on Thursday or Friday, she suggests, as “The crowds are smaller, and usually no one is drinking (or yelling) yet.”

Each magazine has its all-star lineup of pros giving tips on how to improve your game.

At Golf, however, the columnists too often make themselves the center of the story — falsely believing that it will increase their credibility should we know they were on site at a key moment in a past Open. And we’re thinking about you, Alan Shipnuck.