The Golfer’s Journal not your average golf magazine

Last summer, word was circulating on some golf-related social media feeds about a new golf magazine that was unlike anything even the sport’s most voracious fans had ever seen.

It was only to be published four times per year and would have minimal commercial content. The idea is that it would be entirely funded by the US$75 annual subscription fee and few advertisers, just six to start.

Sort of like The Masters model where in exchange for premier status as only one of three Masters broadcast sponsors, Mercedes Benz, AT&T and IBM own the entire exclusive content of the weekend’s commercial interruptions.

To understand the genesis of what would be launched as The Golfer’s Journal, you need to understand a couple developments, both of which share an epicentre in the laid back, flipflop wearing culture of southern California.

First is The Surfer’s Journal, a hardcore surfer magazine that has been in existence since 1992. Described as more book than magazine, its reason for being is articulated by its publisher:

“A reader-supported surf publication … vivid, authoritative, and independent … Balance. Color. Story. And purist surf energy from Page One to close-ofbook.”

The second development goes back to the birth of Ashworth and its attachment to its primary spokesman and advertising model, Fred Couples. Ashworth clothing took the golfing world by storm in the 1990s, striking a chord with more stylish, comfortable, yet relaxed golf attire than previously available.

The company spawned a number of other golf companies in the years since that seemed to be as much about cool California golf attitude as they were about a specific piece of clothing or equipment. One was founded by John Ashworth himself, Fidra, and others include Travis Matthew and the latest, LinkSoul, one of The Golfer’s Journal’s six corporate backers.

I’m now in possession of the first three issues of The Golfer’s Journal. Here’s some of the titles of the articles contained in those picture perfect editions: That Would Be Perfection, the story of North Berwick’s (Scotland) 14th hole that is nicknamed Perfection, with an ironic wink and nudge; Don’t Be a Sheep, about the author’s visit to Sheep Ranch, the 100 acres of pure golf that sits just north of the Bandon Dunes courses in Oregon, and that right now is a seemingly random layout of 13 greens and a few pieces of fairway that aren’t particularly laid out in the form of holes— you just play where you want, to whatever pin you want.

Mixed in between these interesting stories of course architecture are essays on the founding women of the LPGA Tour, and one on the Louisville Golf company that still hand makes wooden drivers and woods.

Rather than thinking of it as a golf magazine that only comes out four times per year, think of it as the most amazing golf book ever, that just keeps on going, with new chapters released every three months. Hopefully the story will never end.