Hot off the Press - a new golf title

[Philip Gawith]

Today saw the launch in London of the first edition of Golf Quarterly - an auspicious occasion and hopefully the start of something special and enduring.

Despite a bluffers' guide to GCA by your's truly, it is absolutely NOT a GCA focused publication. Rather, as editor Tim Dickson says, "Our aim....is to produce a different kind of golf magazine to what you generally find in the newsagents or lying about the clubhouse - one that has a premium on wit. nostalgia and fine writing (not to mention fine wine).

To give you a flavour of articles in the first edition, they include a piece by the editor of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger on "Beethoven and Birkdale"; a piece by the late Bill Deedes, editor of the Telegraph, on a round with Ian Fleming; an article on the most popular and expensive red wines in 10 different clubs; Lord Curzon's private practice ground; Golf at 12,000 ft by Michael Pakenham.

I am sure a few on this site will enjoy this publication and some will certainly be potential contributors. To find out a little more or subscribe, visit www.golfquarterly.co.uk. Cost is £20 for 4 issues plus post.

[Brent Hutto]

Looks great, definitely worth checking out. Lord knows I haven't read any of the Tour-golf-plus-swing-tips magazines lately. This is a welcome antidote to the abysmal golf periodical scene.

I'll just set about finding a way to convey my 30 quid to the publisher...maybe when I'm in England for a few days in June I'll work something out...

[Jud_T]

Sign me up!

[Philip Gawith]

Jud, if you want to subscribe you must contact the magazine directly.

I have just read two great pieces from it. One hilarious (classic) piece is by Patrick Campbell,  a scratch golfer, about the six different swings he brought to the first tee (the Crouch, The Upright Classical, the Blacksmith's convulsive, the Retirred Colonel's Up and Down etc. The My Favourite Hole article is written by Ed Slevin about the 8th at Pine Valley - a great piece.

[john_stiles]

To add to Philip's thread, after a round in the London area,  I happened to be introduced to Golf Quarterly.  

It was something new to me and interesting to read (frankly I had forgotten about Philip's thread),    so here is a bit about the second quarter 2010 issue.

As a general description, the Golf Quarterly magazine is about 6 by 9 inches, has about 40 pages with color photos and illustrations.  And cue the drum roll please,  it  has no advertisements !

The lead article for summer 2010 issue was the editor's recent interview of Doug Sanders and includes a few revealing quotes.    The
color slipcover photo is interesting.  It shows the ball about a foot from the hole on the 18th at TOC,  his head seemingly following the
ball, with Sanders' right hand already coming off the putter.    A  sidebar recounts John Hopkins' ( former golf correspondent at Sunday
Times) observations of the 1970 Open.  Hopkins also recalled the famous silence by Longhurst after Sanders missed. Longhurst's explanation that there wasn't much to say about the putt on BBC coverage,  " as everyone could see Sanders miss."

The issue included a reprint of an interesting  Bernard Darwin article, a summary of the 2010 Halford Hewitt competition,  a nice write-up by Malcolm Hamer about golf novels,  an introduction (to me) about Frederick Partridge and his painting of Hunstanton and golf poem,  an article about Cinque Ports by Jeremy Lowe, a page on golf rules, etc.

It is a collection of old and new,  well known and obscure.  Very fun to read, put down, come back and reread.  It sits perfectly on a night table by the bed.

I am making arrangements to subscribe,  writing to the editor that it would sure be nice to use PayPal in the USA.  The magazine ( 4 issues) costs about  £30 for the US (£20 in UK) and it will provide as much pleasure as a dozen Titleists.  I ditched all my golf magazines several years ago and am ready for something different.  

It actually reminds me a little of the old USGA Journal.

Web site is  www.golfquarterly.co.uk

The editor is Tim Dickson ( editor@golfquarterly.co.uk )

[Andrew Mitchell]

I would also recommend Golf Quarterly, totally different to anything else on the golf writing market in the UK.  I've got fed up with the same old format trotted out by the other UK golf magazines(*) and this is like a breath of fresh air.

I subscribed after Nick Leefe showed me Philip's article in Issue 1.  I've thoroughly enjoyed reading both issues to date.

(*) I should point out that Adam Lawrence's excellent Golf Course Architecture is exempt from this criticism!

[Mark Chaplin]

Now a subscriber - top little edition.