OT - "Where have all the golf writers gone?"

[Carl Johnson]

Where is the golf writer willing to write the piece that volunteerism has taken the game away from the working mans hands and put it square in the lap of the private jet riding industrial conglomerate? Where is the journalist willing to put his career on the line to protect what he loves? Did they ever exists? Have we really lost anything?

I disagree with your rationale, but I agree with your conclusion.  I've always asked myself why anyone would ever volunteer at a professional golf tournament.  I never have and never will.  They don't ask for volunteer ushers at pro football games (but if they did, they might have some takers).  I guess you get in to the golf for free, but how much can you see as a volunteer?  If you volunteer for one day, do you get to watch as a spectator, for free, another day?  I have no idea.  Maybe you get a free shirt.  Is that enough?  Obviously, the real benefits are intangible.  Hard for me to criticize someone else for valuing the intangible benefits, though there would not be any such benefit for me.

[BCowan]

You, sir, may have to be that writer! Ask not what golf writing can do for you; ask what you can do to make it worth reading again!
You and the Judge would make a terrific team.Multi platform forgettables is a marvelous phrase - the old rock journalist has still got it! I have seen the future of golf course writing, and its name is Terry & John.

Jkava could make one hell of a golf book for on the John, with Golf humor.  He doesn't need any Klinger ons. 

[Ian Andrew]

How many of you pay for the newspaper or golf magazines?
 
The internet has opened up new resources like this one, but at the same time ruined journalism by destroying the financial value of the written word. There's a great documentary on the current state of cartooning - called Stripped - that describes how the most recent cartoonists survive without newspapers or journals. If you want to know where things might go, this would be a great insight into what may come.


There are lots of web sites to gain information, the biggest problem is they no longer have the same levels of oversight or accountability.

[Joe Schackman]

I know a lot of golf writers but have never heard of any of those you listed.  Do you have links for them?

Sorry was away from the keyboard this weekend.

The Knockdown: http://www.golf.com/the-knockdown

Alan Shipnuck, SI's golf writer, basically got his own corner of the internet to do whatever golf stories he wants. If you have some time today read the excellent piece "When really really good isn't good enough". Basically about a DIII golfer who tries to make it to the PGA Tour. This is a much more traditional outlet but definitely personifies what I meant in the my first post about golf coverage not deteriorating but really just shifting.

No Laying Up: http://nolayingup.com/

Take this one with a grain of salt. It is not a website dedicated to journalist excellence. But rather a more fun outlet for PGA Tour and general golf coverage. They don't take the golf too seriously and kind of joke around about some of the uptightness of the game. This is more geared towards a younger generation. They usually do a podcast once a week which is the best part of the site. They have gotten some great guests: Rory, Spieth, Justin Thomas, David Feherty and Jamie Diaz. There is some affiliation to the Fried Egg which Andy Johnson runs (and Tom appeared on a few weeks ago).

Shane Bacon's Podcast: http://www.foxsports.com/podcasts/story/the-clubhouse-with-shane-bacon-022717

Shane Bacon is a part of FOX. He does some writing and works on the US Open coverage but his podcast is the best thing he does. He is a bit more traditional in his coverage but has also gotten some great guests including Gil Hanse and Keith Pelley

[Peter Pallotta]

Ian, Joe - I hear you, but I'd say this: that Augusta and the Masters is now the place/tournament/rite that it is in large part because HHWind made it that. In 10,000 words he treated the golf course and the event as important, and so both became important. Good writing serves as a meaning maker; it deepens and enriches a person/event, not just reports on them - or worse, serve as simply a vehicle to celebrate the writer's own personality.

[Joe Schackman]

Ian, Joe - I hear you, but I'd say this: that Augusta and the Masters is now the place/tournament/rite that it is in large part because HHWind made it that. In 10,000 words he treated the golf course and the event as important, and so both became important. Good writing serves as a meaning maker; it deepens and enriches a person/event, not just reports on them - or worse, serve as simply a vehicle to celebrate the writer's own personality.

Peter. I'm not belittling the value of these things. I understand and respect what good writing provides. What I was going after is the fact that the full-time golf writers as we knew them might be gone but there is no lack of quality content out there.

It just is in different formats, in different places and from different people than we traditionally expect.