Decidedly O/T Golf Digest becomes the Gentleman's Quarterly

[Bob_Huntley]

After being a subscriber to GD for a long time I decided to let my subscription drop.

The publication was on a downward spiral but the covers of Pauline Gretzky and her exercise program together with Keegan Bradley's fashion show was a bit much. The whole tenor of the Digest is pandering to something other than the game I know.

I realize I might sound like a grumpy old man but I remember the story of a Major in the Coldstream Guards on coming through the carnage of Dunkirk in 1940. When asked what was it like on the beach, he replied, in a very plummy upper class accent " My dear boy, the noise the, People!.

Bob

[mike_beene]

Bob, I have had the same reaction. It just doesn't interest me when I get it. Maybe I am out of touch but the stories seem to lack any depth.Maybe a younger crowd, who thinks of a course as a track, still reads it.

[Tom_Doak]

They are trying to sell golf to the millennials.

Unfortunately, not many of them play golf.

[David Kelly]

The decline of golf coupled with the decline of print have the GD people grasping at straws.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Must read in the latest issue:

"Taking Relief" When you gotta go. you gotta go.

A journalistic masterpiece on urinating on the golf course.

My subscription expires 3/16. I think I'll cancel now.

[Garland Bayley]

They are trying to sell golf to the millennials.

Unfortunately, not many of them play golf.

Nor do they read print media. 

[Peter Le]

No need to read anything since GD wants everyone to download the e-version on their iPad and simply watch the videos and flashy transitions. those weekly GD emails to download the iPad version = junk bin.

[Brent Hutto]

You guys cancelling your subscriptions...good move but don't imagine they will ever, ever quit sending you their rag every month. Once you are on a magazine subscription list they'll keep on sending them whether you pay up or not.

[Terry Lavin]

I'm adding a subscription. Keep Hope Alive!

[JLahrman]

Bob, I have had the same reaction. It just doesn't interest me when I get it. Maybe I am out of touch but the stories seem to lack any depth.Maybe a younger crowd, who thinks of a course as a track, still reads it.

Who calls it a track? I've never heard anyone under 40 say that.

The obsession with Paulina Gretzky has been just plain creepy.

[mike_beene]

Maybe "track" is a red neck term. It seems to go hand in hand with a leather staff bag, a golf cart and a cigar. It seems to be a term the younger guys who worry about what club they hit , but everyone seems younger than me now. Perhaps I have offended a number of people with my explanation.They probably find my push cart more offensive than my opinion.

[Matthew Essig]

I am a millennial and I think the changes are nothing more than a downward spiral, too.

[Carl Johnson]

So, I guess Land's End shouldn't be sending out free copies of Golf Digest either.

[Matthew Rose]

Stopped getting it a year or so ago, after having read it for 30 years. I don't really miss it.

It lost me when it became obsessed with "buddy trips".

[Dan Kelly]

Desperate times, desperate measures.

Not that there's anything wrong with "buddy trips"!

[Mike Sweeney]

Slightly serious question, what does this mean for Golf Digest rankings, which used to be the standard, but have also been slowly fading? Here is a better system from now 2007?

I conducted the world ranking below because many of the people that post within the GolfClubAtlas Discussion Groupcriticize Golf Digest’s rankings. Because the GolfClubAtlas.com postersare more “educated” than the general golfing public, I thought we would get a very interesting list.The final outcome below shows that we did.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/matthew-hunt-another-take-on-a-world-top-100-ranking/

[Pat Burke]

I stopped buying GD even when I fly.
Desperate in an airplane and still no

[Mark Pritchett]

Slightly serious question, what does this mean for Golf Digest rankings, which used to be the standard, but have also been slowly fading? Here is a better system from now 2007?

I conducted the world ranking below because many of the people that post within the GolfClubAtlas Discussion Groupcriticize Golf Digest’s rankings. Because the GolfClubAtlas.com postersare more “educated” than the general golfing public, I thought we would get a very interesting list.The final outcome below shows that we did.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/matthew-hunt-another-take-on-a-world-top-100-ranking/

High praise for Dancing Rabbit, Cobblestone, Peter Jans, Annbriar and some others we don't usually hear about in World 100 rankings. 

[John Mayhugh]

I stopped buying GD even when I fly.
Desperate in an airplane and still no

Delta hands them out for free in their lounge.  That's the only way I end up seeing it.

I want to think that there is a market for magazines that focus on intelligent discussion of golf courses, travel, and the game.  Most are just an infomercial for the equipment companies, it seems.

[Bill Crane]

I am a magazine junky, especially golf mags.

This publication is mud to me now, and I am a long time subscriber.

The last six months topics included Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll and when you can take a leak on the course.

Maybe they are marketing to a younger audience, but in a tasteless manner disrespectful to the game.

One guys opinion.


Wm Flynnfan

[Dan Herrmann]

You guys cancelling your subscriptions...good move but don't imagine they will ever, ever quit sending you their rag every month. Once you are on a magazine subscription list they'll keep on sending them whether you pay up or not.

I'm very happy to report that they quit sending me issues after I cancelled.  Not only does it free up my home from idiotic articles of rubbish, it also saves me from the stench emanating from the men's perfume (cologne) ads.

[Bill Vogeney]

They are trying to sell golf to the millennials.

Unfortunately, not many of them play golf.

they may play golf but they sure aren't buying magazines. The new format and content is a solution looking for a problem. They will out of business in 24 months.

[mike_beene]

Is Golf Magazine already gone? I used to be excited each month when GD and Golf hit the mailbox.

[Andrew Buck]

You know your a contrarian at heart when these monthly threads only make you want to renew more.

[Peter Pallotta]

Desperate times, desperate measures.

Not that there's anything wrong with "buddy trips"!

Taking a trip with my buddies is one thing, reading about someone else's buddies is another. It's like watching another couple kissing -- they'd better be a damn fine-looking couple, and even then I'd really rather not.

Peter

P.S. If I know that and you know that, why don't the editors at GD? It's like what TD points out -- they'e trying to sell millennials, but millennials aren't playing golf. Now, TD's a smart fellow, but if he knows that should't GD editors know it too? (After all, isn't that part of the job?)