Has Golf Digest (sigh) jumped the shark?

You hit that one out of the park!

 

I'm a two-times-a-week player, and as an offseason cover, this doesn't bother me at all.

I stopped reading golf magazines except when traveling -- which these days is never -- because I get about 8 million conflicting stories about how to add those 10 yards when basically, if I get squared up and shift my weight and swing like I should, I'll be fine. A lot of this just confuses me more.

 

i usually gloss over the in-depth instruction stuff -- not that interesting and for every instructor telling you one thing, there's another telling you something else. And with david ledbetter, you need some kind of prop that he'll be happy to sell you.
i keep subscribing but I read GD less and less.

 

They had Jack Nicholson earlier in the year (or last year), and that was decent. There are three columnist worth reading: Dan Jenkins, David Owen and our own Dave Kindred. The features are hit-or-miss, with the big takeout on golf and the environment this summer a big hit. But the instruction stuff is next to worthless, really. Hogan's Five Lessons set the standard, and that was 50+ years ago.
For timely golf news, read the sister pub: Golf World.

 

Maybe he keeps his balls in a box.

 

Month after month, Golf Digest offers reams and reams of instruction, and apparently 100,000's of readers gobble that stuff up.

I simply don't get it---I"ve been a golf writer for years and am a decent golfer, and I still can't understand how this incessant stream of instructional repetition and/or contradiction continues to sell so well. When you boil it down, nothing new in golf instruction has been offered since Hogan and Wind wrote the 5 Fundamentals. Exactly what is it that's keep these aparently gullibe readers coming back month after month?

I also agree---Yocum's My Shot interviews, which are now intermittent, is one of the truly must-reads of golf media today. They always leave me wanting more, such as the ones he did with Hale Irwin, Laura Baugh and Moe Norman.

 

some of the best instruction tips is in the breaking 100, 90, 80 segments.
most of the swing sequence stuff is worthless for 99.9 percent of the golfing population.

 

The instruction stuff sells because golfers have always sought and will always seek "the secret." Deep inside, they all "know" that there's one tip -- one tiny little unassuming tip -- that will turn their game completely around.

I know. I found mine several years ago. It was this: "You suck. Deal with it."

 

It's hit-and-giggle season for golf publications, too.

 

This is a subject near and dear to my heart, because I used to do some work for Golf magazine and was asked how it might be made better.

I said, flat out, get rid of all the instructional bullshit. I don't know anyone who reads it. I play golf, and I'd like to get better at playing golf, and I still don't read it. It's all the same, or all so different and contradictory, that it doesn't mean anything. And it takes up, like, half the frigging magazine.

They looked at me like I told them New Testament would read better without Jesus.

Instruction is the reason these magazines exist, apparently.

But to my thinking, if you put out a golf mag that had good (and honest) equipment and travel reporting, combined with well-reported and well-written features -- I think golfers are one category of reader who might actually give the time over to some real reading, and golf is one of those rare sports that's still good to write about -- then you'd have yourself a great magazine. Make golf seem cool, you know? Some fashion, some celebrity stuff like Justin (I think that's good), a dynamic front of book, regular My Shots and some hard-hitting columnists... I think it could be really great.

Anyone wants to seed me a few million to start it up, I'm all ears.