I first saw The Golfer’s Journal behind a glass case in Golf Galaxy; there was a stack of about six issues with an intriguing cover photograph showing at the top. I had never heard of it. It seemed confidential; my interest was piqued.
I didn’t buy it then, but months later, I thought of it, went online, and found a video they produced around the time of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. The video is about Mission Bay Golf Course, a par-58 short course in San Diego. The video contains a lot of the elements of golf courses that I love. These are features we all know, and features that still draw me in–the low-slung wooden clubhouse, the well-kept municipal course that draws quality players, and one of my favorites–the unassuming guy who doesn’t look the part, but who is really good.
I also saw that Tom Coyne was involved with TGJ, as the magazine refers to itself. I read one of Coyne’s books, Paper Tiger, about his attempt to drop everything and become a professional golfer. I enjoyed it. On the merits of the video and the memory of the glass case and Coyne’s involvement, I became a subscriber of the magazine. I have received two issues so far (I just received issue No. 18 in the mail the other day).
There is a certain mystique to TGJ. The issues aren’t sent out bare or in a simple plastic sleeve as some magazines are–they arrive in their own protective paperboard envelope. To call it a magazine is underselling it, it has more of the feel of an academic journal or trade publication. I get excited when I see it in the mail. The issues have an elegant feel with thick paper and quality binding. When I first get an issue, I flip through and am interested in reading nearly every article.
A subscription is fairly expensive–$75 for four issues a year. The high price is likely due to the limited number of ads that are in the magazine. But the photography alone is worth the price; it is stunning. Each issue has many full-page and double-page spreads of golf scenes from around the world. And as with the Mission Bay video, they incorporate a lot of panoramic drone photographs that are incredible.
Much of the writing is good. TGJ at its best celebrates how great golf can be in its purest forms; it also delves into the history of golf, golf architecture, and the many people in golf who aren’t famous but play important roles. Golf Digest and Golf magazine have their places in golf’s history, but both frequently become repetitive. The quick-fix tips, new equipment guides, and pages of ads and advertorials are thankfully absent from TGJ. The longish articles and lack of noise make the reading of TGJ a calming, immersive experience, more like reading a novel, less like social media.
Two recent articles stand out. In “American Safari,” (issue No. 18) V.J. Pappas describes five courses in and around Nebraska’s Sand Hills. Amidst his writing about these wide-open, minimalist courses, Pappas also provides his rationale for being from Philadelphia yet having four memberships in the area. Sand Hills Golf Club, the famed Coore and Crenshaw design, is very hard to get on, and Pappas liked the region so much, he wanted to be able to play on these courses without receiving a special invitation. I mapped the courses on Google while reading. It’s hard not to envy Pappas’s 29 trips to the area, but more so, it made me eager for my next golf trip, wanting to find something semi-unknown like some of these courses. Golf traveling as adventure, and, again, more stunning photography.
“The Road to Diùranais,” (issue No. 17) by Greg Ohlendorf, is similar. In Dornoch, Scotland, for a week, a local friend insists that Ohlendorf go even farther north to a “handmade nine-holer” called Durness Golf Club. He couldn’t resist, and he goes on to argue that a unique experience like playing Durness can be more memorable than playing a top-rated course with all the amenities. Again, adventure golf exploration, the article makes you want to try this, makes you envious of the author for getting to do this, and viewing the pictures reminds you of why golf anywhere is such a draw.
Subscribe/join The Golfer’s Journal; you won’t regret it.
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