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.