Golf Digest, in another sign of "the blossoming initiative to reconstruct golf," rolls out a reinvented magazine with its June issue, which has been "restyled visually with the hope of drawing more attention to new points of emphasis: technology, golf science and statistics," according to Bill Pennington of the N.Y. TIMES. The June issue, which has "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon on the cover, also contains articles about "smoking marijuana on the course, ways to enhance a golf cart with music-busting Bluetooth speakers, a core workout exercise, and a single South African golf hole that costs $175 to play but includes a helicopter ride from the tee to the green." Golf Digest President Peter Hunsinger said, "People perceive golf as a private club for 55-year-old white men. We have to break down those perceptions." Golf Digest’s prospective advertisers "are interested in reaching people 18 to 34." That "hardly separates Golf Digest from the rest of the publishing world, but Golf Digest has scrupulously accumulated data on what distinguishes millennial golfers from older golfers." The magazine's new research "helps paint a picture of the preferences, habits and peccadilloes of the millennial golfer." The results could be "a window into the future of recreational golf." Meanwhile, Hunsinger said that the magazine was "planning more features on LPGA players," including one on Paula Creamer in the June issue. Golf Digest’s leaders "frequently talked this week about providing a product that was 'edgy' and had 'attitude.'" But what of the "boomers who helped build the Golf Digest empire?" Golf Digest Editor-In-Chief Jerry Tarde said, "I don’t think we’ll drive anybody away; the risk is minimal. Golf is a big tent. ... We want to prove that we take our golf seriously but not solemnly" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/2). Ad revenue for Golf Digest’s print publication was $25.3M in Q1, down 5% from the same period in ’13 (THE DAILY).
