Headline: Global Golf Post Begins Seventh Year of Publishing... and Global Golf Post New England Returns For 2016 Season

For Immediate Release: January 11, 2016

Global Golf Post Founder Jim Nugent (shown above during an appearance on the Golf Channel) celebrates seven years of publication.

Norton, MA — The MGA is excited to embark on another year of partnership with Global Golf Post to bring Global Golf Post New England to Bay State golfers. This marks the third year of publication for the local edition.

Jim Nugent, Global Golf Post founder, traveled to Massachusetts last week to attend the MGA Salute to Champions Dinner and meet Bay State golfers.

Here is a story - provided by the staff at Global Golf Post - about the success and growth of what has become a digital golf revolution.

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It is said that every shot in golf makes somebody happy.

That is certainly true for golf journalism in the digital age.

Coverage of professional golf has all but disappeared from newspapers across the country. Coverage of the amateur game in America, never abundant, has disappeared; it is left to websites from state and regional golf associations to cover amateur golf.

Meanwhile, the national golf magazines find their business in free fall as reader behavior continues to change and advertisers react to these changes. The leading monthly golf magazines are shells of their former selves, with fewer paid subscriptions and declining ad pages. One of the weekly print magazines ceased publishing in 2014 and the other, now publishing just 26 issues, is no longer a true weekly publication.

But the tools created by the digital revolution have enabled others to fill the void. One shining example is GLOBAL GOLF POST, now beginning its seventh year of publishing. Founded in 2010 by golf media veteran Jim Nugent, The Post, as it is commonly tagged, is the first and leading digital golf magazine in the world.

“We saw what was possible before it became obvious” Nugent observed as he began to prepare for 2016. “Back then I thought, ‘Somebody will do this, so why not us?’ ”

“Back then” was 2008, when Nugent wrote the business plan for The Post.

“It was pretty clear that the digital revolution was going to harm all of the legacy publishers,” he said. “Newsweeklies of any kind were going to be the first to feel the impact; the golf print newsweeklies, dependent as they were on advertising, stood little chance of surviving, long term.”

And yet, the game of golf around the world has a weekly cadence; tournament week begins on Monday and ends the following Sunday when the final putt drops on the PGA, European or LPGA tours. Weekly publishing supporting this cadence dates to the late 1890s; one hundred years later, there were as many as four weekly golf news publications in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Nugent knew this first-hand, and not just because of his 15-year tenure at Golfweek. He grew up reading Golf World in the ’70s as a youngster working at a golf course outside Chicago.

“I loved that magazine. I used to sneak it out of the pro shop at night and put it back early the next day, before anyone would see that it was missing,” he said “It introduced me to my first golf heroes: Ben Crenshaw, Curtis Strange and Seve Ballesteros.”

In 2009, Nugent raised private capital, assembled a team and prepared to launch in January 2010.

“There were raised eyebrows at first,” he said. “But gradually, people came to understand that we simply were upholding the long tradition of weekly golf publishing. The words and images weren’t printed, they were pixilated.”

An important part of The Post’s success was the speed of delivery.

“As much as I loved Golf World, you still had to wait a week or more for the post office to deliver it,” he said. “In the digital era, the wait is eliminated. The Post is distributed to e-mail inboxes overnight Sunday, less than 12 hours after the final putt is holed on tour.”

Now entering its seventh year, The Post has three different, distinct editions, serving the United States, Canada and Europe, respectively. It is distributed to more than 1.5 million golfers each week, and it has become a respected and admired part of the global golf media landscape.

One thing that hasn’t changed in the digital era is the importance of quality content. The web is overpopulated by golf content, from news to instruction to the ever-popular slide shows featuring wives and girlfriends of prominent touring professionals. To succeed, it is critical to publish authentic, high-quality content. For that, Nugent has assembled a worldwide team of outstanding golf writers.

“I am truly humbled and honored to find my name on a masthead that has the names of Mike Purkey, John Hopkins, Ron Green Jr., Lewine Mair, John Steinbreder and Steve Eubanks on it,” he said. “These are among the finest golf writers of this or any generation. They took my idea and gave it life. They are the heroes of this effort.”

What’s next for The Post?

“We have so much runway ahead of us,” Nugent said. “We want more weekly readers in the three regions where we currently publish. We have a plan to publish is the Australasia region. And eventually, we expect to have editions serving the major golf nations in Asia. The word ‘global’ in our name is intentional; our ambitions are truly global.”