coverage of women's golf in Golf Monthly

[CrapHacker]

[video=youtube_share;KM70Ogog124]http://youtu.be/KM70Ogog124[/video]

Now can you tell me that blokes can't learn from this.

Except JO of course.

I mean, no S&T in sight, just pure 'traditional' swing. But by lowering her plane she gets a straighter more penetrating ball flight. Simples. Nice rhythm too.

And I know nothing about ball flight laws, either. But Anna can teach me more than JO can. Anyday.

 

[Smiffy]

[video=youtube_share;KM70Ogog124]http://youtu.be/KM70Ogog124[/video]

Now can you tell me that blokes can't learn from this.

Except JO of course.

I mean, no S&T in sight, just pure 'traditional' swing. But by lowering her plane she gets a straighter more penetrating ball flight. Simples. Nice rhythm too.

And I know nothing about ball flight laws, either. But Anna can teach me more than JO can. Anyday.

How come the only word I noticed was "penetrating?"
:mmm:

 

[Tiger]

Ladies if the ladies golf magazines were like golf monthly but featured articles on the ladies game rather than the men's game would you be happiest? Or are you after a magazine that offers content on both the men's game and the ladies game? If it is the latter what balance of content are you looking for?

 

[Cobra_Nut]

I imagine Lady Golfer magazine sales are low is because you can pick it up for free at the club & Women & Golf shoot themselves in the foot by having it on sale in very places, Milton Keynes & Birmingham are the closet to us, they seem to favour a subscription method, all my daughter wants to do is pick one up in a shop & buy it. They are quite good mags though, I think having a golf monthly with a ladies section would get my daughter buying it.

 

[MashieNiblick]

However the reason we don’t have more women’s specific coverage than that is that it would not be appropriate as the percentage of female readers of the magazine has traditionally been around the 2-3 percent mark (the last reader survey we did showed only 42 out of 2465 respondents were female) and there are already two magazines devoted entirely to the women’s game, Lady Golfer and Women & Golf.

But Mike maybe the female readership is low because your coverage of the women's game is not as good as it could be and would be higher if there was more content aimed at female readers.

I think there must be more scope for some features which are aimed at women golfers. GM is the country's foremost golf magazine and should fully reflect the game and offer something to all players.

I agree most of the mag is aimed at everyone but I don't think a few pages with regular features on the women's game would be regarded as tokenism (help me here ladies) but a regular coaching item by a lady pro, a feature on equipment and amateur and professional events couldn't be the wrong thing could it? You might even see that 2-3% go up and get some interest from some advertisers who wouldn't normally think about GM.

I'm no businessman but it seems like:
1. we know there are a lot of women golfers and
2. we know they don't buy what's currently on offer for them
If I were a businessman that might look a bit like an opportunity.

 

[bluewolf]

Now I might be wrong here, but isn't a golf swing the same, no matter whats happening between the legs? Anyone on here who says that they can't learn something from the top pro's on the ladies tour is delusional. Who would it hurt if some of the "I can knock 10 shots off your round" articles were written by women golfers. Hitting a golf ball is universal... It might even start to encourage some of the young girls who currently play with their dads to carry on playing after the age of 14. Come on GM, give it a chance and be a market leader....

Oh, and making sure they wear short skirts won't hurt either.......

 

[AmandaJR]

couple of quick points...
1 whether it's intended to seem that way or not 2-3 pages smacks of tokenism. "Here you go love, heres your two pages, happy now?"
2 Sales figures for W&G and LG are 'modest' at best and that me being diplomatic. If lady golfers arent buying mags 100% dedicated to women's golf in any sort of volume then I very much doubt 2-3 pages in GM is going to have the female golfing population buying every issue

I guess it goes back to what I said. I believe that all content bar equipment reviews (and even then lower handicap lady players often play mens clubs but with softer flex shafts) is totally relevant to both male and female golfers who are serious about golf

Bingo! I for one feel that is exactly the way I want to be "treated" in the world of golf. I do play with men's clubs but regardless of that I think a lot of gear reviews do have relevance. Articles about technique, interviews with pro golfers, course guides etc etc aren't really gender specific.

As far as I see it the only golf-related difference between myself and HID is that he gets to play off the whites - a whole new topic there but I can only play to the rules of golf! Why don't we at least move to the yellows for comps though??

 

[AmandaJR]

[video=youtube_share;KM70Ogog124]http://youtu.be/KM70Ogog124[/video]

Now can you tell me that blokes can't learn from this.

Except JO of course.

I mean, no S&T in sight, just pure 'traditional' swing. But by lowering her plane she gets a straighter more penetrating ball flight. Simples. Nice rhythm too.

And I know nothing about ball flight laws, either. But Anna can teach me more than JO can. Anyday.

I like to watch her swing - lovely. She has a great name too and sooooo close to mine!

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

Hi Mike - thanks for addressing this. I understand what you're saying but do think as craphacker says you could boost your female readership with just a little more content; the odd female reader in one of your features perhaps. I did read the interview with Carly and Catriona and was pleased to see it.

I think there's a bit of a gap (for me anyway) in golf publications in that there's very little female content in the "main" mags like GM. However when I've read "Lady Golfer" it's not for me - too much pink stuff not enough golf.

Not read 'Lady Golfer' but the clue is in the title, if your a Lady and want to read about lady golf this should be the magazine for you, if you dont appreciate the content I suggest a letter to the editor. Male golfers as far as I am aware do not benifit from having 'male golfer' magazine, so I fail to see why Golf Monthly should devote more coverage to womens golf when it would only interest approx 3% of its readership.

 

[CrapHacker]

Not read 'Lady Golfer' but the clue is in the title, if your a Lady and want to read about lady golf this should be the magazine for you, if you dont appreciate the content I suggest a letter to the editor. Male golfers as far as I am aware do not benifit from having 'male golfer' magazine, so I fail to see why Golf Monthly should devote more coverage to womens golf when it would only interest approx 3% of its readership.

Purely because GM is NOT a male golfers mag, it is a golfers mag. Although it sounds like you want to keep it 98% exclusive to men.

If women make up, say 10-15% of golfers in this country, why should they settle for only 2% of the mag. ( I have no idea what % of golfers are female, but I'm sure the number must be findable).

Personally I'd prefer to read an interview with the occasional up and coming golfer (both male and female) rather than yet another advertorial about a very nice but too expensive holiday opportunity. Although I understand why these pieces are so important. So I say balance the bill paying piece with a personality piece and mix it all up a bit.

 

[CrapHacker]

I like to watch her swing - lovely, and sooooo close to mine!

Yeah right....

 

[bladeplayer]

So in these days when people strive for Equality , people want a sex (no smiffy) based section in the mag ? what parts of the mag are men only based can anyone tell me ,

Interviews = unisex
Equipment reviews = unisex
Rules = unisex
Forum page= unisex

Can ya see where im going with this , also we must not forget GM mag is a business , if the mags aimed firmly at female golfers dont meet expected market shares & sales it tells you the market is not there for this product , it would therefore be mad business to start aiming a section of your mag specificaly at a defunkt (ok slow) market .. If enough ladies wont buy a full mag aimed specificaly at their market in the hope of finding useful stuff they are hardly going to buy a mag with 3/4 pages in it in the same hope .. GM is a mag for golfers by golfers , for all golfers not just male ..

 

[CrapHacker]

So in these days when people strive for Equality , people want a sex (no smiffy) based section in the mag ? what parts of the mag are men only based can anyone tell me ,

Interviews = Male biased
Equipment reviews = Male biased
Rules = unisex
Forum page= unisexish

Can ya see where im going with this , also we must not forget GM mag is a business , if the mags aimed firmly at female golfers dont meet expected market shares & sales it tells you the market is not there for this product , it would therefore be mad business to start aiming a section of your mag specificaly at a defunkt (ok slow) market .. If enough ladies wont buy a full mag aimed specificaly at their market in the hope of finding useful stuff they are hardly going to buy a mag with 3/4 pages in it in the same hope .. GM is a mag for golfers by golfers , for all golfers not just male ..

FYP

BTW, if the mags aimed purely at women don't work, maybe GM can work better if it is aimed more at both sexes rather than just one of them. IE treat women as equals rather than just a subspecies that we wish would just go their own way and leave us men alone.

 

[bladeplayer]

FYP

BTW, if the mags aimed purely at women don't work, maybe GM can work better if it is aimed more at both sexes rather than just one of them. IE treat women as equals rather than just a subspecies that we wish would just go their own way and leave us men alone.

I thought that was what i was saying .. no ? IMO most of the stuff in GM is unisex . aimed at golfers . not men and women .. enlighten me then what part of the mag is purely aimed at men .. ? do you think a male golfer been interviewed is of no intrest to women ..? i enjoyed the ochoa , sorrenstam interviews & the write up on the solheim cup .. should they have held no intrest for me as they are about womens golf ?



p.s i have no idea what FYP means .. sorry

 

[FairwayDodger]

Ladies if the ladies golf magazines were like golf monthly but featured articles on the ladies game rather than the men's game would you be happiest? Or are you after a magazine that offers content on both the men's game and the ladies game? If it is the latter what balance of content are you looking for?

I read Golf Monthly every month and enjoy it; I like the general format and the tone of most articles. To improve it, for me, would not be to alter any of that; don't add a "Ladies Section". However an occasional female face cropping up would allow female readers to relate to it a bit better. Obviously content is always going to be heavily slanted towards men, being > 90% of the readership. I'm thinking subtle changes rather than 10 pink pages at the back.

To me, we're all golfers the whole concept of ladies' equipment and men's equipment is a distraction used mainly for marketing. Your gender does not affect your ability to swing a club; height and swing speed are significant. Personally, I use "men's" clubs with regular shafts.

 

[Philm]

FYP
treat women as equals rather than just a subspecies that we wish would just go their own way and leave us men alone.

see i just dont get this idea.

they are not a subspecies, BUT they do not fare aswell in (almost all) sports.

and it is simply due to a lack of interest.

STOP blaming men, its your fellow woman that you need to change not us.

Phil

 

[FairwayDodger]

I thought that was what i was saying .. no ? most of the stuff in GM is unisex . aimed at golfers . not men and women .. enlighten me then what part of the mag is purely aimed at men .. ?

You're right it is, it all applies to male and female golfers and I read it avidly. But when was the last time you saw an "ordinary" female golfer in it? There are features every month with male amatuer club players.... if every once in a while a female face cropped up we'd all feel..... included.

Anyway, sorry I'm not wanting to whinge - just providing constructive feedback to the OP.

PS. NOT angling to get in the mag!!!

 

[bladeplayer]

You're right it is, it all applies to male and female golfers and I read it avidly. But when was the last time you saw an "ordinary" female golfer in it? There are features every month with male amatuer club players.... if every once in a while a female face cropped up we'd all feel..... included.

Anyway, sorry I'm not wanting to whinge - just providing constructive feedback to the OP.

PS. NOT angling to get in the mag!!!

When you say ordinary do you mean like forumers aswell as elite amatuers ?? the forum pages has a meet the forum section , (very handsome members last month too) all you have to do is email your details in , there is no ability or sex criteria to meet .. the reports on the amatuers does include females , it even did in the current mag (I did read it but cant remember names of the men or the women)
defo not a whinge good to hear different opinion , & i think you SHOULD get in the mag

 

[Oddsocks]

couple of quick points...

2 Sales figures for W&G and LG are 'modest' at best and that me being diplomatic. If lady golfers arent buying mags 100% dedicated to women's golf in any sort of volume then I very much doubt 2-3 pages in GM is going to have the female golfing population buying every issue

this was my gut feeling, why pay £4 a month for 3 pages, when they can pay equal ammounts for a mag dedicated to their golf. Maybe in the economical climate was more stable but in relation people are making the smallest of cut backs.

Flip the coin, as a male reader would i buy a womans golf mag if they agreed to give us blokes 3 pages to keep us happy?

Its not me being sexist in anyway, but it seems TG & GM have their known target audience, as do the ladies golf mags.

You cant please everyone.

 

[patricks148]

You're right it is, it all applies to male and female golfers and I read it avidly. But when was the last time you saw an "ordinary" female golfer in it? There are features every month with male amatuer club players.... if every once in a while a female face cropped up we'd all feel..... included.

Anyway, sorry I'm not wanting to whinge - just providing constructive feedback to the OP.

PS. NOT angling to get in the mag!!!

I've just een flicking though this months mag and can i bring pages;

62-63 two photo's of a young lady winning the junior section of HDID

74 -75 yours sports personality of the year, again a young lady and two para about am ladies golf.

to your att, its not like theres no women/ ladies golf in the mag anyway.

Its a golf mag for golfers, no matter what sex they are.