Golf Monthly Constructive Criticism

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thecraw

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Last week after golf while having a bite to eat it was brought up, (and not by me) how much GM had dropped off in the reading stakes!

I am going to be brutally honest here and say that I think Golf Monthly has gone down hill.

I find now that a quick browse of the magazine is enough and over the past few months there has been very very little to grab my attention and make me read the magazine. Apart from the top 100 courses I can't think of anything that's grabbed me or made me think that was a good read.

Take Golf World as a comparison, the interviews are absolutely fantastic, they are much more in depth and frankly more to the bone. The interview with Dustin Johnson was awesome, from being involved in a gangland slaying to his feelings about that "bunker" incident. Going back a few months the Peter Alliss interview was probably one of the best magazine interviews I have read. Golf Monthly did one not long after and it was very poor in comparison. The Greg Norman interview this month also excellent and far more in depth than GM ever seem to go.

The columnists Ian Poulter and Geoff Ogilvy are far far more opinionated than McDowell etc, I'm fed up reading about McDowell and his practice regime, what he had for breakfast, his next tournament, lets hear what McDowell is all about, his opinion of golf, his opinion of the Open rota, politics, anything, something different!

I also happen to think the equipment guide of Golf World is better. I like the "what's in my bag" page where every month there is a different tour professional and their bag line up clubs, specs and yardages through their bag.

Bunkered which is a Scottish magazine has also pulled up its socks and improved since I last read it.

I hope this is not taken the wrong way by the guys at the magazine but I feel that they should always have feedback and take the rough with the smooth!
 
Just count the number of large photos and full page adverts in last months mag. I done it a couple of weeks ago and was shocked. I was going to post about it but didnt. Nows my chance. I am not going to say how many pages there were but you should count them and let us know what you think. Me I think far far too many. I love a photo as much as the next guy but I would rather read articles. Hell even reprint some old 40 years ago..that would be morre interesting.

It is still a great mag but could improve
 
On a similar line, there's an instruction piece about chipping this month. It basically says to keep square to the target and not to open your stance as this makes you cut across the ball and makes it more difficult - here have a look at Ian Poulter's stance on this chip.

Sorry Guys, but the picture shows Poults at 45 degrees to the camera and you can't tell which way his feet are pointing. Nice piece of instruction but please if you're going to show a picture then at least make it one that illustrates the tip. To be fair there is a picture of the coach showing the correct stance but the Poults pic is a waste of time.
 
I did a thread on the September 2009 issue which was fantastic but I am disappointed in recent offerings. Usually I can pick up the mag and find something i missed on a previous perusal but the November issue has sat at the side of my bed for weeks now with every page read and reread.
At £4.10 an issue I am looking for more quality for my hard earned coin.
 
I think that all golf mags content tends to fall away at this time of year Andy. The issues are always abit thinner. I notice this as the postie does not tear them when putting them through the letterbox :D

I subscribe to both GM and Bunkered, although i am not really a fan of bunkered but i subscribed (last year and this year) to it as the free golf offer is to good to turn. The craw is right Golf World is the best one out there. Would probably subscribe to it but the wife would go daft if another mag was left lying about the house
 
I was thinking this myself, about all the full page pictures. I want to read whats going on it the golf world not to see some pro chipping out of a bunker or a shot from behind tree's. We've seen them all before. There are enough world class pros out there so someone different every month wouldn't be so hard. I always read Gmac's page but it's nearly always the same old stuff. Some of the courses they review are as much intrest to me as telling me about the moon. I will never play these courses.
I know all mags do it but the amount of addvertizing is unreal just because some top pro is wearing a flashy watch dosen't mean I'm going to nip out and buy it.
I love the mag and look forward to reading it every month, maybe mike needs to rethink just to get our juices going. The review clubs pages are hard to follow. I think if they did 1 page on 1 make and a few other pages on a few other makes it would be much easier reading.
It's great the way the mag includes us forumers. hopefully we will be getting some new stuff in the mag in the new year.
 
I'm usually one of GM's biggest supporters but I have to agree with the comments so far. I agree with the Peter Allis interview comparisons and to be honest even the Golf World Ryder Cup review was more in depth.

I do think at the moment for readability, GW is ahead in all areas including the equipment review section. Whilst I do like the user reviews there doesn't seem to be as much depth to them as before. Many are only 150-300 words long and really don't convey the full benefits/cons of the piece of kit.

It is difficult to be picky when GM does provide so much, particularly for forum members but if others have moved forward then it's important that they follow suit
 
Crawford, I think it may have been me who brought the subject up! :o

I now subscribe to Golf World and think it's a much better mag than GM has been, in recent times. I actually cancelled my GM subscription a few months ago and haven't even bought a copy in a shop since. Despite the refreshed look of the GM mag a year or so ago, the quality of the written content has been diluted by too many pictures and adverts, I feel. Also, the same 'how to' articles were beginning to appear far too regularly -(Also the reason why I stopped buying Todays Golfer!)

GM has good writers, contributors and photographers, but everyone seems to have gone off their game at the same time, IMHO.
 
Best mag at the moment is Golf International.....by a country mile.I now subscribe to this rather than GM but I am fortunate that I nick my old mans GM to read...and vice versa!

Bunkered I have to say is crap,took me 5 minutes to read,utter crap.

Golf World and Golf Monthly have their momenst with for me the best features being their contributing writers,Radar being the best as he isn't scared to voice his opinion.I would like to see more in depth interviews with current players and less regurgitating of which course to play features...all too often it seems the same old faces appear.
 
I hope that Mike H remembers all these posts when the Free Mizuno Custom Fitting with Luke Donald offer comes up early next year :D
 
You have to remember that GM had a readers survey last year, I think, asking what we wanted more or less of in the mag. In my mind they've followed through very well with the results of that. To the letter, in fact.

Did you guys not take part? Or are you concerned more about the quality recently rather than the nature of the content?
 
I only started reading the GM mag early this year but I haven't bought the last 2 issues because I've noticed everything that's already been said and didn't feel enthusiastic enough to still buy it.
TG I find boring, too much instruction for me. Never tried any of the others.
Hope GM turn it around as it should be better. Constructive criticism is always a good idea and hopefully the next few issues improve.
 
I have found it to be a bit thin recently as well was always a good read on the nightshift,one thing i don't like is the equipment tested section where the highest handicap of those testing the clubs is 6,would it not be better to give the readers the chance to test the clubs and give a more honest opinion of them as not everyone is a single figure handicapper
 
To me there is far to much instruction to much Callaway and Taylormade stuff (but I suppose thats because the release a new set of irons and woods every week) there should be more custom japanese equipment and lots of pictures of really pretty Mizuno irons
 
Best mag at the moment is Golf International.....by a country mile.I now subscribe to this rather than GM but I am fortunate that I nick my old mans GM to read...and vice versa!
Click to expand...

Have to agree with you on this one, mate. Although, have you noticed the spelling and production errors in it? For a monthly mag it's a disgrace.
 
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