UpSwing Magazine a more elevated read
Not sure about you, but I love a good magazine.
I know they are less popular now with the world going digital, but in my time the magazine was king. Icons have come and gone like FHM, NME and the Face (although rumours are rife its coming back!) and they were all really popular with massive followings.
In golf, the circulation reduces more or less each year with Todays Golfer now sitting at around 40,000 per year. Discussing the issues around why golf magazine circulation are dropping is not for today, but safe to say, there is a new kind of golf magazines (featured before in this blog, like ‘The Golfers Journal’ and ‘Caddie Magazine‘) which are thriving as they take a different perspective of golf integrating with a golfers lifestyle. They are very different to the standard golf mag, no tutorials about bunker play or endless reviews about more and more new drivers! They are also not UK based and therefore have come at the great game with a fresh outlook and a new sense of soul.
The good news for those of us looking for something a little more interesting from our golf read, is that we have just been sent this rather impressive new mag called UpSwing produced by The Wisley golf club which we have to say is great, very well done to them! This is a magazine about the ‘lifestyle’ of golf, something we at Bunker have been living for 14 years now. It also connects you to the soul of the game, coming at the game from the feeling that you get when you are in and around a golf course, those feelings that take you back to being a youngster playing with your father in my case anyway).
The article, Raw Golf, is full of this rawness, as the writer has gone off the manicured courses that we are now all so familiar with, to play golf at Askernish up on the Western Isles of Scotland. It’s a course with direct links back to old Tom Morris and it’s definatley rugged! It challenges you, like the course used to, when you started to play the game. Now, I’m mostly a fair weather golfer but this article sure made me want to get up there, accept the weather, and have a go at ‘raw golf’, golf as it used to be. A great article reminding us that this game is ‘good for the soul’.
Another great story is about the young girl in Nepal, Pratima Sherpa (18) who is working tirelesly to become the best golfer in her country. She grew up on a golf course where her parents worked, so she has been around golf all her life. A story of honest hard work, no-one is giving her a nice new set of clubs ever 6 months and her parents certainly aren’t writing to companies looking for sponsorship! She has lived by the philosophy of “just doing”…’start where you are, use what you have and do what you can’ …. and she is doing very well. She has a story worth hearing and its good to remind those who think that they need the latest clubs to make progress that, actually, they just need dedication to the game. Keep going Pratima!
Art created using golf bags…that’s what Charles McGill did, resulting in truly thought provoking stuff. When Charles started playing golf back in the 80’s, American courses were not quite as inclusive as they are today. His story is fascinating and a great read. As a creative myself, striving daily to make golf more open and interesting, Charles’s art certainly hits the target for me. Maybe one day, we will be able to buy one for Bunker HQ!
So you should be getting the idea that this is a golf mag coming from a different viewpoint. It introduces you to other aspects of the golf, its readership looking for something a different from a golf magazine. The quality of this publication communicated that straight away, and it runs through the entire magazine. As the founder and design director of a golf clothing brand I even enjoyed their article on golf fashion, not a phrase I often use.
UPSwing magazine is free. You just need to click here and leave your details to get one in the post whilst stocks last (or you can read it online). In this game, its challenging to do new and creative things, so spread the word about a really good golf lifestyle magazine with a different perspective. Great job to the Upswing team.