A few months ago, D.J. and I were gleefully pushing the limits of our access at Firestone, sitting in the locker room, when advance copies of The Golfer’s Journal were delivered.

I hadn’t held a physical copy of the magazine at that point, let alone looked through one, though I’d heard lots of good things and was excited about the concept based on social media teases. Picking up the inaugural issue for the first time, I was immediately struck by how thick and sturdy it was. It didn’t feel anything like the flimsy golf magazines you can picture in the waiting room at your doctor’s office. As I quickly flipped from story to story, the photography grabbed my attention. It’s size, richness and detail was immediately impressive, and again, unlike anything I’d previously experienced in a golf magazine. As I enjoyed my copy, I kept looking up to gauge the reactions of the players who had also picked one up and I’m certain I detected the same type of reactions in their faces.

Meet our star photographer @kohjiro_kinno who took a drone selfie while on assignment last month. Kojo is one member of a growing community of artists, photographers, writers, historians, and explorers who have rallied around the idea that golf media can and should be way better.

A post shared by The Golfer’s Journal (@golfersjournal) on Aug 2, 2017 at 6:35am PDT

The Golfer’s Journal exists for the same reason No Laying Up does – to combat and offer an alternative to the vast majority of traditional golf media that has become, in our opinion, a bit too formulaic, predictable, and wrapped up in corporate bottom lines. As we strive to create new and different high-quality content, we also love to point people towards content coming from elsewhere around the golf universe that is smart, creative, and worth the time and effort to consume.We are certainly biased in the case of TGJ with D.J. being a contributing editor/writer and NLU having regular column space, but the magazine emphatically checks all the aforementioned boxes and is so much more than our (relatively meager) efforts and D.J.’s (much greater) efforts. There’s a reason why we said yes to contributing and promoting it here – it’s richly rewarding to be a part of something that serves to promote the game of golf in a manner we feel is true and essential, something that will make even the most ardent golf fans fall more in love with the game. As overly-serious as that sounds, golf is a lifestyle for many of us with its own culture, destinations, art, and photography. It’s filled with incredible characters and stories that range from hilarious to heart-breaking. That’s what you get with each issue of this magazine.

Give it a shot if you’re so inclined and we’re confident you’ll enjoy it as much as we do.

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Subscriptions are available at the link above, and range from a ‘Founding’ Subscription ($150 for 4 issues) to a ‘Charter’ Subscription ($75 for 4 issues). Full details on each package are included on the website.