Finding/pursuing a golf writing job?

I heart Scouter

 

I take back what I said in my earlier post. I enjoyed the shit out of the golf tournament I covered last week. Last day, following around five golfers within a shot of each other vying for the tournament title was good stuff...even if I didn't know the sport very well.

Hey, anybody here know how I can get a job as a golf writer?

 

Hope you didn't enjoy it too much, BG.

This, from the latest edition of Golf World:

Golf Coverage Falling Victim To Newspaper Budget Cuts
With many newspapers facing layoffs and budget cuts, the "balancing act increasingly is tipping toward less golf coverage," according to Bill Fields of GOLF WORLD. There were "about 30 full-time golf writers" at daily U.S. newspapers around 20 years ago, but now the number is "less than 10 and dropping." Fields writes media centers at the PGA Tour The Players Championship and the U.S. Open this year were "noticeably less crowded, with 12[%] fewer reporters at the Players and [5-10%] fewer at the U.S. Open" than in '07. R&A Communications Manager Malcolm Booth said that of the 90 U.S. journalists accredited for next week's British Open, only 18 are from newspapers, down from 27 in '06. Chicago Tribune golf writer Ed Sherman, who was going to this year's British Open before Tiger Woods withdrew due to his knee injury, said, "As sports sections begin to shrink, the first thing to go is golf. I've already felt the squeeze and I know it is going to get much, much worse. In our paper, what are they going to cut: Cubs' coverage or golf?" L.A. Times golf writer Thomas Bonk, who also is skipping the British Open, said, "If there are any saving graces for me, which I need, it's that Tiger Woods is a local. He considers Southern California home." Craig Dolch, who recently accepted a voluntary buyout from the Palm Beach Post after serving as its golf writer for 14 years, said, "No decision has been made, but it was made clear that if there is a golf-writing position at the Post after we cut 40[%] of our staff, it would probably be only to cover local golf and pro events in our area." Fields notes newspapers are relying more on AP golf writer Doug Ferguson, who will cover between 26-28 tournaments this season (GOLF WORLD, 7/11 issue).


EDIT: On the other hand... this from Golf Channel:

GolfChannel.com in June set a record mark for its highest monthly unique user count. The Web site recorded both a 46% growth in unique users and a 35% growth in time spent viewing over May (Golf Channel).

 

OK, so who are they?

1. Larry Dorman of the NYT

2. Bonk of the LAT

3-<10. ???

Birdscribe, I know you know all these guys. Help a brother out.

 

Depends how you define full-time golf, since a lot of these guys -- like Ed Sherman in Chicago and Garry Smits in Jacksonville -- cover golf as their primary beat, but also cover other things.

Smits, for example, does Jaguar sidebars. Sherman does the TV column. Dan O'Neill in St. Louis is a columnist. Mark Cannizzaro at the NY Post also covers the Jets. Jeff Shain in Miami covers FSU as well.

You get the idea.

But off the top of my head, you can add the following:

Jim McCabe, Boston Globe
Ron Green Jr., Charlotte Observer (he does other stuff, I think)
Len Shapiro, Washington Post (who also did/does TV/Media columns)
Ron Kroichick, San Francisco Chronicle
Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press
Vartan Kupelian, Detroit News
Tod Leonard, San Diego Union-Tribune
Brian Allee-Walsh, New Orleans Times-Picayune
John Davis, Arizona Republic
Stan Awtrey, Atlanta JC
Don Markus, Baltimore Sun (he may do other stuff I'm not aware of; I only see his golf)
Jeremy Fowler, Orlando Sentinel
Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Bruce Berlet, Hartford Courant

And then... I'm running out of names off the top of my head. Apologies to anyone I may have missed.

Steve Campbell in Houston used to cover golf, but he just got promoted to columnist. Randy Mell does plenty of golf in Ft. Lauderdale, but he also does college stuff as well. Bill Nichols in Dallas did golf, but he may do other stuff now as well. Same with Jimmy Burch at Fort Worth.

The upshot is, several of the names on the above list may be pressed into doing other things now. I know that since he lives in San Francisco, Bonk is kind of a de-facto Bay Area reporter, who covers stuff for the Times involving Bay Area/SoCal teams or the like.

As the instances of Craig Dolch, Bob Harig (who is now at ESPN.com) at St. Pete and now Mick Elliott in Tampa (who is now covering college), even in golf-mad Florida, golf isn't a priority, so you can imagine how low on the food chain it is elsewhere.

 

While it obviously seems to be temporary, you also obviously can't discount that regarding cuts this summer in particular, the fact that Mr. Woods isn't going to be around is a last straw when it comes to saying, "Aw, skip it."

 

Let me clarify one thing about the LA Times.

Tommy Bonk didn't cover the British Open last year. The Times used Chuck Culpepper, who is living in the UK now.

SF is right. I'm going to the PGA next month. With Tiger not there to defend the title he's won the last two years and with the publishing industry committing hara-kiri on a daily basis, I'm not expecting to see many of the familiar faces I usually see.

 

One person on that list told me he's probably going to accept a buyout offer. So there goes another.

 

A good friend of mine, who covered golf for a good many years, (birdscribe knows him, and I don't wanna out him) told me seven years ago, "fuck all the other horseshit and get a golf gig if you can." Considering I'm a golf nut anyways, that was already part of my goal. Four years after that proclamation, he altered his feelings a bit, saying "golf's the first thing they're gonna' fucking cut. All you have to do is have your beat guy miss one Major and the sports editor will say, 'well, shit, we can run AP wire copy and there's really not a difference."

 

Thread title could just as well been.... Finding/pursuing a paid vacation?

 

THAT touches more on the position's popularity.