Golf Digest And GolfWrx Announce Partnership

[GolfSpy_X]

Would like to hear the MyGolfSpy forum members comments on this.

 

Golf Digest Properties And GolfWrx Announce Partnership Content and traffic sharing will create the ultimate forum on golf equipment New York, NY - The Golf Digest Properties and GolfWrx.com have entered into a strategic partnership, it was announced today by both parties. By developing content and new community features, the two leaders in golf will join forces to create the ultimate destination for golf enthusiasts. As part of the partnership, the Golf Digest Properties will also collaborate on advertising sales with GolfWrx.com, further extending the Golf Digest Properties' reach into the social media space. As a part of the deal, GolfWrx will retain its branding, and its traffic reporting will be rolled into GolfDigest.com.

 

"Participants in GolfWrx.com's forums are as avid about the game of golf as Golf Digest and Golf World readers, so this is the perfect fit. In particular, our equipment editors look forward to regular appearances on GolfWrx.com, where users can ask the why and the how of our equipment coverage, beginning with our annual Hot List," said Golf Digest Brand Editor, Bob Carney. "For golf aficionados, the marrying of Golf Digest and Golf World content with GolfWrx forums is ideal."

 

GolfWrx.com will continue to provide a home for golf enthusiasts, with an emphasis on equipment, while Golf Digest and Golf World editors will host equipment discussions to share their expertise and answer questions about Golf Digest and Golf World equipment coverage and reviews.

 

"Joining forces with an established and authoritative brand such as the Golf Digest Properties will resonate with the passionate community we've cultivated with GolfWrx," said Richard Audi, president of GolfWrx. "We welcome the contributions of its editors and look forward to creating innovative new offerings for advertisers in the conversational web."

[Matt Saternus]

Just seeing the title of this topic made me laugh out loud. The merger of two groups that don't know how to write a bad word about anybody.

[GolfSpy_X]

A perfect fit.

[Moecat]

Just seeing the title of this topic made me laugh out loud. The merger of two groups that don't know how to write a bad word about anybody.

Except - when it suits them - their own members/readers

[Matt Saternus]

Except - when it suits them - their own members/readers

 

Fair enough, I will revise: two groups who don't know how to write a bad word about anybody who gives them money or products.

[Tony Covey MGS]

The last sentence says it all. Nothing about the readers, but plenty of "innovative opportunities for advertisers".

 

At least they're being honest about their objectives. Yet another "independent" voice is lost, not that WRX has been that in quite some time.

[Super Tuna]

Unimpressed.

Objectivity please meet the hole in the window over there and take the crying baby with the extra bathwater while you're at it.

[daves81]

Who cares I wont be checking it out.

[GolfSpy Dave]

Walmart and Target joining forces comes to mind...

[Moecat]

Walmart and Target joining forces comes to mind...

 

That may be an insult to both Walmart and Target!

[jamo]

That may be an insult to both Walmart and Target!

 

Hey Moecat, your avatar isn't showing up on my end. Anyone else seeing that?

[GolfSpy_X]

Yeah I noticed that as well Jamo.

[skihippy]

I used to browse golfwrx for reviews on clubs I guess that will stop now.. I will just take a look at the hot list

[Moecat]

Hey Moecat, your avatar isn't showing up on my end. Anyone else seeing that?

Yeah I gotta fix it tomorrow or just get a new avatar

[finalist]

Now that I'm paying attention, and it's happened to me twice in a week I'm noticing how many posts and threads w r x deletes.

[mcbush25]

I think this is a terrible move. A forum should be a place where you can express your opinions and with this move it completely eliminates any remaining possibility of this happening.

[Dave]

I think this is a terrible move. A forum should be a place where you can express your opinions and with this move it completely eliminates any remaining possibility of this happening.

 

 

This move does nothing, it hasn't been that way for a long time now.

[Justin66]

This move does nothing, it hasn't been that way for a long time now.

 

 

I haven't been a true follower of WRX for some time now. I do like to occasionally go in, ninja-style, to bad mouth Golf Digest (they make it so easy!); I just never bother to see if there's any responses or if they even leave my comments up. Maybe I should... but since I really, truly can't stand GD, that doesn't seem too appealing to me.

[AuGoGo]

This is surprising to me.

 

When most of us first joined GolfWrx it was probably in retaliation of the goings-on at BSG. GolfWrx was great early on but I think over time as its membership has exploded it has become less enjoyable. More censorship, less dissent, more trolls, more "cartels" pushing their own barrows (especially in the instruction forums)...

 

So now I find myself leaving GolfWrx and joining a smaller more independent site like this one you have here (someone linked me to your 9064LS review - fantastic review BTW).

 

Look forward to keeping up to date with everything golf. Thanks for the site.

[GolfSpy_X]

Thanks for the kind words AuGoGo. I was just having this conversation with GolfSpy T.

 

You have to decide your path...you either go the route of selling out or you go the route that is for the consumer. Now I will admit that this route makes it tough for a site like this to survive over time. Although I sleep well at night. But sites like this get to a point where they have to be profitable to survive and they seem to have chosen the route of joining with other media outlets and companies whose one and only concern is putting a positive spin out about their advertisers or their products to be profitbale. But there are other ways to do this that still beneffit the consumer. They were simply looking for an easier way out which they got.

 

But in the end the sites that have chosen this route seem to have all suffered the same fate and that is they get replaced by another site shortly after. They become ghost towns. I never want this site to suffer that fate...and although it is tough to stay afloat doing it the way I chose to I hope in the end it was the right way to run MyGolfSpy.

[TWShoot67]

The way I feel is once you start allowing the OEM's access to your site in the way of sponsoring, there's only one or two things can happen. 1) you tell all the readers that their product is the best thing going and keep that check rolling in or 2) you can give an honest detailed review of their product and loose sponsorship. There's really no way to ride the middle of the road, once you go that path it becomes a ONE WAY STREET! You write what they tell you to write or you don't get our advertising dollars. Now when asked about this before it was brought up that they(wrx) do what they do in order to help the membership out and get access to areas no other websites can get like whats in the bag or early photo's released before any other site! But is that really true, we seen what happened when a pic of the R11 was released, it was taken down because TM said so. Once that happens its NO LONGER YOUR SITE! YOUR NOW WORKING FOR THEM (OEM'S) NOT US (FANS/MEMBERS)!

[Tony Covey MGS]

This is surprising to me.

 

When most of us first joined GolfWrx it was probably in retaliation of the goings-on at BSG. GolfWrx was great early on but I think over time as its membership has exploded it has become less enjoyable. More censorship, less dissent, more trolls, more "cartels" pushing their own barrows (especially in the instruction forums)...

 

So now I find myself leaving GolfWrx and joining a smaller more independent site like this one you have here (someone linked me to your 9064LS review - fantastic review BTW).

 

Look forward to keeping up to date with everything golf. Thanks for the site.

 

 

Welcome AuGoGo - I hope you'll find MyGolfSpy more to your liking. We don't censor, dissent is encouraged so long as civility is maintained, and we're most certainly not in anyone's pocket.

 

The way I feel is once you start allowing the OEM's access to your site in the way of sponsoring, there's only one or two things can happen. 1) you tell all the readers that their product is the best thing going and keep that check rolling in or 2) you can give an honest detailed review of their product and loose sponsorship. There's really no way to ride the middle of the road, once you go that path it becomes a ONE WAY STREET! You write what they tell you to write or you don't get our advertising dollars. Now when asked about this before it was brought up that they(wrx) do what they do in order to help the membership out and get access to areas no other websites can get like whats in the bag or early photo's released before any other site! But is that really true, we seen what happened when a pic of the R11 was released, it was taken down because TM said so. Once that happens its NO LONGER YOUR SITE! YOUR NOW WORKING FOR THEM (OEM'S) NOT US (FANS/MEMBERS)!

 

 

Oh how I wish you were wrong. As GolfSpy X mentioned, he and I spoke about this very thing last night - and I came to the conclusion you're almost certainly dead on correct. When you suck from the corporate teet, it's easy to get fat, but make no mistake, mamma controls the milk. Don't take what I've said, and am about to say the wrong way, we love our contacts at the OEMs. We deal with some really nice, decent, and cool people, but even those relationships sometimes put us in precarious situations.

 

Censorship, content control, and mutual fellatiation are the proven consequences of advertising deals with big OEMs. Whether it's "partnerships" with Golf Digest, or branding your umbrellas with TaylorMade logos, I would hope most intelligent people could assemble the pieces and figure out when objectivity has been taken off the table and replaced with a of a spoon-feeding of some other company's line. It's not a review, it's a marketing pitch, but that's how this business works.

 

There's a flipside as well. Let's for the sake of argument say that we worked out an ad deal with Mizuno (we haven't). Their banner is on our site, you see it on the front page, and in our forum. You see that banner - and then you see that we've rated the Mizuno MP-53 as the best forged cavity back iron...Oooh...sound sketchy doesn't it. We heard plenty of grumblings about a Mizuno bias after that review, and they don't even advertise with us. Can you imagine the implications if they did?

 

The reality is apart from the subjective portion of our reviews (which doesn't count nearly as much as performance), there is ZERO room for opinion (mine or anyone else's). Data comes off the simulators, goes directly into excel, and a score comes out the other end. The average reader may never understand how small a role we play in our own tests, and assume all sorts of things. Of course, anyone who has spent anytime in a corporate job knows that when perception and reality diverge, perception almost invariably becomes the reality.

 

If you are perceived to be on the take, you are.

 

There are a couple of things we could probably do differently to make us more OEM friendly. You've seen the other so-called review sites. They all have techniques they use to appear unbiased (great club, don't like the grip - awesome club, don't like the alignment aid - best club ever, shaft graphics are ugly). We could do that. Hell we could even trash smaller companies like Solus or PowerBilt to project an entirely bogus notion that we're balanced. I could also adjust our scoring system so that an average club scores a 95 instead of 85. We could stop posting spy pics ahead of embargo dates, and we could refrain from publishing any and all insider information. Heck we could even stop being critical of the OEMs

 

There are a hundred things we can do to be more appealing to the OEMs, but any tradeoffs would seemingly come at the expense of the integrity of our process, and at the expense of our readers. We're not willing to do that. We're quickly becoming the loudest (and one of the last) truly independent voices in the Golf Media industry, and while we know there are much safer roads, we think the bumpy road through the mountains is the right path for us.

 

</Rant>

[NGage]

Please, please, please keep this place as open, honest, unbiased and impartial as humanly possible.

[GolfSpy_X]

Not an issue to worry about NGage. As long as this site exists it will be...I can guarantee that.

[BIG STU]

Ex cept - when it suits them - their own members/readers

I guess if you say anything bad about Callaway or TM etc you will get kicked off there faster than you can say "jackwagon" or was that 'jackflash"? Bet you wont hear any Dicks jokes on there either.I would rather stay here on this site anyhow.

By the way Moecat I really enjoy your cartoons on your posts they crack me up.

[BIG STU]

Not an issue to worry about NGage. As long as this site exists it will be...I can guarantee that.

I think you guys are doing a fantastic job I really like this site. I am a GEA defector too much junk on there not enough golf. I am a rebel anyhow not only by birth but lifestyle also this site fits me to a tee!!!

[JohnBarry]

They both can suck it! Won't see me on their site, ever.

[Shambles]

The harsh fact of life is that bills need to be paid monthly and that is very difficult to do without an income. Any site needs the advertising dollars to survive, and sometimes compromises are needed. I certainly would not be giving support to someone who lambasts me or who allows annonymous people to lambast me without at least a modicum of factual basis, and that would be if I was being kind. A fully independent editorial policy can only be afforded by a very large circulation.

 

 

Shambles