Premium magazine Golf International will be back on the shelves and delivered to subscribers across the country in time for the Open Championship at St Andrews.
Sports Publications, the publishers of the UK’s highest-circulating golf title National Club Golfer, have added Gi to their portfolio. Four issues of the high-quality magazine will be published this year with Gi returning to a full schedule of eight issues in 2016.
Richard Simmons will continue to edit Gi, just as he has since the magazine’s launch in 1997, while his brother Peter will remain in charge of the day-to-day commercials. Both will be based in Cornwall. The magazine will be ABC-audited and maintain the print and production values for which it has long been renowned. As well as being distributed in key newsstand outlets and selected supermarkets, it will also be available by subscription.
Gi will continue to feature world-class instruction from the likes of David Leadbetter, Jonathan Yarwood, Jean-Jaques Rivet, Pete Cowen and Nick Bradley. Elsewhere, regular contributors will include Peter Alliss, Robert Green, John Hopkins, Peter McEvoy, Clive Agran & John Huggan.
“With so much quality free content available in print and online, asking the golf consumer to pay for content has become increasingly difficult as demonstrated by the declining ABC figures of all newsstand titles,” said Tom Irwin, publisher of Sports Publications.
“Golf International excites us a brand. It has a heritage of being a step above anything else in the market both in terms of its production values and the quality of its content. It is, in short, a product worth paying for.
“As the new publisher we will explore new routes to market, utilise innovative purchase incentives and, crucially, exploit our existing unrivalled access to the UK’s golfers. Combined this will give Gi the platform it has long deserved to reach golfers that it never has before,” said Irwin.
“After several months searching for a publishing partner we are delighted to have reached an agreement with Sports Publications, one that we believe will give Gi every chance of securing its future,” said Richard Simmons, editor of Golf International.
“The team at SP share our passion for all things golf along with a desire to entertain and educate readers with content that is second to none – especially in the arena of golf instruction. This new partnership has the potential to deliver something very special indeed in the marketplace.”
Golf International www.golfinternationalmag.com
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