The UK’s highest-circulating golf magazine will be housed in bespoke stands at 500 leading golf clubs from next month onwards.
Sports Publications, the publishers of National Club Golfer, Lady Golfer and Golf International, have partnered with travel specialists GolfBreaks and insurance specialists Golf Care, whose printed communications will also be displayed in the stands.
“We are constantly seeking ways to increase the profile of our magazines within golf clubs,” said Tom Irwin, Sports Publications’ commercial director. “We want to ensure as many people as possible enjoy the quality free content available in both National Club Golfer and Lady Golfer.
“By providing a display unit for golf clubs to house our product we will achieve several aims: it will help the clubs that value our product; it will elevate the profile of our titles; and it will help readers find the product quickly and easily.
“If the initial roll-out is successful we will continue with 500 more stands in 2017 and a further 500 in 2018. The investment is significant and we could not have done this without our partners Golf Care and GolfBreaks,” he said.
“Golf club members and readers of Sports Publications’ titles are the lifeblood of our business so we are delighted to be part of this initiative,” said Keith Mitchell, chief marketing officer of Golfbreaks.com, said: “The stands look very professional and are a great way to get more of our brochures into the hands of real golfers across the British Isles.”
The prestigious list of clubs who have agreed to position their stands in their clubhouses includes Royal Birkdale, Ganton, Hankley Common, West Lancs, Stoke Park, Fulford, Delamere Forest, Sherwood Forest Lindrick, Prince’s and West Hill.
Each branded stand will house multiple copies of NCG and Lady Golfer as well as communications from Golfbreaks.com and Golf Care.
“We’re delighted to have partnered with Sports Publications on this new venture,” said John Woosey, managing director of Golf Care, who are part of the JRW Group, the UK’s leading specialist sports and leisure insurance provider.
“Our growth over the past 10 years has been down to the fact that thousands of golfers have recognised the risks that face them every time they play, and yet we estimate that 9 out of 10 golfers still don’t have specialist golf insurance. For us it’s extremely important that we reach those golfers frequenting golf clubs that are potentially putting themselves at financial risk if they’re playing without insurance. Accidents can and do happen every day, even to the best golfers.”
“This is an exciting and important addition to our market-leading distribution mode,” said Will Shucksmith, Sports Publication’s finance and operations director.
“We believe this will make our magazines even more accessible to golfers and deliver great value to all our stakeholders. We believe our current distribution strategies will enable us to deliver continued and sustainable growth across our titles.”