Myrtle Beach Sun News Logo

Golf magazines? You can keep ‘em | Myrtle Beach Sun News

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Subscribe
    • Activate Your Account
    • Account Support
    • Mobile Apps
    • Newsletters
    • The Sun News Store
    • FAQ
    • Cancel SunValues Delivery
    • Plan
    • All Tourist Info
    • Vacation Planner
    • Calendar
    • Where to Stay
    • Ask a Local
    • Festivals Guide
    • Best of the Area
    • Play
    • Nightlife
    • Golf
    • Shopping
    • Shows
    • Myrtle Beach Blog
    • Restaurants

  • Obituaries
    • All News
    • Local News
    • Crime/Courts
    • Business
    • State News
    • Nation/World
    • Weird News
    • More News
    • Politics
    • Myrtle Beach Bike Rallies
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Tourism News
    • Real Estate News
    • All Sports
    • High Schools
    • Coastal Carolina
    • Recreation
    • Golf
    • MB Pelicans
    • Auto Racing
    • More Sports
    • College Sports
    • NFL
    • MLB
    • MB Marathon
    • Toast Of The Coast
    • Green Reading Blog
    • The Roost Blog
    • All Opinion
    • Letters To The Editor
    • Submit A Letter
    • Editorial
    • Cartoons
    • Columns & Blogs
    • Bob Bestler
    • All Living
    • Coasting
    • Neighbors
    • Food
    • Best Of The Beach
    • Announcements
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Pets
    • Home & Garden
    • All Entertainment
    • Kicks!
    • Best Of The Beach
    • Movies
    • Calendar
    • Contests
    • More Entertainment
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Horoscopes
    • Celebrities
    • Music
    • TV

  • Legals
  • Cars
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Homes
  • Classifieds
  • Classified Ads

  • About Us
  • Mobile & Apps

Bob Bestler

Golf magazines? You can keep ‘em

By Bob Bestler

On the Loose for The Sun News

    ORDER REPRINT →

May 20, 2016 04:30 PM

I majored in magazine journalism in college and today I still receive more magazines than I can reasonably read in a week.

There’s the old standbys -- Sports Illustrated, Time, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The Week. I expect these will be coming until they carry me off.

There’s also a couple I get at the moment because of a really cheap offer. Those would be Mother Jones and Harper’s. I probably won’t renew either; there are, after all, only 24 hours in a day and somehow I’ve got to squeeze in Colbert.

In addition to these, I receive two magazines monthly to which I never, ever subscribed. Those would be Golf and Golf Digest -- and therein lies a great curiosity combined with more than a little guilt.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Sun News

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

I have never known where these two came from. Golf started showing up a decade ago; Golf Digest more recently.

I might receive them because I played in the World Amateur Handicap Championship. Or maybe because I once belonged to the Golf Writers of America.

Personally, I’m guessing that the golf gods began wincing at my game and managed to get my name on the subscriber list of two magazines filled with pages of golf instruction

Personally, I’m guessing that the golf gods began wincing at my game and managed to get my name on the subscriber list of two magazines filled with pages of golf instruction.

But here’s the deal.

I’m 76 and do not plan on improving my game any time soon. Besides, everything I know about the game -- or want to know about the game -- I learned decades ago, first from Ben Hogan’s “Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf” and later from Jack Nicklaus’ “Golf My Way.” A few years ago I got some helpful tips from Harvey Penick’s “Little Red Book.”

After those, most golf instruction is so much blah, blah, blah.

These magazines also have special issues on new golf equipment.

Again, I have no plans to buy more golf clubs. Think of it as the green bananas syndrome: At my age, I’ll never get $500 worth of use out of a swell set of TaylorMades.

So I regularly pick up these magazines at the post office, take them home and put them in a pile on my desk. I look at the covers from time to time and say, no, I’m pretty busy right now. But as they sit there a certain guilt begins to build.

I love golf. Why don’t I want to read about it? Sometimes there’s a good profile. I like profiles. Sometimes there’s something historic. I love history. Maybe I should take a look.

But no. This one has pages and pages of golf instruction and an entire section on the newest putters, every shape and size you can imagine.

Sorry, editors, but to me it’s just another bunch of green bananas.

Contact Bob Bestler at bestler6@tds.net.

  Comments  

Videos

NC State’s Wes Moore talks about the Wolfpack’s loss to Notre Dame

Back on course: Aberdeen reopens following flood

View More Video

Trending Stories

Her dog attacked another dog, Horry cops say, and now she faces a criminal charge

February 18, 2019 03:07 PM

Dozens of Myrtle Beach, Horry firefighters responded to blaze near Fantasy Harbour

February 18, 2019 12:04 AM

Mugshots, Feb. 17

February 17, 2019 11:47 AM

‘We need you’: Horry County teachers seek local help in fighting education overhaul bills

February 17, 2019 12:58 PM

Mugshots, Feb. 18

February 18, 2019 08:56 AM

things to do

Read Next

It’s OK to be a little nuts: Why I want to be reincarnated as this bushy-tailed critter

Bob Bestler

It’s OK to be a little nuts: Why I want to be reincarnated as this bushy-tailed critter

By Bob Bestler

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 15, 2019 02:35 PM

Seriously, consider the squirrel.

Isn’t it one of the cutest critters you’ll ever see scampering across your yard?

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Sun News

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE BOB BESTLER

Why the controversial Patty Hearst will be a perfect fit for the City of Charleston

Bob Bestler

Why the controversial Patty Hearst will be a perfect fit for the City of Charleston

February 08, 2019 02:35 PM

Bob Bestler

Colder than Antarctica? I can’t say I miss the cold weather of the ice cube-shaped state

February 01, 2019 03:15 PM
The potential closing of ‘The friendly course’ brings back some fond golfing memories

Bob Bestler

The potential closing of ‘The friendly course’ brings back some fond golfing memories

January 25, 2019 06:01 PM
Kudos to these South Carolina politicians for joining the fight against offshore drilling

Bob Bestler

Kudos to these South Carolina politicians for joining the fight against offshore drilling

January 11, 2019 08:04 PM
I never voted for Mark Sanford. Yet, as he leaves, I say we need more like him in office

Bob Bestler

I never voted for Mark Sanford. Yet, as he leaves, I say we need more like him in office

January 04, 2019 04:35 PM

Bob Bestler

Why Time magazine’s choice for the Person of the Year came at just the right time

December 22, 2018 05:21 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Myrtle Beach Sun News App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
Advertising
  • Place a Classified
  • Advertise
  • Rates
  • Contests & Promotions
  • Local Deals
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story