The A Position .com Launched by Golf Media Network (GMN)

"Where you Want to Land" for Great Golf and Travel Writing

 

 

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 17, 2009 – In troubled times for freelance journalists, a group of long-time golf and travel writers have banded together to form their own media company and a linked network of Internet sites providing well-researched, irreverent, and intelligent writing about golf, travel, and related subjects.  In a friendly poke at sites that simply recycle press releases or are written by amateurs, theAposition.com describes its content as “great golf and travel writing by actual journalists.”  The term “the A position” refers to the best place a golfer can land his tee shot on a golf hole; as the brand name of the company’s websites, it suggests the place readers will want to land for great golf and travel journalism.

 

The Content

Eight writers—who among them have written more than 20 books and thousands of articles for such newspapers and magazines as The New York Times, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, GOLF Magazine, Golf Digest, Money, Outside, Men’s Journal, and many others, and visited thousands of the world’s best golf courses—have pooled their talents and experiences to create a vast portfolio of varied and ever-evolving content.  A number of the founding members have also worked as editors at several of the best golf publications, including GOLF Magazine, Travel + Leisure Golf, and Links Magazine.

 

The writers each publish their own websites, which include golf content as well as writing about specialty subjects—ranging from adventure travel to real estate—that they are passionate about.  All their golf writing is collected at theAposition.com.  The sites include articles, essays, profiles, blogs, short stories, and other content and encompass the writers’ best works published over many years in the industry, plus new content posted several times every week. Each writer also hosts a forum where readers can respond to stories and generate a conversation.

 

The Business Model

Jeff Wallach, a founding member and managing partner/executive editor of Golf Media Network explains the impetus for the sites thus:  “With print media currently on life support due to plummeting ad pages, and at a time when editors are squeezing more out of their staffs rather than turning to freelancers, we decided to take control of our destinies and create our own on-line golf and travel outlet.  We aspire to fill the void left by the demise of such great publications as Travel + Leisure Golf, Golf Connoisseur, Maximum Golf, and others, and also to publish stories that will surprise our readers—such as pieces about the Bally Bandon Sheep Ranch, and an in-depth interview with architect Rees Jones, both currently available in our network.”

 

The company is co-managed, with Wallach, by a couple of new-media pros: Bob Senoff, who handles business operations and contributed start-up capital, and Mike Hardy, who takes care of the technical issues of building and running the sites.  Senoff, a long-time Internet investor and successful venture capitalist at New Millennium Partners (with such projects as Cafepress.com, Wildtangent, Icanhascheezburger-Pet Holdings, and Shopittome.com to his credit ) adds, “We’re taking some of the most successful and best-known journalists in the golf and travel fields and giving them the chance to run wild editorially—they can write what they want, at whatever length they want, publish the off-beat stories that traditional media outlets wouldn’t publish because they weren’t supported directly by ads, and really express their personalities.  It’s what great journalism is supposed to do, and I expect it to attract not only a huge following of readers, but to monetize well with advertisers.  Since the founding writers have essentially run their own businesses for years, they bring a strong level of entrepreneurship and business acumen worthy of any Silicon Valley team.  And the content is so strong and unmatched elsewhere on the Internet that it screams ‘value.’”

 

The sites will initially offer run-of-network and individual site advertising in various forms.  But writers will develop, research, and publish their stories as they see fit.  Golf courses, resorts, travel companies, and other potential advertisers will be given the option to advertise, rather than a quid pro quo.  The parent company also intends to generate additional revenue through partnerships, content packages, associate memberships offered to other qualified journalists, and through other monetization strategies.

 

Wallach says, “Give The A Position a try if you’re tired of reading the same recycled story about how to cure your slice, or where to go for a cheap round in Myrtle Beach.  We’ll give you impassioned writing about the very things that you love about golf and travel: words that recreate the flavor of visiting the souks in Morocco after playing golf at Royal Marrakesh; descriptions that elicit the feel of Scottish links courses so well that you’ll wipe the salt mist off your eye-glasses and run out to find a fresh haggis.  We’ll give you an honest, insider’s view of new and famous courses, profile the best instructors you’ve never heard of, and provide accessible and entertaining opinions of new equipment.  We’ll also share many of the great travel stories we’ve collected over the years and that we tell to each other over a pint of ale, but which were never appropriate for traditional golf publications.”

 

The Writers

The founding writer/members of Golf Media Network and the A position are:

 

·         Tom Harack (tomharack.com), one of the most widely traveled golf writers in the world, with innumerable published articles and photographs to his credit. Harack currently serves as Saigon bureau chief for Mandarin Media, a media relations firm in Southeast Asia and the United States. 

·         Jeff Wallach (jeffwallach.com), author of five books, including Beyond The Fairway and Driven to Extremes, and hundreds of articles in a variety of national golf, travel, and outdoor publications.  Wallach is a managing partner and executive editor of Golf Media Network, the parent company of The A Position.

 

Visit their individual sites and read them all at theAposition.com.

For further info contact:

 

Jeff Wallach                                                    Karen Moraghan

Executive Editor/Managing Partner               Hunter Public Relations         

(O) 503-236-1793                                           (O) 908-876-5100      

(C) 971-242-9454                                           (C) 908-963-6013

jcw@teleport.com                                           kmoraghan@hunter-pr.com