The Blogiversary — Fifteen Years Of GolfBlogger

The Golf Blogiversary — Fifteen Years Of GolfBlogger

Today marks fifteen years of blogging at GolfBlogger.com.

I started this blog on March 22, 2004. The first post had me wondering whether Elin Nordegren would ultimately be bad for Tiger Woods’ game.

In 2018, I published 844 posts, which is down from 2017’s 1, 011. Obviously, I have been in a slump, and need to step up my game.

During the year, I reviewed seventeen new courses, bringing my total number of different golf courses played and reviewed to 195. I covered the last LPGA Volvik Championship in Ann Arbor, and the first Ally Challenge on the Champions Tour in Flint. I also was fortunate to be able to review a variety of golf related gear, including clubs, balls, grips, socks and books.

In 2018 (and going into 2019), I extended my streak of consecutive months in which I have played golf in Michigan to forty eight. Not all of those were pleasant, of course, but I am tough.

The biggest event of the year, however, was the first Golf Blog World Tour event, in which I travelled to Bandon Dunes with Tony Korologos of Hooked on Golf Blog, John Duval of Into The Grain and international media star Bill Cuebas. (The photo at the top of the page was taken by Duval.)The courses at Bandon Dunes are amazing — a must play experience for any serious golfer. You can read about my Bandon Dunes Review articles at the link. Thanks for Bandon Dunes and Kemper Sports for the opportunity.

Thanks for the continued success of the blog are due to many, foremost of which is Mrs. Golfblogger, who puts up with both my writing and golf obsessions.

Second, I’d like to thank the millions who have visited the site over the past decade. When I started, GolfBlogger was just a way to vent my urge to write. I never expected anyone to pay attention, and thus the (literally) millions of readers have come as a complete surprise.

I’m also thankful for the various sponsors, advertisers and public relations firms who have made it possible for me to run GolfBlogger. The site is still just a hobby, and I’m not sure that Mrs. GolfBlogger would have allowed me to continue as long as I have if it was a drain on the family savings.

Finally, I am thankful for the golf friends I have made while golf blogging, especially Tony Korologos, John Duval, Bill Cuebas, Dave Donelson, Ralph Martinelli, Chakib Ghadouani, Kevin Frisch and Stacy Solomon, all of whom I hope to see again soon. I am certain that I am forgetting people and for that I apologize. It is late as I write this and I have been up since 5 am.

During the the fifteen years of GolfBlogger’s life, I’ve published more than eleven thousand articles. In addition, I’ve engaged many on social media, with nearly ten thousand twitter followers who have seen more than 20,000 tweets. I’ve also recently begun an effort to reach out more on social media, with a GolfBlogger Facebook page and a Golf Blogger Instagram account.

Most of the success of GolfBlogger is, I think, due to sheer stubbornness on my part. I write every day, nearly without fail (there is the occasional weekend lapse). When I started, there really were no models to follow, so I wrote about anything that interested me. In the ensuing years, I have always tried to stay true to that model, publishing things that interest ME, rather than things that I think will turn into click bait. You won’t find the WAGS of Golf on this site, as you will on the Golf.Com, Golf Channel and Golf Digest websites.

I’ve kept the golf blog going because I love to write. Before I changed careers to become a teacher, I was a professional editor and ghostwriter. I also love golf, so the match was a natural. In fact, I find that writing for GolfBlogger has become a compulsion.

A lot has changed in the fifteen years since I started writing GolfBlogger. I was one of a handful of golf blogs in the first few years. There have since been thousands of entries into the field. Most significantly, large media corporations have gotten into the act, as extensions of their existing properties. Others, which once were independent, have been bought out and now are XYZ Golf Blog Presented by QRS Corporation. That has pushed many small and independent golf blogs off the front page of search results, so that everyone (including myself) has to look much harder to find original voices not driven by the big media dollars.

There is a touch of jealousy in this, for at some level, I would not mind being sponsored by a big media corporation. It would be terrific to not to have to worry about covering hosting costs, office expenses, etc. and to be able to concentrate completely on writing. On the other hand, the lack of such in no way deters me. I see no reason why I can’t continue this for another fifteen years.