Unfiltered Friday: Cheating Golfer Caught, and Golf Blogger Destroys Tournament!

Welcome back to Unfiltered Friday, where the headline on this week’s article is good, ol’ fashioned clickbait garbage.

Neither statement is true, and you clicked on the link anyway.

But don’t worry: you’re not the only one. I am not immune to the allure of clicking on a sensationalist headline with the hope of whetting an appetite fueled by controversy. The table required to seat all of us with similar tastes would be immense, validating the adage of the company misery enjoys.

I contend this is a growing problem in golf journalism, especially when it comes to spreading misinformation in the hope of sparking a reaction. That’s not a hot take by any means. Journalism as a whole needs an enema to cleanse what is made available on all forms of media. Writing clickbait headlines is nothing new, and it works.

Two recent examples come to mind in our industry: Xander Schauffele’s driver test kerfuffle and golf blogger Kyle Porter’s tweet joke. The former is an example of how we are conditioned to judge athletes for any misstep (even if completely out of their control). The latter is simply an overreaction that turned into a personal attack by one’s peers.

I’ll spare the details of both topics — one, because a link is included above; the other would require me to link to a hit-piece on Kyle by a woefully irresponsible journalist that doesn’t deserve the traffic — but when combined the two paint a very ugly picture.

Perhaps I am naive to think that journalism in the golf industry is immune from the nonsense we see at other major news outlets. Maybe I’m dreaming of a reprieve from political sensationalism, misconstrued outrage and outright dishonesty in my timeline every day. Hell, maybe I should follow less people.

But golf can be different if we want it to be. There’s no rule that says we have to abide by the same hurtful tactics to gain an audience as those outside the sport. Instilling negativity sprinkled with feigned outrage benefits nobody at all. Instead, it reinforces the worst parts of our society and rewards those who erroneously call themselves marketers or “disruptors.”

Golf. Is. A. Game.

It is also a business, and it is a livelihood to so many. We can choose to be outraged every single day, looking for missteps or mistakes, ready to label them as criminal acts instead of byproducts of the qualities that make us human.

If you can to this post by clicking on the ridiculous headline, I understand. If you are still reading this post, I thank you.

All I ask is you take a moment to contemplate what is important to you, the way you see life, and how you choose to be entertained.

Golf Unfiltered Podcast 60: Kyle Porter

This week on the Golf Unfiltered Podcast we welcome Kyle Porter, golf blogger from CBS Sports, onto the show. Kyle and I discuss how he got his start in writing and how he ended up at CBS Sports at a time when the company made a transition from having traditional golf writing to the blogging approach. Kyle takes us behind the scenes in his day-to-day, how he approaches the topics he writes about, and how often he gets to travel to golf tournaments.

We then transition into a discussion about writing in general and the many benefits from expressing one's self through the medium. Kyle is an exceptional longform writer, especially when doing so on topics close to his heart. We share examples of using writing as a form of therapy and remaining centered amid the hectic and difficult nature of life.

Follow Kyle Porter on Twitter at @KylePorterCBS. Read his amazing longform piece about his daughter, Kate, on Medium.com here.

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes or Android via the links below the player!

This Week in Golf Bullshit: The Status of Golf Writing

This Week in Golf Bullshit (TWIGB) is our weekly (or bi-weekly) commentary on a controversial topic in golf or golf media from the last seven days. If you have a topic you'd like me to cover on TWIGB, send me an email at adam@golfunfiltered.com.

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What do you expect to read when you visit a golf website?

If it's anything other than videos of golf trick shots, semi-nude women who may or may not be holding a golf club, or fantasy golf picks from any number of daily fantasy sites, you're likely in the minority. What does that say about the current state of golf journalism?

By the way, why did you click on this article? Did the feature image have anything to do with it? Hold that thought.

Last night I interviewed long-time pro golf beat writer Steve Elling on the Golf Unfiltered Podcast. For over 50 minutes we discussed the ups and downs of golf writing in general, including trends we've seen emerge within the medium over the years. While I hope you listen (and subscribe!) to the podcast, our conversation can be summed up as two guys lamenting over what topics have been deemed "popular" in golf media.

As I mention during the episode, Golf Unfiltered is not immune to the temptation of posting articles that fit many of the themes discussed above. Here's a post where I discuss whether sex sells golf blogs more than good writing. Here's another where I detail a video that depicts one female golfer hitting a golf ball off a tee sticking out of her teammate's rear-end. You can find multiple fantasy golf posts by using this blog's search function on the home page.

With the exception of my golf equipment review pieces, those post topics are the most popular on my blog in terms of traffic.

This tells me two things:

1. If my goal is to drive as much traffic to my site as possible, I need to post garbage articles in any of those three categories; and
2. In doing the above, I'll be tapping into a younger demographic comprised of readers who probably don't give a damn about golf journalism in the first place.

Those are not the readers I want to visit this site... yet those articles still appear on this site. Such is the conundrum of the modern golf blogger.

In 2013 I published an article on this site that investigated whether the lines between traditional golf writing and golf blogging have become blurred. A number of well-known scribes in both categories contributed to the piece -- including Robert Lusetich of FoxSports.com, Kyle Porter of CBS Sports, Geoff Shackelford from Golf Digest, and Ryan Ballengee from Golf News Net -- by offering their takes on how we can all "get along."

Of all the quotes offered to me in that piece, this offering from Lusetich still rings in my head almost three years later:

“The bottom line is that Old Media is finished,” Lusetich states. “New Media – including bloggers – will find a way to survive, as journals and newsletters did after the printing press was invented. The key is discovering how to make money from the enterprise, as it needs to be a business.

“Now it’s up to bloggers to find the money to make it work. It’s still evolving, but I think it’ll happen.”

How have blogs become a business? What method have most sites relied on to generate revenue? Simple: post goofy videos, gambling odds, mean shit about Tiger Woods, and tits and ass.

Why? Because as long as sites continue to appeal to the lowest common denominator, that population will continue to click on headlines. And trust me: that is a huge fucking population. Traffic equals ad revenue, ad revenue leads to fat wallets, and suddenly you are the proud owner of a small business.

It's the American Dream, baby!

All is not lost, of course. There are still golf sites who offer fantastic, original content you can't find anywhere else. Elling's GolfBlot.com is an example. Ballengee's GolfNewsNet.com is another. Adam Sarson's self-titled adamsarson.com is a third. And, yes, even the guys at NoLayingUp.com deserve your attention.

But why does your golf readership preference have to be so goddamn "niche?" Because it's the only way to find content that doesn't try to gain your support by insulting your intelligence.

Golf Unfiltered isn't going to fall into that trap any longer. You deserve better. Hell, we deserve better.

Traffic loss or no, you will only find original content on this site moving forward. While we may aggregate some news story topics from our peers in the industry, commentary or reporting on those topics will be entirely our own.

All I can hope is that you keep coming to the site.

Sunday Pairing: Blurring the Line between Golf Bloggers and Traditional Writers

Henry Grantland Rice is most likely the greatest sportswriter of all time. Referred to by his penname, Grantland Rice was best known for his ability to describe a moment in American sport in prose as elegant as the suits he wore while working. His commentary on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish’s “Four Horseman” is legendary, surpassed only by his work with Major League Baseball and professional golf. Rice sought to make heroes out of names like Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Bobby Jones and Babe Zaharias while simultaneously writing poetry that many believed could rival the likes of Robert Frost and T.S. Eliot.

In 2011, Grantland.com was established by Bill Simmons as a tribute to Rice. Since then it has grown into a journalistic melting pot of quick, blog-style posts seamlessly complimenting long form monthly features. It is the epitome of how far sports journalism has come from the days of pen, paper and typewriters.

For sportswriters of today, particularly golf writers, the avenues by which information is shared to readers are numerous. Just as Rice’s words were most often found in a newspaper or heard on national radio, today’s journalists work with a toolbox that includes an internet connection, a portable laptop and usually a Twitter handle. Readers now have more options by which to get their news, usually at instantaneous speeds at any hour of the day.

One specific genre of news reporting – blogs – has grown exponentially over the past decade. For a profession that was once reserved for “traditional” columnists with journalism degrees and years of paying their dues on the sports beat, a new breed of young, opinionated, fast-paced writers have entered the sporting news arena by way of the web log.

Over the years, the line between golf bloggers and traditional golf writers has become blurred. What was once a relationship that carried an “Us vs. Them” stench has slowly matured into a type of journalistic cohabitation.

“In the beginning, it was anyone with a laptop, a TV, a couch and an opinion,” says Robert Lusetich, Senior Golf Writer for FOXSports.com. “There was no appreciable journalism training. Now we're starting to see bloggers who were old-school media and bloggers who have come to appreciate that there are rules and conventions in the media game.”

Playing this game within the media realm is somewhat of an art form, especially for any up-and-coming golf blogger looking to make a name for his or her self. Bloggers tend to look for a place to “fit in” among the throngs of well-established, heavily circulated sports publications. Many times, the task of finding one’s niche among the saturation is left up to the blogger to solve.

“It's up to the blogger to decide where they fit in,” Lusetich continues. “Some will get out to events and report; some will want to offer their opinions on the game. There's room for all at the table.”

It appears that one unofficial standard by which golf writers are measured – if nowhere else but among their own professional circle – is the concept of “breaking news”. For many blogs, aggregating trending topics and offering commentary on stories already written by traditional columnists is the norm. After all, many bloggers lack the resources or the opportunity to cover golf tournaments on the same level as other writers. This is often a source of tension between the two writer sects.

“Blogging is a pretty all-encompassing endeavor,” says Kyle Porter, golf blogger for CBS Sports. I don't think you can point at one specific thing and say ‘this is it.’ Do we report or break news that often? No, but it happens. I'll interview players or be at tournaments and get something nobody else has. That's not usually the day-to-day though.

“The thing I think every day when I sit down to post stuff is ‘be awesome, take news and make it entertaining.’ If news comes through the [Associated Press] that Rory McIlroy shot a 65 to lead the first round of a tournament in China, that's kind of boring, right? Does Joe Golf Fan care about that? How do I make that news more entertaining?”

Geoff Shackelford, contributor to Golf Digest and an immensely popular golf blogger in his own right, agrees.

“Sometimes there are news stories needing to be broken that traditional golf media outlets don't have much interest in. [A] good blog highlights things to read and see, and embellishes that content with some sort of personal touch.”

In a sense, then, while many golf blogs you’ll find on the web offer commentary on stories found on numerous pages, it is up to the author to put a personal spin on the story and make it their own. As Ryan Ballengee, editor of GolfNewsNet.com suggests, today’s readers tend to show more loyalty to an author than a publication.

“Any writer can have a following -- a brand in marketing parlance,” he stated. “As it relates to news, however, I think more consumers don't care as much about where they get it. So loyalty to a site is harder to establish than to a writer.”

“I do think people like reading people and not outlets,” Porter adds. “I think blogging is a little less writer-oriented. That is, I don't care who posted the first picture of Jason Dufner Dufnering. It's a little harder to build an audience when your job is to drive traffic like that, but you still have Twitter which is a place you can grow an audience and carry it with you wherever you write next.”

Still, the small group of golf bloggers struggle to find a sense of identity in an arena dominated by experienced, battle-tested traditional columnists. If readers follow their favorite writers across multiple publications or platforms, it is a safe bet that those writers maintain the largest loyal readership. Times are slowly changing, however, as more major networks are incorporating blog-style reporting to their repertoire.

“Golf blogs have been through a few different waves over the years, but they always seem to be changing,” Ballengee suggests. “For Yahoo and CBS Sports, they're the primary means of delivering their golf content. The major, traditionally print golf publications -- Golfweek, Golf Digest and Golf Magazine -- have created blogs as a hybrid approach of reporting on news as well as curating and aggregating content from elsewhere. I don't believe it's a matter of blogs being recognized on the same level as traditional outlets. At this point, we're all basically doing the same things.”

As Geoff Shackelford also points out, golf’s strong traditional heritage may be one reason why bloggers often struggle to find their place while seasoned journalists have chosen to adapt. “Golf is generally a few years behind every sport and I see lots of exciting voices popping up online now. Or in the case of someone like David Owen, a longtime voice in golf adapting to the internet.”

As far as being a major news source, however, blogs might have some catching up to do.

“It's hard to generalize. Some blogs are professional, others aren't,” Lusetich stated. “A source needs to be trusted before it can be thought of as a major source of news. Some blogs have yet to build that level of respect. Not to say it can't or won't happen. The way it happens, though, is by getting runs on the board [by] breaking stories that turn out to be accurate.”

Indeed, it is this suggestion that golf blogs need to break bigger stories more often to increase their credibility that drives many bloggers to hone their skills. Furthermore, it is most certainly in the collective interest of bloggers to pinpoint their focus as it relates to reporting news. Is the ultimate goal of a golf writer to write long form columns or to quickly regurgitate short news items faster than the next guy one mouse-click away?

“Mostly getting the short stuff out because that's what people want,” Shackelford suggests. “But definitely doing something more in-depth on occasion. The technology and platforms are there now to do something long form that is worthwhile and also visually stunning. There is just nothing like reading a great long magazine story which teaches you about something you either didn't know much about, or could not experience.”

At the end of the day and once all the news has broken, perhaps how golf bloggers and traditional golf writers can co-exist becomes less a matter of “who came first” and more a question of how both sides can collaborate in today’s new media age. As Robert Lusetich points out perfectly, it is this sense of collaboration that will ultimately provide the reader the best product possible.

“The bottom line is that Old Media is finished,” Lusetich states. “New Media - including bloggers - will find a way to survive, as journals and newsletters did after the printing press was invented. The key is discovering how to make money from the enterprise, as it needs to be a business.

“Now it's up to bloggers to find the money to make it work. It's still evolving, but I think it'll happen.”

Top Five Golf Bloggers You Should Be Reading

When it comes to covering the great game of golf, most of us have our favorite journalists to whom we turn for our news. They are reliable, they know the game well and they become the narrator for moments we will remember for the rest of our lives. They become the bridge between the fan and the story, ushering us all to a deeper understanding of the game we love. With time comes change, of course, and the duty of covering golf is no different. Weekly columns found in copies of Golf Digest or Golf Magazine, while still prevalent, now play second-fiddle to up-to-the-minute updates from the best golf bloggers on the planet.

Here is a short list of five golf bloggers (in no particular order) who you should be reading, because frankly, nobody does it better.

Shane Bacon -- Yahoo Sports

Once the owner/operator of the Dogs that Chase Cars blog, Bacon has been seen on a number of news outlets over a career that includes CBS Sports and now Yahoo's Devil Ball Golf blog. A strong player in his own right (he boasts a plus-handicap), Bacon offers a keen insight into the game while sprinkling in the right touch of humor.

Kyle Porter -- CBS Sports

While not new to the golf-blogging biz, Porter has made a name for himself as the primary golf blogger for CBS Sports. His talent for capturing the essence of how many fans feel while hearing a newsworthy item is something I admire and try to emulate. He is also a great follow on Twitter for his quick wit and interaction with his readers.

Ryan Ballengee -- Golf News Net

Formerly of Waggle Room and the Back9Network, Ballengee has built a powerhouse golf blog entitled Golf News Net. He specializes in providing a unique, fresh look into the biggest golf news stories while also opening the golf fan's eyes to items you won't find anywhere else. Ballengee's ability to look at items with a critical, inquisitive eye makes him a must-follow.

Stephanie Wei -- Wei Under Par

Not only does Wei offer a hub of invaluable golf coverage on her blog, Wei Under Par, but she may also be one of the most interactive golf bloggers around by hosting Goolge Hangouts and through her Twitter feed. Wei can also be read on a number of major outlets like Sports Illustrated and most recently the Wall Street Journal.

Adam Staelin -- Three Guys Golf Blog

In addition to providing great commentary on the most newsworthy items on the day, Staelin's Three Guys Golf Blog also features a fantastic golf equipment review hub. You can even find golf lessons, interviews and much more. Follow him on Twitter, too.