Solving content overgrowth

We distributed an ineffective product on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022.

Sounds harsh. But working for an independent publication means calling ’em as you see ’em, especially when an archaic product rests on your laptop.

We saw terrific individual pieces in our antepenultimate Fast & Firm email newsletter of 2022: a column, new podcasts, and fun course and people news accompanied by solid imagery. Unfortunately, individual pieces don’t always function effectively as a group, and the newsletter failed to meet our expectations.

Editors are more like golf maintenance professionals than we admit. We’re rarely satisfied or comfortable, we plan for the worst, we think about the job too much, and we struggle to enjoy any moment. We know what you’re thinking next, “So what? Editors aren’t forced to battle weather.” That’s true. We spend large parts of our days learning how you adjust to myriad conditions. Our biggest tussles involve the volatile whims of the publishing and media world, which, truthfully, evolves and changes much faster than golf.

In the case of Fast & Firm, our free weekly newsletter, we determined we were giving subscribers a bloated product. The Dec. 13 edition included 15 items and our metrics indicate subscribers develop click fatigue around the fourth or fifth item. A few 2022 newsletters exceeded 20 items. One of our key editorial products became the content equivalent of a five-hour round of golf.

Fast & Firm operated as a biweekly offering until we shifted to a weekly format in early 2020. Great timing! The commencement and continuation of a golf surge led to rapid activity within the industry. Companies started sharing more news with us. Managing editor Matt LaWell transformed Superintendent Radio Network into one of B2B publishing’s largest podcast channels. Lee Carr, Judd Spicer, Rick Woelfel, Trent Manning, Trent Bouts, Ron Furlong, Anthony Williams, Cassidy Gladieux and our other content friends pitched us more quick-hitting story ideas. National sales manager Russ Warner stabilized our business through the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Russ then added Jimmy Clark, a smooth-swinging (translation: scratch golfer), smoother-talking, golf-loving, highly motivated young talent to his team.

Three years after transforming Fast & Firm into a weekly product, we’re ready to condense and expand the newsletter. We’re not selling content memberships or beginning a pay-for-play club to receive it. We aren’t in the dues business. But we are in the business of helping and inspiring subscribers, readers, followers and listeners who serve dues-paying customers. Don’t get Fast & Firm? Click the subscribe tab on golfcourseindustry.com, type in your name and email, and — voila! — you’ll receive three Fast & Firm newsletters in our inbox each week.

The newsletter version of a five-hour round will become a concise content version of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday spins around an imaginative par-3 course. You might even occasionally see our Short Course Stories in the newsletters. Based on the results of this year’s Numbers to Know survey (pages 17-35), golf appears poised for another lucrative year.

Increasing content frequency represents a publishing risk. Your inbox is probably inundated with unopened or deleted emails. We’re confident our writers, columnists and podcasters will provide compelling reasons to open and click every newsletter.

A surging market also means our inboxes are inundated with renovation updates and news releases from companies offering products and services to elevate your course. Unless you hang out on social media more than you should or visit our website multiple times per day, you’re likely missing news that can help your course and your career. That news will be easier to spot in our compact format.

If you’re in a position to share updates and news releases or want to write an article for an upcoming newsletter, send details and applicable images to gcipriano@gie.net or mlawell@gie.net. Our renovation has cleared the way for greatly enhanced views — and we didn’t even need a chainsaw to fix issues created by our content overgrowth.