Back9 Network Brings a Postmodern Playbook to Golf

I'm guessing you're already onto this story, as it's being talked about all over the place: Golf's got a new network... and it's called Back9.

The Back9 Network has been in development for a while now - for those of us watching from behind the scenes the wait has sometimes seemed interminable - but creating a new network from the ground up is a massive undertaking, and now that the foundation's been methodically laid out for this multimedia golf lifestyle and entertainment destination, we're getting our first look at some of what's to come. 

With its mission, "to offer entertaining and edgy content that fuses the sport of golf with the exciting lifestyle that surrounds it",  Back9 is creating original content, a glimpse of which is presented in their launch video from the PGA Merchandise show a couple of weeks ago.  Clearly, it's the antithesis of elitist, stogy, sedate and other adjectives unflattering adjectives often associated with the game.

We the obsessive readers and writers of golf blogs... the passionate fans and players of a game we know has the potential to bring people together... have long lamented the lack of innovative golf media offerings.  In fact, it's precisely that "creative content deficit" that motivated many of the best independent golf bloggers to start writing about the game years ago.  Back9 Network is built upon that same motivation, and ready to take it to new level.  The network plans to be broadcasting by late spring, and delivery will be multi-platform, providing simultaneous distribution over the Internet and mobile devices. Follow Back9 on Facebook and Twitter for the latest.

The Inspiring Story Behind Scott Stallings' Rookie Win

Way back in March, when this was happening...  I wrote this:

c/o BNET/Chief Executive Golfer

March 17, 2011 - A couple of days ago I finally got a chance to check out  Chief Executive Golfer,  a blog written by PGA Tour rookie, Scott Stallings, for BNET, the CBS interactive business network.

The PGA Reshuffle: What Happens When You're Not Making Money was what caught my eye.  It was Scott's most recent post, and as I read it... then read his previous posts... I was captivated by the narrative.  It's Scott's personal story and it brings to life his dreams... and his disappointments... many of which are certainly shared by touring pros everywhere as they attempt to build sustainable golf careers.  I'd first heard about Scott... and his blog... via an interview he did for The Grill Room, with Golf Magazine senior editor Alan Bastable. 

Scott started the blog a couple of years ago and writes regularly.  His early posts find him grinding along on the Nationwide Tour.  He describes the frustration when he narrowly missed getting on the PGA Tour in 2009 and the joy of finally getting there in 2010.  He talks about the crazy travel schedule, the relationships he has with his caddie and swing coach, the money issues and missed cuts... and the sheer unpredictability of it all.   For the casual golf fan... and even for avid fans... I suspect many of the stories in Scott's blog would be a revelation.

c/o stallingsgolf.com

Scott is a preachers son, raised in Oak Ridge, TN.  His quintessential Middle American innocence and unaffected enthusiasm come through clearly in his writing.   He travels 300 days a year with Jennifer who he first met when they were both... in kindergarten. They started dating in seventh grade and she's now his wife.  Though she's as beautiful as any of the PGA Tour wives mentioned in the reality show story (of last March),  her look is decidedly more "winsome, storybook princess" than "fierce bad girl glamazon".

Jennifer manages the couple's complicated, constantly changing itinerary and acts as devil's advocate for her sometimes overly optimistic husband.  She's also a talented photographer... and a prolific blogger in her own right.  Life on the Road is where Jennifer chronicles the unconventional touring pro lifestyle from a partner's point of view.  Like her husband she describes the hardships as well as the joys and paints an engaging, eye-opening picture.

c/o PGATour.com

Scott missed the cut for the Honda Classic so right now he and Jennifer are in rain soaked Bogota, Colombia for the Nationwide Tour's Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open. Scott's currently in a tie for 22nd as the last group finishes their second round and the third round gets underway. Rules don't allow for play on Monday so the the tournament... and the next move for Mr. and Mrs. Stallings... will be decided this afternoon, on the completion, it's hoped, of 54 holes.  Theirs is far cry from the lifestyle of the top players.

c/o stallingsgolf.com

For Scott Stallings and other PGA Tour rookies... and for all of those trying to reach the PGA Tour through the Nationwide Tour or regional and developmental tours... the stakes, week-in and week-out, are arguably far greater than they are at the top, where players have status that allows them to worry much less about keeping their jobs.  To my mind, these rookies... and aspiring rookies... have a far more dramatic story to tell.  A good showing has got to mean more... and a heart break must be far more heartbreaking... when the specter of starting over at Q-school is hanging over one's head.

If these stories can be heard over the cacophony that surrounds the glamorous lives of top players, I'm sure they'll find an enthusiastic audience... even in this fragmented golf media landscape.   In fact, with the proliferation of new online golf platforms and multimedia golf entertainment networks, a well produced web series starring Scott and Jennifer Stallings might not be that much of a stretch.  In the meantime check out Chief Executive Golfer and Life on the Road for an ultra-engaging glimpse into the lives of the real rookies of the PGA Tour.

In a one-hole sudden death playoff today, Scott won the 2011 Greenbrier Classic. 

Chevron World Challenge Sets the Stage for True Tiger Woods Rivalries in 2011

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 Rivalries take sports to the next level.

They light competitive fires in athletes and inspire passion in fans.  And for quite a few years, golf didn't have any rivalries.  No real ones anyway.

Golf had Tiger Woods, one player so dominant it seemed no one would ever step up to challenge him. Those whose job it was to write about golf, lamented the lack of a worthy adversary... and latched onto Phil Mickelson... to little avail. Ultimately, the Tiger/Phil stories were rarely compelling, in part because Mickelson never appeared to have much appetite for being the anti-Tiger.
     
Then came 2010.  Lefty's season seemed to start and end with his touching win at the Masters.  Meanwhile Europeans won the remaining three majors... plus the Ryder Cup.

Wracked by scandal and vilified by many in sports media, Woods floundered. He went from event to event, offering little hope for a much-awaited comeback,  however despite the winless season... and the reams of righteous indignation put forth by the press... it was clear that Tiger was still US golf's best hope.  And from a fan-standpoint, far-and-away the player who generated the most interest, passion and excitement.

When England's Lee Westwood usurped Woods as the number one golfer in the world, the beleaguered American was just beginning to show signs that his swing revisions were working and it was starting to seem like he's put "the scandal" behind him.  This led to the first shy speculation that there may actually be a true Tiger Woods rivalry in the cards.

Headlines coming out of the Chevron World Challenge yesterday reflected the continued consternation many journalists still feel about Tiger Woods and his game, while International headlines vaunted the awesome clutch-putting win by affable Graeme McDowell. Others were quick to dismiss the tournament altogether, as a highly curated exhibition that revealed little. 

Be that as it may, fan sentiment is best reflected these days on the social networks particularly, Twitter where hashtags and keywords can provide a real-time snapshot of the level of engagement and enthusiasm surrounding a particular person or event ...and yesterday afternoon it was crystal clear.  A Tiger Woods rivalry is still what golf fans want.  In everyone from the avid golf fanatic to the most peripheral golf-observer-in-passing, a final round with Tiger in the mix... or the possibility of such... drives interest and provokes passion for golf.

That's just the way it is ...and it seems to we as golf fans should be rather optimistic for 2011. With players like Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and a number of others seemingly ready to take on Tiger it seems that for the time being, our rivalry drought may well be over.

 

Photos by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images North America

Of Tiger Stalkers, Sex Journalists & Golf Media Guidelines

No doubt about it, we're living in an era of unprecedented change when it comes to communications and media.

"The old way of doing things just won't cut it anymore." ~ That phrase has become a well-worn cliche, and the changes that have taken place in reporting, writing and publishing sports news have already been epic. They've happened very quickly too. To the extent that lines are being blurred... and crossed... all the all the time. Sometimes the result can be awesome and groundbreaking. Other times awkwardness ensues... or disaster perhaps. Or maybe something in between.

An amusing example of the "in-between" took place last week on the pastoral fairways of Ridgewood Country Club. Not surprisingly the incident involved Tiger Woods, whose extraordinary fame... and salaciously spectacular fall-from-grace... precipitated a figurative "opening of the floodgates" in the golf media world.

Whereas just last year the idea that any self-respecting tabloid would waste resources covering a golf tournament would have been laughable... this year the PGA was fielding inquiries from the likes of TMZ, not to mention myriad other "non-traditional" media sources. Apparently standard operating procedure calls for a individual evaluation of each of these "non-traditional" requests, which this year resulted in denial of credentials for some.

But... in that new gray area where traditional and tabloid-esqe often overlap... it's best to expect the unexpected. And "the unexpected" unexpectedly happened last week at The Barclays, when on the first hole of the ProAm a "traditional journalist" cavalierly crept under the ropes and breezed over to interview Mr. Woods. Right there on the fairway. Right after he hit his approach shot.

The "traditional journalist" in question was Andrea Peyser ...and there she was, with her notebook and pen, possibly before Tiger's Titleist even landed on the green.

Ms. Peyser is an award-winning columnist with the New York Post and has a journalist career that spans more than two decades, thus one might assume her credentials may have been awarded without much in the way of scrutiny. Supposedly, the major New York dailies are automatically credentialed despite their tabloid-ish tendencies and without regard for what kind of reporter they'll be sending. And that's how the postmodern media-mix-up took place.

Because although Andrea Peyser is, by any definition, a traditional journalist, she's not a "traditional golf journalist". Though her columns have won awards from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the Newswomen's Club of New York and the New York Associated Press, the sanctimonious scribbler, had never been to a golf tournament. Ever. In her life. Therefore she didn't... uh... "know the ropes" so to speak. If you'll pardon the pun.

You see, Ms. Peyser normally writes about politics and gender, with a stridently conservative voice. In their amusing post on this incident, Gawker describes her as "a sex journalist" ...which would actually be funny if her voice weren't so vitriolic. In reality Andrea Peyser is a sanctimonious scribbler who demonstrates about as much tolerance for tolerance as Carol Mann.

Anyway, the fairway interloper was promptly stripped of her credentials and sent packing by "a pretty, blond automaton", thus becoming another symbol of the slippery slope that exists for the PGA, LPGA and other sports brands, between ensuring maximum coverage and maintaining some degree of control.

August 24, 2010 - Photos by Scott Halleran/Getty Images North America