Fairways + Greens Magazine, America's most honored golf regional with six trophies at the International Network of Golf Media Awards, invites golf fans from the West Coast and beyond to take part in the most unique and inventive "best of" contest in the publication's history — a take-off on college basketball's annual "March Madness" campaign they've dubbed "Hack-it-ology."
By visiting www.fgmagazine.com through Feb. 4, well-traveled golfers can pick their favorites among the 64 survivors of round one in FG's annual roundup of the West's best golf courses, which began with 128 contenders in the Winter 2008 issue. FG's annual Signature Series roundup always breaks fun new ground instead of rehashing the same tired "insider" ranking systems of other publications, but this year the editors have gone the extra mile to include readers and experts alike in the process.
"We actually came up with the idea while driving up the California coast toward Bandon," says Publishing Partner and Executive Editor Vic Williams, who helped found FG in 1997. "It was during last year's Final Four weekend, which ended up with an epic final game between Memphis and Kansas, and like millions of Americans we got caught up in the March Madness hype. We decided right there to base this year's Signature Series issue on a variation of 'bracketology.'"
Williams and co-publisher Darin Bunch enlisted the help of other golf travel writers to narrow a huge field of worthy contenders down to 128 "teams" represented in four regional contests that reflect the bulk of the bi-monthly magazine's issue-to-issue coverage — Southern California/Hawaii, Northern California/Reno-Tahoe, Southern Nevada/Arizona and Pacific Northwest/Western Canada. With 32 teams in each bracket, the editors and writers got down to the work of seeding and matching the courses up. No. 1 seeds were Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles; Pebble Beach; We-Ko-Pa Saguaro; and Pacific Dunes. All are still in the running, but there were a few upsets and "buzzer beaters" among first round matchups to keep some sleepers in the mix. Initial rankings were based largely on the "overall experience" each course delivers, which includes architecture, setting, service, memorability and amenities.
"Now it's up to our readership to decide who moves on to the field of 32, then to the Sweet 16," Williams says. "We've had tremendous response to the web poll so far, but the more votes we get, the better idea we'll have of which courses truly deserve to be there when the Final Four go head-to-head in our April-May issue."
He adds that he and Bunch believe they've started something big for the 12-year-old, independently owned publication. "Already we're getting lobbied to consider certain overlooked courses for next year's Hack-it-ology contest. We think we've struck a positive nerve with our readers, contributors and advertisers, and this will definitely continue in some form from now on."
Headquartered in Reno, Nev., Fairways + Greens Publishing, Inc. distributes FG to paid and promotional subscribers, selected golf courses, resorts and retail outlets and online through www.fgmagazine.com. A completely new version of the website debuts in March 2009 with expanded video and audio capability, a dedicated social network, fresh new online marketing opportunities and much more. The magazine again lead all publications at the ING Awards announced at this year's PGA Merchandise Show, garnering a first place writing award in the Competition category, along with top honors in Illustration and Photography. Williams and Bunch also won "Outstanding Achiever" awards in the Travel category and over the past three years, FG contributors have won or placed in Equipment, Opinion and Profile categories as well.
CONTACT: Vic Williams, vwilliams@fgmagazine.com
