By Jim Davis
February 2018 – Some rather significant news for SoHG members this chilly February…
As most of you know, the SoHG has committed to a greater level of collaboration with the Golf Collectors Society. One of those initiatives has been to develop a shared magazine, one that embraces our common interests in golf history, as well as our various interests in collecting artifacts of that history and of experiencing that history through hickory golf.
These efforts will come together in September with the launch of The Golf, a journal devoted to golf history, golf collecting, and hickory golf. The title harkens to a time when Scottish golfers of old referred to their pastime as “the gowf.”
Thus, this spring will mark the last stand-alone issue of The Wee Nip.
Members of the SoHG will have digital access to the March and September issues of The Golf. There, we will find a section titled “A Wee Nip for the Hickory Golfer,” with such features as we enjoyed in the stand-alone magazine – playing tips, featured club, news of hickory golf, member profile, etc.
We will continue to celebrate our identity as hickory golfers and our association with the SoHG, but through The Golf we’ll have access to a wider community that, like us, embraces the great heritage of golf.
The Golf will be a quarterly for members of the GCS, whose dues structure is higher than our own. They have access to four digital issues a year and the fourth, the December issue, is printed and distributed to all its members. Its members also have the option to purchase all four as printed editions.
SoHG members, whose dues structure will not change, will have digital access to March and September, as with our current publication schedule of two Wee Nips – Spring and Autumn. We will continue, as now, with the opportunity to purchase printed copies of those two issues. We will also have the opportunity to purchase a digital subscription to all four. That price schedule is being worked out.
As your editor, indeed, creator, of The Wee Nip, I have mixed feelings about its incorporation into The Golf. It has been a distinct pleasure to serve our hickory golf community these past 13 years with what I hope was a pleasant read, perhaps, on occasion, a very good read. We’ve touched on sensitive issues, had some fun, offered both poetry and original literature, delved into the history of club making and the great golfers and club makers of old. We’ve celebrated our achievements and shared our common interests and fascination with the modern game of hickory golf.
There is a bit of sadness in saying goodbye, but some exhilaration, too, in welcoming the new magazine. To cheers and no doubt many jeers, there will be some continuity in the editor’s chair. It seemed only logical, as I currently work on both the GCS Bulletin and the SoHG’s Wee Nip, that yours truly will remain as editor for the launch of the new publication. Thus you can be assured that the hickory golf community will be well represented in The Golf. As well, we’ll be pleased to continue to offer good reads, entertainment and research, from accomplished authors from around the world.
I hope you will join me in welcoming The Golf. It represents the culmination of many years work to create a stronger bond between our two communities in the shared love of golf’s great heritage.
As always, I welcome your thoughts, your concerns, your ideas and, indeed, your contributions that will continue to make this journal a fresh and vibrant voice for the enjoyment of our beloved pastime.
If you would like print copies of the 2018 spring edition of The Wee Nip and the September edition of The Golf, please click here. The process is easy, by check or PayPal. Of course, the magazines are easily accessible, too, on the website and can be read online. We will publish the link to the digital edition of The Golf online on the SoHG website, under the same heading as now exists for The Wee Nip.