The first golf magazine in this country was founded in 1926 by RG Fall, who edited it until he was in his mid-eighties. South African Golf was the only local golf magazine for over half a century.

Former SA Golf Union president and captain of the Royal Cape Golf Club, golf historian Peter Sauerman, took over the reins of the magazine.

Then it all changed in the 1980s. At the end of the ’80s I had been working in California and had seen that the California Golf Association sent out a free magazine to all their members. I managed to convince Dennis Bruyns, the then head of the PGA, that we should copy their model in South Africa in partnership with the SAGU, as it was called in those days. At that time there were a little less than 100 000 registered golfers who had official handicaps.

Unfortunately, by the time the new magazine, Compleat Golfer, launched, the SAGU had pulled out of the arrangement so the PGA went ahead alone. 

After a year, the PGA had invested a substantial amount of money and decided to sell. Dennis Bruyns still believed in the viability of the magazine, as did I. We got a third party involved and we purchased the magazine from the PGA.

The timing was lucky because golf estates were opening all over South Africa and we were their only form of communication to golfers. We also started the golf course rankings, years before Golf Digest did theirs in South Africa. So there were then two magazines – Compleat Golfer and Golf Digest.

Compleat Golfer also started the 20 Best Golfers of the 20th Century, the results of which were announced at the annual awards dinner which was the official dinner of the PGA, Sunshine Tour, Junior Golf Foundation, Disabled Golf, Womens Golf SA and the South African Golf Association.

Dennis came up with the idea of a new event for amateur golfers, called the Compleat Golfer Mid Amateur Championship, which was held at Royal Johannesburg and run like a professional tournament. In the first year we had about 100 golfers whose ages were between 35 and 55.

We also staged the Golf Faire which was the first retail golf exhibition in the world. This event gave golf equipment companies an opportunity to talk directly to golfers, with others like golf resorts being able to promote their products. We held the Golf Faire annually in Johannesburg and, later, in Durban and Cape Town.

Towards the middle end of the ’90s, the magazine was purchased by Ramsay Media. Alan Ramsay was passionate about golf and the magazine, and he did a wonderful job until he sold his business to Habari Media.

The golf magazine business has now gone full circle. Nowadays magazines don’t sell nearly as many copies as they did 20 years ago, plus there are very few retail outlets that sell a variety of them, so many of the publications have gone digital.

GolfRSA, under the leadership of Grant Hepburn, launched The Golf Mag in 2023. It is one of a number of offerings they have for the club golfer.

GolfRSA was well aware of the perception that everything they did was for the elite players, and they wanted to rectify that and be able to communicate with the club golfer. The Golf Mag, which is free to all golfers in South Africa with a registered handicap, is the result of that. Already, they have partnered with the Sunshine Tour and I’m sure other organisations in the golf sphere will join in the near future.

SHAUN ROY/CARL FOURIE/TYRONE WINFIELD/SUNSHINE TOUR/PERFECT EXPOSURE