The Sale of the Century

The news last week that “The New York Times” had sold Golf Digest and three other golf-related titles to Advance
Publications marked the end of an era for the magazine — and brought back a lot of fond memories for many who once
worked for “The Mother Ship.”

First, some history.

Golf Digest was founded by three college pals, Bill Davis, Howard Gill and Jack Barnett. The year was 1950, the first issue
was 16 black-and-white pages that sold for 15 cents and the magazine’s first office was Davis’ bedroom — and not a spare
bedroom, either.

The magazine struggled for a time, as all magazines do, but soon it prospered and in 1969, was sold to The New York Times
Company for a rumored $3 million — a price which, even if low, still made it the greatest bargain in publishing history.

In the immortal words of Milo O’Shea’s character in “The Verdict,” Barnett took his share, “ran like a thief” and lived
happily ever after.

Davis went on to become a vice president at The Times, heading up what eventually became a large and diverse magazine
division, while Gill did a variety of odd jobs like being publisher of Golf Digest (great job) and publisher of its sister
publication, Tennis magazine (a not so great job since more often than not, Tennis was more like the neglected step
sister).

Davis died shortly after his retirement, after suffering a long and debilitating illness. Gill, who typically took up polo and
tap dancing upon his exit, died several years later, in 1995.

Today, there are very few people left at Golf Digest who even knew Bill and Howie, much less worked with them. That’s a
pity, because they were well worth knowing.

You could use 100 adjectives to describe Bill Davis and still not capture the complete essence of the man. He was brilliant
and he was mad; he could be utterly charming and completely lacking in grace; he was funny and he was volatile; but most
of all he was totally devoted to his magazine — and make no mistake about it, Golf Digest was his magazine.

All you need to know about Howie Gill is that everyone loved him, which was a good thing because the most important part
of his job description was straightening out the messes Bill invariably made as he moved through life like a whirling
dervish.

The stories about Bill Davis are the stuff of legend.

Over the course of his life, he received hundreds, maybe thousands of (free) lessons from the likes of Sam Snead and Bob
Toski, just to drop two names. Still, he always insisted that the best lessons he ever got came from a driving range
operator named Pete Zangrillo. It is also unlikely that the esteemed Mr. Zangrillo ever received so much as a dime for his
efforts, although it is possible that Bill at least paid for the range balls.

To his credit, Bill Davis did have an uncanny sense for where the game was headed. He started a ranking of “America’s 100
Toughest Golf Courses” in 1966. This eventually evolved into “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses as Ranked by Golf
Digest,” and it completely altered how people viewed golf course architecture and made guys like Tom Fazio very wealthy
— even celebrities.

Naturally, Bill saw the potential for a book in all this. And naturally, Bill knew just the guy to write it. That would be Bill
himself — with a little help from his friends.

Ross Goodner was a long-time editor at Golf Digest. He is a sensitive and graceful writer with a keen sense of the game’s
history. He was not, however, by character, temperament, or breeding, an ideal collaborator for the mercurial Davis.

Anyway, one day Bill careened into Goodner’s office and announced the happy news that they were going to be partners in
this great literary endeavor.

“My life passed before me,” said Goodner.

Hours later, after taking the full measure of the disaster that lay ahead, Goodner asked a fellow editor if he was being
paranoid about working with Bill.

“If the bad guys are shooting real bullets, you’re not being paranoid,” the editor replied.

Several months after the book came out, Davis was playing with another editor at Garden City Golf Club. As they walked off
the first tee, Bill asked the editor who designed the course.

“I should know, but I haven’t read that chapter of my book yet,” said Davis.

In his own peculiar way, Davis was fiercely loyal to his staff — when he wasn’t driving them to distraction with his
sporadic lunacy. Indeed, unlike many of the suits that run magazines, both he and Howie actually wrote on occasion and
understood the vagaries and difficulties of the profession.

On the eve of his retirement, Davis hosted a dinner for the editors of Golf Digest and Tennis. In his farewell, he offered this
bit of wisdom:

“Every writer needs a good editor,” he said. “If I had edited Ernest Hemingway, he would have been a better writer.”

“Yes, and he would have killed himself 10 years sooner,” one editor whispered.

It would have been a mercy killing.

-----------------------------------------
Don Wade is the Editor-In-Chief for PLAYER Magazine, a prolific author and commentator in the world of golf and the former
Senior Editor of Golf Digest Magazine.

Copyright © 1999-2001, The Golf Society of the U.S., a Visual Data company (NASDAQ: VDAT).
All rights reserved.