I still remember my first thought on the morning my bosses approached me to start a media vertical for GOLF.com at the beginning of 2021.
“Are you … sure?”
It wasn’t so much that covering media sounded boring — I had been obsessed since shortly after I’d learned how to read — it was just that golf media felt small, and the capabilities of a website named “golf dot com” felt very, very big. I wasn’t sure there were enough interesting stories to fuel a regular column, and even less certain there was an audience that would follow along.
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Well, almost exactly three years later, I have a second thought: dummy!
Our media vertical, the Hot Mic, has blossomed into all the things I thought it wouldn’t, covering everything from the launch of LIV Golf to the end of Paul Azinger’s career — and all the commercial breaks in between. (Seriously, why are there so many?) We’ve gone behind the scenes with Live From and dived into viewership numbers with the CW; we’ve made Nick Faldo cry and Scott Van Pelt cuss. We’ve learned golf media doesn’t just tell the story — it often is the story.
Back when I was a journalism student at Syracuse, my student radio buddies and I would get together for dinner on Sunday evenings to talk shop about media and life. We knew next to nothing about the media world, but we loved it, and we loved dissecting every story in the industry from the table at the Erie Boulevard Chili’s.
As we’ve moved forward with our careers (and the Hot Mic audience has grown), I’ve found myself wishing I could find a way to inject the energy of those conversations into my work, breaking down the barrier between writer and audience in a way that’s more authentic, incisive, and fun.
That’s why this time, I was the one to approach my bosses to pitch the idea that is now becoming GOLF’s newest email offering: The Hot Mic Newsletter.
Our tagline for the Hot Mic is our goal: Everything you need to know about golf media in a minute or less. That encompasses a lot: inside insights from stakeholders and big names, analysis on the biggest news and trends, details you won’t find anywhere else (not even on GOLF.com!), maybe even the occasional bit of breaking news and a direct line from me to you.
SIGN UP FOR GOLF’S HOT MIC NEWSLETTER HERE
If I go any longer, you’ll lose faith in my ability to keep things brief. All you need to know is that every Monday you’ll receive something fresh, exclusive, and absolutely necessary to your understanding of the golf landscape … and you won’t need more than 60 seconds to consume it. Think of it as our own kind of Chili’s chat — a place to receive the biggest stories in the sport from your very own industry insider.
See you there!
-James Colgan