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If you like hitting a little white ball around in the grass, then this is your magazine. Chock full of info such as equipment reviews, instructional articles, tour news, golf-course ratings, as well as good photography, this is arguably the best of the best when it comes to golfing magazines.Lower your scores with the world’s most widely read golf publication. Only Golf Digest brings you exclusive instruction and interviews from world-class players like Price, Els, Watson, Alcott and Woods. Plus, you’ll find the latest golfing equipment, tips for improving your technique, and news from the golf world.

Golfers share many things in common and one of these is an often fanatical love for the game. For these types, nothing can take the place of heading to the nearest golf course, but Golf Digest comes very close. This magazine contains over 200 pages each month, dedicated exclusively to the sport of golf. Each issue usually contains a variety of articles and/or features with respect to golf instruction. Unlike many other magazines, Golf Digest offers sound practical advice from accomplished professionals. In fact, Golf Digest enlists a number of PGA pros as playing editors including pretty every big name in golf (yes, that does include Tiger. You can usually count on Tiger’s face gracing at least a dozen pages of each issue, believe it or not). One of my favorite things that Golf Digest does is break down pro player’s swings frame by frame (whether it be Duval, Garcia, Lehman, or whoever) to catch their positions at each point in the swing. It’s extremely helpful (although often depressing) to see where the pros are at different points in their swing and compare it to your own swing.

The things that set Golf Digest apart from the competition are the numerous articles about learning and improving your game and the personal stories and interviews. Other golfing publications attempt to help you learn, but they often get too mechanical. Golf Digest shows you how to improve your game with tips from professionals, including some of the star- studded members of the golfing elite like Tiger Woods. Besides all the tips and tricks, Golf Digest also shows the personal side of the sport with interviews and more intimate stories about the many colorful personalities in the game. This personal dimension adds greatly to the magazine’s overall appeal, providing great reading material to complement the more instructional side of the magazine.

Advertisements cover about 55 percent of the pages in each issue of Golf Digest. Besides the obvious, like golf clubs, golf balls, and golf apparel, the advertising focuses on other things that people who play golf like to purchase and indulge in, like liquor, cars, credit cards, brokerage firms, and travel services. The ads are found throughout the magazine, but they don’t interfere with the enjoyment of each issue like they do in some magazines.

Golfing Digest may not be as great as a day spent on your favorite golf course, but it comes close. I consider it the best publication of its kind and I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the game. Golf Digest is indeed a magazine for any golfer out there, ranging from the die-hard weekender to the driving range fiend. At a reasonable price of subscription when compared to other sports magazines, Golf Digest simply offers a combination of great articles, pictures, and features for golfers handicapped scratch to infinity.

For more information about Golf Digest Magazine subscriptions visit http://www.magazinearena.com

Whether you’re a venture capital firm seeking investors for your clients or a start-up seeking your own funding sources, don’t ignore the basics of self-promotion. Smart marketing can help cut through the clutter and make sure your message reaches its target. Here are three reasons why marketing should be central to your strategy:

1. During first quarter 2008, there were no venture-backed IPOs, marking the first time since 1978 that no IPOs were issued and representing a capital markets crisis for the start-up community [Source: National Venture Capital Assoc. and Thomson Reuters]

2. The Mergers & Acquisitions market had only 56 deals during first quarter 2008, one of the lowest quarterly levels in the past decade [Source: National Venture Capital Assoc. and Thomson Reuters]

3. Only one in six venture-back companies ever goes public and one in three is acquired [Source: National Venture Capital Assoc.]

In today’s tight economic and competitive environment, companies need every advantage to differentiate their business. With thousands of other companies vying for limited investment dollars and opportunities, you have to stand out. Good marketing techniques can help give you an edge. Here are five easy ways to make a difference:

Good marketing doesn’t have to be expensive or unwieldy. If you don’t have staff on hand to do the work, outsource it. A small investment in core marketing communications can help make sure your message reaches potential investors.

Julie Preiss is a partner in http://JKPGroup.com/ a marketing communications consulting company. For more tips, visit http://JKPGroup.com/