How influential was The American Golfer while Travis was editor?
The magazine was different than anything that had been available previously, using more pictures, revealing the secrets of his game and other great players and showing Americans courses in Great Britain that they had heard of but didn’t know much about. Travis also had a bully pulpit to pontificate from, and he used it every month, filling his readers with his opinions on every facet of the game from greenkeeping to course construction to playing techniques, handicapping, the rules, equipment, guidelines for establishing a club and much more. Since distribution was primarily East Coast, I think he had a great effect on those clubs-whether or not his opinions influenced golf elsewhere in America is difficult to ascertain. There’s no question that his writings were ground-breaking in many fields, especially in course maintenance and rules, two subjects no one had tackled prior to his essays. 11. How did Travis and Bobby Jones meet? Travis had watched a young Bobby Jones play in his first
