Biased Review: Golf Digest's iPad App, Masters Edition
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Yes, we know my bias. I am an Apple fanboy.
Oh, and this site is now in partnership with Golf Digest.
Yet even as a groupee and paid hack, the iPad has been all about promise and underwhelming when it comes to practicality. The magazine element has been a disappointment simply because current subscribers can't transfer subscriptions or buy combination platters to receive both print and digital versions at a reasonable price.
Still, only a few recent application downloads have me convinced the iPad is here to stay and an inevitable print killer. The first app was Flipboard, a promising tool to take Twitter and Facebook feeds and turn them into a magazine read. Then there was News Corp's The Daily, which despite wretched bugs some weak content, is a nice morning read when you are traveling. And the third was Instapaper, a great way to mark potential stories you want to read and pick up your iPad on the subway and read them free of a computer screen.
And now Golf Digest on the iPad. The initial foray into app land for Golf Digest was a modified Hot List issue, which holds about as much appeal to me as an WNBA game. Still, it was cleverly done and inevitably great fun for anyone with an interest in equipment. Just not my thing.
With the Masters issue, Golf Digest unveils its first full version of the monthly magazine and when you pay your $4.99, you feel you are getting something that is both a great read and, thanks to extra's tucked away inside the issue, it has a permanence that suggests you may refer back to the issue long after your first read through. The standout extras range from silly little knick-knacks like a spinning basketball on an illustration about Jamie Lovemark's athletic prowess to stunning audio clips of Jack Nicklaus talking about '86 to Ron Whitten's guide to each hole's evolution at Augusta National.
Perhaps more powerful than anything is the depth and richness of the photography. Seemingly nice images in the magazine pop on an iPad (at least indoors...outdoors the iPad just doesn't have the resolution yet to make it fun to read while developing your skin cancer, and today's launch of iPad 2 does not improve the outdoor resolution.)
On the business side, the improved eye candy also means ads are hard to bypass, especially when they weave in video or interesting content.
So if you were on the fence about buying an iPad for the obvious reason (cost and what do I need it for?), you've been fine staying on the sidelines. But to finally see what a magazine (and maybe some day, books) can look like in the future when created for a tablet, reading Golf Digest on the iPad convinces me more than ever that the future lies in the interactivity of digital when combined with beautiful photography, video and audio. Oh, and the written word will have a place at the table, but it better be surrounded by goodies.
Sample of Whitten's hole-by-hole renderings of Augusta through the years, 4th hole 1934 and 2010:
Click to enlarge screen capture of Golf Digest app's 1934 rendering of Augusta National's 4th hole
And the 2010 rendering (click to enlarge)
