by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
The PGA Tour’s big media guides are the golf writer’s Bible. Loaded with statistics that date back 100 years and biographies on golfers you’ve never heard of — and likely never will — the three books are the work of Ward Clayton and his staff. You may not cover golf for a living, but for hardcore fans, the guides are for sale at various locations in the area.
The thick guides, one for each Tour, are available at the PGA Tour Stops at the World Golf Village and at the airport, and also via the Internet at golfsmart.com.
It’s $24.95 for one book, either the PGA Tour, the Nationwide Tour or the Champions Tour. Two books are discounted to $41, all three Tour’s books are $54.
“The books are about the same as in past years,” said Clayton, who handles major publications work for the Tour out of his Sawgrass Village office. “The difference this year is that we have added more stories in addition to the huge amount of statistical information.
“We wanted to explain the new FedEx Cup procedures, for instance. We also have expanded the number of our television partners, so we did more on them.
“The move of The Players from March to May is a major change and there are two pages on that.”
The books are big and colorful. The biggest is the PGA Tour at 520 pages followed by the Champions at 368 and the Nationwide at 263.
There’s a staggering amount of statistical and biographical information, and much of it was updated as the 2006 season went on.
“Lots of the information is on the Internet,” explained Clayton, “and the field staff updates the biographies after each week’s tournament. So, it’s not the last-minute crush you might think.”
The books were printed at R.J. Donnelly’s plant in Roanoke, Va., and it was a huge job with tight deadlines.
“In the past, we did the PGA Tour book first and then the others because those seasons started later,” said Clayton, a North Carolinian who joined the Tour in 2000 after 10 years as sports editor of the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle. “We decided to put them out all at once this year.”
Information in the books was done in early November and the books were ready for mailing at Christmas. Those on the Tour’s media list got a FedEx box with all three books just before the end of the year.
Clayton’s work never finishes and he’s already at work on the 2008 editions. His official title is Director, Editorial Services, and he’s the point man for any major publication, including the media guide and the Tour’s annual report.