American Golfer Celebrates Five Years

On July 12, 2008, avid golfer Bob Bruce combined his two passions - golf and travel - into American Golfer, a blog originally intended to share his thoughts and experiences with his friends and family. Five years later, American Golfer has evolved into a wealth of information from across the industry.

Bob Bruce

“I was traveling a lot for business and had opportunities to play some beautiful courses,” Bruce said. “Seemed like everyone I talked to wanted to hear about the courses more than my work. Easy fix ... start a blog and share with the ‘masses.’”

Shortly after starting the blog, he began receiving and posting press releases from various companies promoting courses, travel and products. Little did Bruce know that tens of thousands of “friends” would soon be reading his blog.

“It was later that year when I was tinkering around with the site that I happened to look at readership numbers,” Bruce said. “I was thinking that 50, 100 people may have read my posts ... almost 20,000 in the last 30 days! I thought it had to be a mistake.”

By early 2010, Bruce’s personal blog had grown into an industry staple. He was offered trips to play golf and sent equipment to review. What was initially a club or dozen balls every now and then, turned into a flood of equipment, so he solicited the help of a few club pros and writers he’d met over the years. American Golfer was now a team.

With our happiness of reaching the fifth anniversary, comes additional news. While American Golfer will continue to post press releases from across the industry, there will be a greater focus on original content. Our readers have shown an increasing interest in product reviews and opinion pieces. Look for more of both in the weeks and months ahead.

Lastly, some sad news. Bob Bruce is stepping down as the leader of American Golfer. He will still contribute, but no longer on a daily basis.

“It was time for a change,” he said. “I’m retiring at the end of the month and won’t be spending my days in front of a computer. Instead, I’ll be on the golf course, traveling with my beautiful bride of nearly 40 years, or playing with my wonderful grandchildren.”

We look forward to sharing the news and views from across the industry with our readers. The first five years were quite a ride and we’re hoping the next five can be even more thrilling. Keep reading and we’ll keep writing.