Building upon the Golf News Net platform, GNN has expanded its digital reach of more than 750,000 golfers and golf fans per month by launching the all-new Golf Trip Experts website (GolfTripX.com) focused on golf-travel content across America and beyond.
“With GNN’s success and the number of articles we post each week about the PGA Tour, equipment and general interest in the game, our golf-travel coverage was getting a little lost in the shuffle,” says Ryan Ballengee, creator of Golf News Net and the new Golf Trip Experts brand. “It was time to give all that content about courses, resorts and architecture its own home so we could better spotlight the great work being done by the team.”
Along with the new website comes new @GolfTripExperts social-media accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to interact with golf travelers and amplify GolfTripX.com content.
In addition to Ballengee (whose resume includes NBC Sports, Golf Channel, Yahoo! Sports and SB Nation), the Golf Trip Experts team consists of hardworking veterans of print, broadcast and digital journalism who collectively have played more than 1,000 courses, golfed in all 50 states and visited hundreds of resorts worldwide:
- Award-winning golf-travel writer and editor Darin Bunch has signed on as managing editor of the new GolfTripX.com, with the goal of designing a reader-centric experience that encourages web visitors to spend more time consuming stories, podcasts, golf-course photo galleries and more. GolfTripX.com is also the new home of the “Talking GolfGetaways” podcast, which Bunch co-hosts with Mitch Laurance.
- In addition to his podcasting duties, Mitch Laurance serves as the Golf Trip Experts’ associate editor for audio and video content. Along with more than four decades of on-camera experience as a film and TV actor along with play-by-play commentary for ESPN Billiards and championship golf, as well as hosting “On the Green Golf TV” in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Laurance brings an unbridled enthusiasm for golf and travel as a writer, interviewer, producer and historian.
- Eric Hart, a master trip-planner and true road warrior known as “MobileGolfer” across social media, brings his passion to the team as associate editor for golf and travel. The Midwest-based writer, who has played more than 500 courses, often brings a family-focused approach to his golf content. Hart also owns Stays + Plays Travel Agency (StaysAndPlays.com), giving him a unique perspective on building golf getaways for families, couples, buddy trips and larger groups.
- 2014 Golf Photographer of the Year Brian Oar rounds out the core team as associate editor for photography. His work has appeared in publications worldwide, including Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, GolfGetaways and The Golfer’s Journal. Oar’s photography will be featured regularly on GolfTripX.com, and his entire catalog can be viewed at BrianOar.com. He also owns GolfPackagePros.com, a golf-concierge company specializing in booking golf-travel packages.
Other Golf Trip Experts contributors will include, among others: Pacific Northwest-based travel writer, author and historian Tony Dear; California-based Re-Gripped.com blogger Pete Flanigan; Kentucky-based golf writer David Hill; and New York-based blogger and longtime GNN contributor Jay Flemma.
“We’ve worked to create a fun, engaging place for golf travelers who love reading, dreaming and talking about courses, resorts, marquee destinations and hidden gems as much as we do,” says Bunch, who published and edited Fairways + Greens and GolfGetaways magazines for nearly two decades. “GolfTripX.com is the perfect opportunity to leverage the content we’ve produced throughout our collective decades of experience, combine it with new and fresh perspectives, and put it all in one place as a resource for golfers planning their next great golf adventure — whether that’s at a nearby course or a far-away bucket-list location.”
“If we can help golfers find a captivating course they’ve never played before or reveal some new aspect of a signature destination, Golf Trip Experts will have done its job,” Ballengee adds. “There is so much great golf in the world right now, and we want to highlight as much of it as possible.”
In addition to a variety of GolfTripX Signature Events already in the works (the first of which will bring 50 golfers to Tennessee’s nine-hole Sweetens Cove golf course in August), expansion plans for the Golf News Net platform in 2019 include integrating GolfTripX content on over-the-top (OTT) apps on the Roku, Amazon Fire and AppleTV platforms.
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For more information about GolfTripX.com, including advertising inquiries, marketing partnerships and content submissions or suggestions, contact:
- Ryan Ballengee | (443) 889-5000 | ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com
- Darin Bunch | (661) 979-0979 | darinbunch@mac.com
Or contact us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook @GolfTripExperts
