The adjective “independent” is widely claimed by media companies these days; especially golf media companies. To many, it seems, independence is achieved merely by not (yet) being a subsidiary of a multinational corporation. At The Golf Spectator, it means far more than that. TGS is committed to bringing truly independent golf coverage to fans around the globe. That doesn’t just mean we’re self-financed and have no parent company. Our independence does and will extend to relationships with advertisers, players, and tours as well.

So, in The Golf Spectator, what you won’t find is long-form advertisements disguised as editorial content for golf resorts, golf equipment, or private jet travel. Paid advertisements will always be clearly disclosed, and you’ll never be confused about what’s an ad, and what’s purportedly objective journalism. We’ll never accept compensation for positive reviews, and when we’ve received any product or service we’re reviewing for free, you’ll know it. Though it should go without saying, we’ll always disclose any financial relationship we have with any product, service, player or entity we write about.

At The Golf Spectator, we also fundamentally believe independence must stretch to the tours and players we cover, too. The policy at TGS is to be “tour agnostic” in our news coverage, which in practice means we won’t choose favorite tours, players, or teams in bringing you golf news. Wherever high-level golf is being played, we’ll cover it; as objectively as possible. Opinion pieces will be labeled as such. We are committed to ensuring you can read TGS without wondering whether favorable coverage is being provided in exchange for special access from a tour, or whether the writer’s main goal is to add a professional golfer’s number to his iPhone contacts list.

We don’t have the funding that Golf Digest, or Golfweek, or the Fire Pit Collective has, so we won’t always have the access to players and to exclusive events those companies have. Every tournament we cover will be on our own dime; we may get there by low-cost airline, by train, or even by bus, but we’ll get there. So you won’t get private jet tail numbers at TGS; you’ll just get us working our tails off to bring you the best in professional golf from around the world.

We hope you’ll come along for the ride.