As bunkered celebrates its 30th anniversary, Head of Content for Golf, Michael McEwan at DC Thomson reflects on the magazine’s journey from a Glasgow pub to becoming one of golf’s most distinctive media voices. 

This summer marks 30 years since three Scots – Paul Grant, Tom Lovering and Stephen McCann – set out to plug a glaring gap in the golf media landscape: Scotland, birthplace of the game, didn’t have its own golf magazine. 

Launched in 1995 after their stint as car salesmen in Germany (because where else would a Scottish golf mag begin?), the trio returned home with an idea – and a thirst. Over a pint in Jinty McGuinty’s, a pub in Glasgow’s West End, Stephen blurted out a name: bunkered. It stuck. Some folks didn’t get it. But nobody forgot it. 

They drew up a business plan, launched Pro-Sports Promotions Ltd on May 31, 1995, and the rest – thanks to our loyal readers and advertisers – is history.  

The first official issue hit shelves in April 1996 with Scotland’s Sam Torrance on the cover. Before that? Two wee A5 pilot editions, one boldly claiming to be “Scotland’s only golf magazine”… while featuring someone playing golf in Spain on the front.

Early reviews weren’t exactly glowing. One PGA official warned them to get their act together or pack it in. They chose the former. Just in time, too: a young Tiger Woods was about to turn pro. Interest in him transcended the sport in an unprecedented way. Woods modernised the game and the wider golf industry in every conceivable respect. Undoubtedly, bunkered has been a beneficiary of that. There’s a good reason he has graced our front cover more than any other golfer (18 covers and counting). 

Through these last 30 years, we’ve always amplified the voice of the average golf fan because that’s what we are – golf fans. That will never change. Over the years, bunkered has evolved from a Scottish golf magazine into a multi-platform golf media brand from Scotland. We have a global digital footprint and a distinctive voice.  

That last point is particularly important. I’d like to think that we’ve become much more confident in leaning-in to the power and potential of personality-driven content. The world is louder and more inter-connected than ever. To rise above the noise, you must be prepared to be the embodiment of your brand. People like people, and we’re lucky to have some of the very best working for us.  

While print remains part of the bunkered DNA, the real game-changer has been switching on to digital opportunities. From a single-page placeholder of a website in the early 2000s to today’s sleek, audience-first platforms, we have evolved and innovated and reaped the rewards. 

Success can be measured in many ways. We’re a commercial business, so a healthy bottom line is always the first yardstick, but it’s by no means the only. A word we use a lot at DC Thomson is ‘community’. We don’t want a transactional, impersonal relationship with our customers. We are driven, instead, to build meaningful relationships with our audience and, again, that can take many forms. From using data and insights to deliver more of the content they value to using our voice to advocate on their behalf (a live example being our work around closure-threatened public courses) we want to be difference-makers and champions for our community. That combination of expertise and purpose is where we believe we drive the most value.  

To date, we’ve published 223 editions of bunkered, as well as those two A5 pilots in 1995, countless supplements and guides, exclusive-to-Apple digital Mini Mags and at least one special edition produced exclusively for the now-defunct low-cost airline Flyglobespan! Over the past 30 years, we’ve secured interviews with legends of the sport. Jack Nicklaus, Rory McIlroy, Greg Norman and more. 

It’s been a remarkable, and remarkably quick, 30 years. So, what’s next? 

Right now, we’re working on expanding bunkered’s digital footprint. From developing the website, to broadening the reach of our podcast, to partnering with powerhouses such as Apple, Microsoft and Samsung, we’re dedicating the overwhelming majority of our resources to making ourselves the ‘go-to’ digital brand for golf. We’ve got some extraordinarily exciting plans in the pipeline. 

Looking 30 years from now, it’s almost impossible to predict. The company I joined 21 years ago is completely different to what it is now, and that’s a consequence of many things: one, the fluid nature of the media industry; two, DC Thomson’s ownership, which, since 2019, has unlocked more talent, more investment, more ambition, and a new level of skill sets. This, in turn, has allowed us to grow in the ways we’d always wanted to, learning from other brands within the company, such as Stylist. 

We are so fortunate to have DC Thomson’s backing and vision, not to mention the support of an extremely loyal band of advertisers who share our passion for golf and our determination to innovate. Many of them have been with us from the very earliest days of bunkered and have followed us into the digital age. Their invaluable support has also provided us with a platform to extend bunkered’s reach beyond our traditional consumer base to launch in the B2B golf sector with Scottish Golf Tourism Week, now firmly established on the calendar and a key contributor to Scotland economy.   

A question I was asked a couple of years ago was, ‘why does bunkered exist?’ We’re very clear about our ‘why’ but, equally, we accept that might – and probably will – change as consumer demand evolves.  

There will always be hurdles. AI, for example, presents both an opportunity and a challenge. There’s legitimate concern about the wider world’s continued investment in machine learning and dependence on automation, and not without some justification. However, the essence of bunkered is exceptional storytelling, and that requires humanity: heart, empathy, emotion and instinct. Until such times as machines develop that level of sentience, I think we’ll be around a while longer. 

Here’s to the next 30 years. I cannot wait to see what they bring. 

If you have any questions about bunkered or just want to connect, please feel to drop me a line at michael.mcewan@dcthomson.co.uk