About HOOK'D
Golf is a passion. Golf is a game. It's an obsession that for hours at a time occupies the center of our lives. It's a pastime that lets us forget the stresses of everyday life. It's as maddening as the yips. It's the most fun you can have in shoes. It's a game for life, and it's a lifestyle that colors the way we live. Golf's spiritual home may be St. Andrews, Scotland, but we live it and breathe it at the local club with great microbrews on tap at the 19th hole. Rules cover every situation under the sun, but any player worth his greens fee knows the first rule is to maximize the sunlight: to leave no birdie putt short, no joke untold, no press un-pressed.

HOOK'D magazine, through both its print and online versions, celebrates golf's vibrant, joyous spirit and lifestyle. We're monitoring the game's pulse for the players who make up its heartbeat: The 20- and 30-something man who is avid, but never humorless, about golf, who leaves his score at the course but carries the sport's soul with him always.

We're taking a smarter, hipper, more stylish and fun look at the people, places, products and skills that define golf and the golfing lifestyle. Through lively, compelling articles by accomplished writers, HOOK'D covers the everyday player and everything he cares about, including useful, engaging service pieces offering help inside and outside the stakes. It's all enhanced by a refined design to create something new: A modern, intelligent, unstuffy men's magazine focused on golf, with reverence and irreverence as well-balanced as Ernie Els' swing.

HOOK'D fills a publishing void by launching a golf title in the tradition of Esquire and Details. We are a team of respected magazine veterans who believe the 27 million U.S. golfers, especially all the 18- to 49-year-old men among the 10.2 million male core golfers, deserve more than run-of-the-mill service-heavy magazines on the one hand and pretentious, quasi-exclusive lifestyle publications on the other.

Our readers are youthful, vital and discerning male golfers who love golf--and are equally engaged by the culture at large, from music to fashion. We are targeting educated and affluent players with a paid-for circulation magazine: Men who understand that golf is a game whose reach extends beyond the fairways into every aspect of their lives.

HOOK'D Team
The group of editorial, creative and marketing professionals who comprise the HOOK'D management team together have decades of magazine publishing experience. As important, each is truly hook'd on the game of golf and the game of life. We are our readers.

Michael Golden, Editor-At-Large & Co-Founder
Michael Golden is a national award-winning sports and news journalist, and former media fellow of the Open Society Institute in New York, NY. Golden's feature and investigative reports have earned him honors from the National Headliner Awards, the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Academy of Television Journalists, and the Edward R. Murrow Awards. In 2000, Golden transitioned from journalism to the world of politics and advocacy. He earned an M.S. in Public Services Management at DePaul University and went on to manage multi-million-dollar U.S. Senate and Congressional campaigns. Golden served as one of John Kerry's communications directors in the 2004 general election and salved his wounds with many rounds of golf thereafter.

Howard Cao, Creative Director & Co-Founder
Howard Cao is not only a passionate golfer but also an awardwinning advertising and editorial photographer whose clients include Fortune, Discover, Men's Health, Adidas, and Miller Brewing Co. The former photo editor of ONE magazine and director of photography for leading e-commerce websites, Cao is an expert at integrating print and online capabilities into unified marketing strategies. His creative work has earned honors from American Photography 19 and PDN/Nikon. He has also taught senior portfolio development at San Francisco's Academy of Art University. Cao became hook'd on golf three years ago, and his ever-expanding collection of rare Scotty Cameron putters hasn't dulled his proclivity for three-putting.

David Albertson, Design Director
David Albertson is principal of Albertson Design, a multidisciplinary creative services company specializing in editorial, brand, and marketing communications. He leads a team of art directors, designers, photographers and writers in the realization of new editorial concepts, as well as consulting on the overall packaging of content. Over the past decade, Albertson has launched several new magazine titles, notably Make, Chow, 7x7 and Nickelodeon. After graduating from the renowned Rhode Island School of Design, Albertson worked for Alexander Isley Design and Tibor Kalman's studio M&Co. before launching his company in 1995. His longtime enthusiasm for golf is not matched by his handicap.

Greg Jones, Consumer Marketing Consultant
Greg Jones is the president of Granite Bay Media, a magazine publishing consultancy based in Northern California. Jones has worked with hundreds of magazines over his 25 years in the publishing industry. He has consulted on the budget preparations, source development and full-scale launches of many well-known titles including Wired, Western Interiors & Design, Fast Company, Nascar, Mother Jones, Business 2.0 and Motorcycle Classics. As one of the original architects of the Lighthouse Publishing Model, Jones has extensive experience in magazine circulation and also has served clients in both the purchase and sale of several magazine properties. He often speaks at industry events and conducts intensive in-house training programs for many top firms, including Rodale Press and F&W Publications.

Sara Huston, Art Director
A graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, with a B.A. with honors in Journalism and Art, Sara Huston joined Albertson Design in March 2005. Her previous experience includes time in Hamburg, Germany, as an art director for Leagas Delaney, a British advertising and design agency. Huston has worked on projects for Hewlett-Packard and Pottery Barn, and recently collaborated on an identity redesign for the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado. Huston is also art directing a special edition of Make magazine called Craft.
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