ABOUT GOLF SOUTH

The management team of Golf South has more than 125 years of collective experience marketing to golfers and the golf industry.  Our practical experience includes destination marketing, owning, managing and/or participating in more than 170 golf and travel shows, golf and travel writing, magazine and trade publication, direct marketing and e-commerce.

This team has a passion for golf and a proven history of marketing to the traveling golfer.

Once a month, we will also publish The Traveling Golfer Newsletter that profiles 5 new resorts or destination areas with professionally written articles, photographs and contact information.  Sign up today to get the latest news on affordable possibilities, travel tips, industry news and details about contests that are running on the golf-south.net website.

MANAGEMENT TEAM

Claudio DeMarchi is a golfer who loves to travel to play golf.  His company Lakeview Productions Inc. has been a part of the Canadian golf industry since 1989. Lakeview was instrumental in the start up and production of all major golf shows in Canada and still maintains ownership of the London Golf & Travel Show (14 years) and the Hamilton Golf & Travel Show (3rd year). Lakeview Productions Inc. also became a destination marketing company with a passion for golf.  Since 1999 Lakeview has been handling all of the golf marketing in Canada for the State of Mississippi.

In 2001, South Carolina’s inland Golf Capital came on board with Lakeview.  Lakeview handles golf marketing for Santee in both Canada and the USA.  In 2006, Swamp Fox Country Golf and Olde English District of South Carolina have jumped on board with Lakeview. In 2005, Lakeview partnered with The Links Marketing Group to co-publish the Canadian Golfer Travel Guide and now is pleased to introduce you the Traveling Golfer E-Newsletter and host website golf-south.net.

To find out more about Lakeview Productions Inc., visit www.lakeviewproductions.com. If you happen to be visiting a golf show in your area you may see Claudio wandering around in his knickers. Don’t be afraid to stop and say hi.

Dave Finn is a sales and marketing professional. For the past 16 years, Dave has been Co-founder and President of Golfinn International Inc., Canada’s first mail order and e-commerce golf catalogue company.  His “Par Excellence” catalogue has won 2 RSVP Awards from the Canadian Marketing Association for its design and campaign response and Golfinn was featured in a nationally televised documentary by CBC Venture.

In 2002, Golfinn became the fulfillment company for Mike Weir’s WeirGolf website and a supplier to Sears Canada for branded merchandise.  Dave has applied his extensive direct marketing knowledge to develop creative sales and marketing campaigns as well as design, produce or source innovative products and promotional merchandise. For the past 5 years, Dave has travelled to China to procure golf and other promotional products of the highest quality at an affordable cost for retailers, wholesalers and large corporate clients.

Dave has managed co-promotions with companies like Diners Club and continues to produce catalogues, brochures and web content for a variety of clients while completing vendor negotiations, building and maintaining several databases and managing the response analysis for multiple campaigns.

OUR WRITERS

Tim Baines is sports editor of the Ottawa Sun, a position he’s held for the past 15 years. He’s been searching for a cure for his slice since he was introduced to golf some 35 years ago. Along the way, he’s visited and written about golf destinations through Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.

Ian Cruickshank is a Toronto-based golf and travel writer who has been chasing the little white ball around the globe for the past 20 years. He has contributed stories to Golf Digest, Maclean’s, ScoreGolf, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Fairways and in-flight magazines for Air Canada and American Airlines.

Anita Draycott has been a Toronto-based journalist, editor and photographer for more than 25 years. She is managing editor of GolfStyle, an upscale lifestyle publication for avid golfers in Canada and editor of Life, Etc., a travel/lifestyle magazine for the Royal Bank of Canada. She has chased dimpled white balls over six continents.

Rick Drennan, a contributor to The Traveling Golfer, is also senior writer for Pro Shop and Canadian Golfer magazines, as well as managing editor of three Torstar business publications in Mississauga, Brampton and Kichener-Waterloo.

He is a three-time winner in the ‘best writer’ category for the the Golf Journalists Association of Canada (GJAC) writing awards. He is also the host of ‘Golf Straight Up,’ a new half-hour golf magazine show at Sun TV and Cave TV (formerly Men’s TV).  Over the past few years, Rick has written golf travel stories about destinations like Tunisia, the Czech Republic, California, South Carolina, Argentina and all across Canada.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Journalism, Brent Long spent 12 years at the daily Cambridge Reporter covering everything from politics and education before overseeing the sports department for eight years. That’s when he developed a passion, if not an addiction, for the game of golf playing 102 different 18-hole courses in 1998 and chronicling those adventures in a weekly golf column.

In 2002, he started his own Burlington, ON based golf writing and photography business, Longshot Communications but continues to take photographs and contributes regularly to many of Canada’s top magazines including Canadian Golfer Magazine, SCORE Golf, Golf Canada, Tee to Green, GolfScene, Pro Shop Magazine and has had articles published in several dailies including the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Kitchener Record.

His business has also evolved into a golf marketing and communications firm with clients that include over 13 golf courses as well as Second Skin Garment Co. and Tom McBroom Associates.

In 2006, he authored his first book, “Mississaugua Golf & Country Club – The First One Hundred Years”. Mr. Long is a member of the Canadian Golf Historical Society, The Stanley Thompson Society and the Canadian Golf Writers’ Association.

He can be reached at 905-681-1252 or mailto:brentlong@cogeco.cafor further information.

Rick VanSickle is a freelance wine writer who lives in Niagara with his family. When he’s not drinking wine he enjoys hitting the links. And anytime he can combine the two, it’s a glorious thing. He publishes a website called WinesInNiagara.com