Planet Golf — 19 May 2013 by Jim Street
Golferswest.com lands first award

Things are looking up for Golferswest.com.

The 16-month-old website based out of Seattle was recognized Saturday night as the second-best new site in the Northwest region in 2012 during the annual Society of Professional Journalists awards dinner at the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle.

“Not bad when you consider the top site is collaboration of different sites – and paid employees,” co-founder Bob Sherwin said after receiving an award certificate. “We should be in the non-profit category – if there was one.”

Sherwin, who had more than 30 years of newspaper experience at the San Francisco Examiner and Seattle Times, was the force behind the website, which debuted in February 2012. He joined literary forces with Kirby Arnold, formerly of the Everett Herald, and 40-year newspaper/Internet scribe Jim Street to give golfers, and golfing fans, an in-depth look at golf courses from as far east as Colorado, as far south as New Mexico, as far west as the Hawaiian Islands and as far north as British Columbia, Canada.

Bob Sherwin, looking up for more success

During its first year of existence, Golfwerswest.com wrote several series, including a trip to Scotland by Sherwin and his son, Bobby; the Kauai Grand Slam by Sherwin and Street, and changes made to Chambers Bay as it prepares for the U.S. Open in 2015. All three GW writers contributed to the series, which received accolades from Chambers Bay and USGA Executive Director Mike Davis.

“It has been a labor of love,” Sherwin, a member at the Aldarra Golf Club, said of the site.

The contest is held annually by Region 10 of SPJ to honor exceptional journalism in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.

More than 2,100 entries from more than 250 media organizations were submitted, reviewed and rated by out-of-state judges.

The EO Media Group Staff (“Discover our coast”) was selected as the best new website in 2012. Check out the competition then come back and tell us which one you like the most.

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Jim Street

Jim’s 40-year sportswriting career started with the San Jose Mercury-News in 1970 and ended on a full-time basis on October 31, 2010 following a 10-year stint with MLB.com. He grew up in Dorris, Calif., several long drives from the nearest golf course. His first tee shot was a week before being inducted into the Army in 1968. Upon his return from Vietnam, where he was a war correspondent for the 9th Infantry Division, Jim took up golf semi-seriously while working for the Mercury-News and covered numerous tournaments, including the U.S. Open in 1982, when Tom Watson made the shot of his life on the 17th hole at Pebble Beach. Jim also covered several Bing Crosby Pro-Am tournaments, the women’s U.S. Open, and other golfing events in the San Francisco area. He has a 17-handicap, made his first and only hole-in-one on March 12, 2018 at Sand Point Country Club in Seattle and witnessed the first round Ken Griffey Jr. ever played – at Arizona State during Spring Training in 1990. Pebble Beach Golf Links, the Kapalua Plantation Course, Pinehurst No. 2, Spyglass Hill, Winged Foot, Torrey Pines, Medinah, Chambers Bay, North Berwick, Gleneagles and Castle Stuart in Scotland, and numerous gems in Hawaii are among the courses he has had the pleasure of playing. Hitting the ball down the middle of the fairway is not a strong part of Jim’s game, but he is known (in his own mind) as the best putter not on tour. Most of Jim’s writing career was spent covering Major League Baseball, a tenure that started with the Oakland Athletics, who won 101 games in 1971, and ended with the Seattle Mariners, who lost 101 games in 2010. Symmetry is a wonderful thing. He currently lives in Seattle and has an 8-year-old grandson, Andrew, who is the club's current junior champion at his home course (Oakmont CC) in Glendale, Calif.

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