Golf magazines don't usually prey on popularity to sell their titles. Readers of most golf magazines choose a title because of a feature on a new course or because it's got a great article about how to prevent slicing when chipping with a sand-wedge.

So, if you see a magazine with a cover line like "Punk Golf?" and a photo of rock-'n'-rollers hanging out on a fairway, chances are more than likely you've seen one of 1999's most unique titles, Schwing!

Schwing! describes itself as the "alternative golf magazine." It is what it claims to be. No other golf magazine could carry punk rockers, Offspring on the cover and expect to be picked up as more than a humorous interlude at the newsstand. Schwing! thrives on the distance it is from standard golf titles like Golf Digest, Golf Magazine and Golf World.

I can safely say that Schwing! is not attempting to hit the middle-aged business traveling golfer. In the same way that ESPN The Magazine emerged on the scene in 1998 and was able to capture many of the younger sporting fans with its bright, busy design, Schwing! is driving at the green of today's younger 20-something golfers and golf newbies.

Inside the magazine, it's not all "alternative" golf. Stories on course etiquette, golf reviews and travel articles share "tee-time" with "the world's only rock 'n' roll golf tournament" and a "Who's Who" list of Generation X's celebrity golfers.

Essentially, Schwing! takes the "coolness" factor available to magazines that cover snowboarding and punk-rock, and then pours it into a reader's golf cleats.

What's next? If the attitude of Schwing! catches on, I suspect that some publisher is bound to come up with "Gutters," the magazine of bowling and rock 'n' rolling.