LAUNCHED IN OCTOBER 2005, SLICE Shanghai was mainland China’s first English-language golf magazine and an exercise in guerrilla (ie, not exactly legal) publishing.

An irreverent, offbeat lifestyle mag with a golf theme rather than a traditional golf publication, SLICE was largely aimed at the city’s substantial expatriate community. We ran with a minimum of 100 pages per issue, in full colour, covering everything from travel, nightlife and gear to humour, tuition, course reviews, interviews with pro golfers, and local golf news and gossip.

I was a co-founder of SLICE, alongside my art director business partner, as well as publisher, editor-in-chief, grudging financier, frequent writer, occasional photographer … I even delivered the mags to Shanghai golf courses, clubs and other outlets from the back of a truck — in the rain.

We lasted a year before being forced to fold. Magazine publishing, I confirmed to my cost, eats money fast. ◉

Opening photo: Gareth Brown
Download miscellaneous pages from issues of SLICE as a PDF.