He’s Back in the Editor’s Seat, but at a More Leisurely Pace

Jim Gaines rose to the top of the magazine business and loved the action up there. He was managing editor of People in the late 1980s, managing editor and publisher of Life after that, and managing editor of Time from 1993 to 1995.

When the latest allegations against President Clinton sent journalists scrambling three weeks ago, “I felt like my adrenalin had nowhere to go,” he recalled.

But considering that Gaines has gone golfing, it was a fleeting regret, to be sure.

Gaines is now editor of the new Travel & Leisure Golf, a handsome spinoff of Travel & Leisure magazine that American Express Publishing Corp. plans to put on sale Feb. 24. Although the publishing company is managed by Time Inc., Gaines remains far removed from the New York skyscraper and the mammoth staff of his former employer.

He and his seven staffers are based in Boulder, Colo., with a nice view of trees. Gaines had relocated to Boulder with his ski-bitten wife and three children early last year, after finding that he was no longer cut out for the corporate position in Time Inc. that he had assumed on leaving Time magazine. His plan in Boulder was to write and possibly teach at a local college. But Daniel B. Brewster Jr., a former Life colleague who is president of American Express Publishing, came along to lure him aboard the spinoff magazine last spring.

“I was writing a book and taking flying lessons,” said Gaines, now 50. “The book is partly about learning to fly. I was using flight as a metaphor for being 50 and figuring out what to do when you have to re-create your life. Howell Raines wrote ‘Fly Fishing Through the Midlife Crisis.’ Mine would be something like ‘Flying Through the Midlife Crisis.’ ”

Gaines, who had had his own idea for a golf magazine while still with Time Inc., liked Brewster’s vision of a lifestyle publication seen through the prism of golf and returned to New York this past summer to develop the inviting prototype that was shown to prospective advertisers.

“I can’t believe that all golfers are interested in more pieces suggesting ways to get out of a sand trap,” Brewster explained, referring to his competitors. Indeed, in the premiere issue, he describes T&L; Golf as “a magazine that enjoins you not to hit longer drives or perfect your short game, but to revel in the wonder of the game and the way it enriches every aspect of life.”

A selling piece at the center of the premiere is Richard Todd’s leisurely dispatch from the fabled greens of Scotland and the home of Robert Burns--a feature doubly blessed by Harry Benson’s lush photographs of castle and hillside. Humorist Roy Blount Jr. discovers that Augusta, Ga., home to the Masters, bears little resemblance to what we see on TV. Dennis Hopper, pictured on the cover, golfs at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa with writer Michael M. Thomas and recalls how the game helped him overcome his addictions. Bruce McCall, enlisted as a car writer, praises the new Corvette. Serious whiskeys also get their due.

According to Brewster, access to American Express’ database enabled the publishing subsidiary to jump start the magazine, which is guaranteeing advertisers an initial circulation of 200,000 copies. One hundred thousand will be sent to Amex cardholders who have shown a high amount of spending on golf; Brewster said he expects to sell an additional 100,000 “and then some” on newsstands. The premiere contains 56 pages of advertising. The game plan calls for four issues this year and six in 1999.

Look closely and you can spot Amex synergy at work: A piece for the “golf course connoisseur” showcases three ruggedly beautiful courses in Hawaii designed by Jack Nicklaus--and notes in tiny type that American Express has arranged discounts and can make all travel arrangements.

Books for a Better Life: For the second year, the Books for a Better Life Awards perform the valuable service of singling out the best how-to and inspirational books from the hundreds published during the last year. The awards, sponsored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and a committee of publishing executives, are decided by a panel of judges that includes writers, psychologists and health-care professionals.

The winning titles announced at a gala Tuesday night in New York are Barbara Dafoe Whitehead’s “The Divorce Culture” (Knopf), Terrence Real’s “I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression” (Scribner), Jerome Groopman’s “The Measure of Our Days: New Beginnings at Life’s End” (Viking), Richard Carlson’s “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and It’s All Small Stuff” (Hyperion) and Marie De Hennezel’s “Intimate Death--How the Dying Teach Us to Live” (Knopf).

The winner in the spiritual category is John O’Donohue’s “Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom” (HarperCollins); in the inspirational category, Rick Bragg’s memoir, “All Over but the Shoutin’ ” (Pantheon). Zoe Koplowitz, a marathoner who has multiple sclerosis, was selected for a special award for writing a book most helpful to those suffering from a chronic disease, “The Winning Spirit: Life Lessons Learned in Last Place” (Doubleday).

Afterwords: Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue and the attendant ballyhoo are on next week’s schedule. On Monday, the cover will be unveiled (pardon the pun) online at 8 p.m., via https://www.cnnsi.com, and again during “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.” On Tuesday, in yet another revenue-producing extension of the franchise, SI plans to offer online a so-called “swimsuit extra premium area” featuring 50 additional swimsuit shots for $7.95 a visit. Oh, yes, the hard-copy issue itself goes on sale Wednesday.

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Paul D. Colford is a columnist for Newsday. His e-mail address is paul.colford@newsday.com. His column is published Thursdays.