As you may have heard, Golf World, the oldest golf-related publication in the U.S., has abandoned its print edition and is now entirely digital.

According to Press Gazette, Golf World’s UK distribution was down more than 12 percent year over year. Overall, Ad Age states that, “Golf World averaged paid and verified circulation of 213,387 during the last six months of 2013, according to its filing with the Alliance for Audited Media, down slightly from nearly 215,000 a year earlier.”

A few statements of note from editor-in-chief Jamie Diaz’s letter in the maiden digital-only edition:

Golf World is entering a new era. Our digital product is dramatically different from our print magazine, and no doubt in the short term some tried-and-true parts of the former weekly chronicle that worked well in a simpler media environment will be missed.

While it’s unclear what the above will mean in the long run, Diaz seems to be saying that the new Golf World will, not surprisingly, be tailored toward web readers. Translation: more top-10 lists and multimedia, fewer long reads.

Here’s a huge change: the magazine is now free and delivered weekly. As Diaz writes,

You’ll also get breaking news, timely analysis and vivid photography. In addition to weekly features such as “10 Things We’re Talking About” and stats packages, Golf World will include at least one in-depth read per issue and, in the near future, video reporting and commentary.

Seeing the writing on the wall, Diaz writes “in order to better meet the expectations of modern readers. Golf World is evolving into a faster, livelier, more entertaining and overall better product.”

Speaking of that writing on the wall, Christine Haughney of the New York Times wrote the following in August of last year (based on figures from the Alliance for Audited Media) of magazine circulation in general:

Total paid and verified subscriptions declined by 1 percent in the first half of 2013, and newsstand sales, which are often an indicator of a magazine’s appeal, dropped by 10 percent. Both declines were similar to the overall trend in the same period a year ago.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom for magazine publishers: Digital editions are on the rise to the tune of a 100 percent increase in distribution and sales. As Haughney writes:

Digital replica editions — which replicate the format of the print editions — now make up 3.3 percent of total magazine circulation, with 10.2 million digital replica editions sold in the first half of 2013. During the same time period in 2012, magazines sold 5.4 million digital editions, which made up 1.7 percent of circulation.

Golf World will hope to follow in the footsteps of another major magazine: Cosmopolitan. From 2012 to 2013, Cosmo suffered a 23.9 percent decline in newsstand sales. However, the magazine’s digital distribution grew by 33 percent during the same period.

Golf World’s digital conversion is coming at a time when many are deeply concerned about the future of the golf industry and its component parts.

We’ve all heard the figures from the National Golf Foundation: Over the past year, 400,000 golfers have left the game. Dick’s laid off its entire staff of PGA professionals and plans to downsize golf equipment operations. Callaway hasn’t turned a profit since 2008 and TaylorMade saw a 34 percent drop in sales during the first quarter of this year. Only 14 new courses were built last year while 160 closed. Golfers played the fewest number of rounds since 1995. Millennials aren’t playing and the Tiger Woods era is drawing to a close. This isn’t even to discuss TV viewership…

Indeed, just today ESPN’s Darren Rovell tweeted “Golf business at retail continues to plummet: Adidas says 2nd quarter revenues are -18%, will layoff staff within division.”

It’s against these headwinds that Golf World has made the decision to scrap the monthly paid print edition in favor of a weekly free digital edition.

It will be interesting to watch the digital edition take shape and see what effect it has on circulation. Regardless, the move is a bold one in a traditionally stagnant industry, and it indicates the 67-year-old publication is not yet ready to go gently into that good night.