-By Lucia Moses

Condé Nast is folding the long-struggling Golf for Women, sources at the company confirmed. The word comes as the luxury lifestyle title loses its editor of six years, Susan Reed, to Hearst Magazines, where she just was named editor of O, The Oprah Magazine.

The news didn’t surprise insiders, who said Golf for Women had struggled to find its footing in the years since Condé Nast bought it from Meredith Corp. in 2001. Year to date through its July/August issue, ad pages declined 7.3 percent to 336, per the Mediaweek Monitor. In the second half of 2007, circulation rose 6.8 percent to 549,919, although a 37.8 percent increase in verified circ contributed to the rise.

The title also has had change on the business side, with the company replacing Lee Slattery as publisher in March 2007 with Christopher McLoughlin, then associate publisher of Condé Nast Traveler. Early this year, Golf for Women became David Carey’s responsibility after a corporate reshuffling at the parent company. Carey, group president and publishing director, CN Business Media, gained oversight for the title after exec Mitchell Fox’s departure. The golf title had been part of Fox’s oversight.

In a statement confirming the closure, Chuck Townsend, president and CEO, Condé Nast, said, "We came to this decision because we feel the magazine will not support our long-term business objectives."

The July/August issue, on newsstands now, will be the last. There was no word on the fate of the magazine’s staff.

Condé Nast has not shied away from folding titles lately; last year, it closed the struggling Jane and House & Garden magazines. Golf for Women is just the latest victim of tough times for the magazine industry; last week, it was Hearst Magazines, closing its three-year-old service weekly Quick & Simple.

As for Reed, she faces the challenge of revitalizing O, The Oprah Magazine, whose circulation prowess has waned lately, with newsstand sales coming in at 862,303 in 2007, down from a high of 1.03 million in 2005.

Total paid and verified circ rose 0.9 percent to 2.4 million in the second half of 2007, per the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Like much of the industry, the title has suffered ad page softness; year to date through July, O’s ad pages declined 5.2 percent to 1,003, per the Mediaweek Monitor.