On the Fairways and the Airways
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On the Fairways and the Airways

On the Fairways and the Airways

PGA Magazine, June – Volume 94, No. 6 Article by Sean Fairholm

Every Saturday morning, PGA Master Professional Jeff Waters puts on his radio headphones and projects his distinct voice to approximately 2 million people living in the western part of the country. Broadcast from just outside Salt Lake City, Utah, “Talking Golf with the Golf Guy” covers everything from local Utah PGA Section events to influential PGA Professionals and the four majors.

During his journey to becoming a radio host, Waters played competitive golf for 10 years and spent another decade as a PGA head professional, before moving on to an administrative role as the director of player development for Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation, where he spent three years. In addition to his current position as a PGA assistant professional working several days a week at Mick Riley Golf Course in Murray, Utah, the 67-year-old Waters has also spent the past 15 years as the president and CEO of Rocky Mountain Golf Enterprises – his own golf management company that provides businesses throughout the Rocky Mountain region with golf-related goods and services, including golf instruction, schools, travel, broadcasting, tournaments, promotions and philanthropy.

A political science graduate from the University of Utah, Waters has always found ways to indulge his loves of journalism and golf, while traveling to cover between 10 and 15 tournaments per year.

“My love for storytelling translates well over the air and gives me a believability that listeners seem to like,” says Waters. “So that has been my success in broadcasting – storytelling coupled with the credibility that my background, education and training give me.”

The origin of how Waters fell in love with radio can be traced back to his childhood, where he and his friends put together a radio show broadcast on a local station. Waters served as the sports anchor. Developing his deep and unmistakable voice, Waters eventually recorded some golf commercials and provided color commentary during Champions Tour events in Utah. What began as a five-minute preview on Friday and a five-minute recap on Sunday transformed into a marketable radio show that has been on the air in several different formats for 25 years.

“Most golf professionals are very, very good at teaching the game of golf and playing the game of golf,” says Waters. “But they struggle with self-promotion and selling themselves. The radio gives me a marketing platform where I can talk about Jeff Waters the Golf Guy, my golf schools and highlight influential PGA Professionals.”

Waters recently had the opportunity to speak on air with PGA of America Secretary Paul Levy at the Utah PGA Section Annual Meeting, interviewing Levy at length about The PGA’s initiatives to maximize fun and excitement on the golf course.

Among other interesting guests Waters has interviewed, childhood hero Billy Casper is near the top of the list. While covering last year’s U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco, Waters talked to the three-time major champion and Ryder Cup Captain about his new book, “The Big Three and Me,” and the famous seven-shot comeback victory Casper authored against Arnold Palmer in the 1966 U.S. Open.

“It was truly an honor to speak with him because he was one of my childhood heroes I looked up to,” says Waters. “I remember his back-nine 32 to win the Open that year; it was a great moment in golf history.”

Waters has also had the privilege of being in the right place at the right time for many famous moments in golf history, from being at the 12th green during the final round of the 1992 Masters for Fred Couples’ tee shot that somehow eluded Rae’s Creek, and watching John Daly win a Ben Hogan Tour event in Utah before many others knew the golfer’s name. Waters admits to having great luck and tremendous memories. Included on this lengthy list is being able to witness the final U.S. Open and Masters appearances for Palmer, as well as interviewing Payne Stewart one-on-one just a month before his passing in 1999.

“Golf has been very, very good to me,” says Waters. “I’ve always had a propensity for being there for a lot of great moments in golf history, and for that I am very grateful and humbled.”

With over a half-century of engagement in the sport of Golf, Jeff Waters has become one of the most accomplished, experienced, and qualified Professionals in the history of the PGA of America. He is a fully certified and trained Master Professional joining an exceedingly small and elite group of Golf Professionals in the World to have achieved this prestigious title. Jeff holds University Degrees in Political Science, Teaching Minors in Economics and Finance, attended graduate school in Commercial Recreation, taught undergraduate classes at the University of Utah, and earned a Master’s in Business Administration. With more than fifty years of experience and success in the business of Golf, Jeff spent ten years playing and competing in the game at all levels ten years laboring as an Assistant Golf Professional, acquiring the job-related skills, responsibilities, and training required for a career in golf, ten years fulfillment as a PGA Head Professional overseeing all aspects of the total golf course operation, three years’ service as Director of Player Development for Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation, administering and managing multiple golf course programs and activities, thirty-three years as a Golf Coach and Instructor at The Rocky Mountain Golf Academy, The University of Utah’s College of Health and the Granite Peaks Community College, teaching and tutoring the game. Additionally, Jeff has spent the last twenty-seven years as the Owner, President, and CEO of Rocky Mountain Golf Enterprises (RMG), a Utah-registered and licensed business offering golf-related services throughout the Western United States utilizing golf as the marketing tool. Finally, Jeff has performed on the national media stage for the past thirty-eight years as an Announcer, Author, Producer, and Talk Radio Host, communicating and sharing the joy, art, and skill that is the Game, Sport, and Challenge of Golf. Jeff, a well-known golf journalist, has been active in print media from an early age. His articles, commentary, and features regularly appear nationwide. He has authored two golf instruction books: “The Ten Commandments of Golf, Proven Principles That Make Your Golf Game Better,” and “The Short Game, the Transition from the Golf Course to the Putting Green.” Both are available as e-book downloads and on Amazon. Jeff penned his first short story while still in his teens and has since published 100’s of commentaries, essays, and instruction pieces in magazines, blogs, internet forums, and other platforms, including Golf Today, Utah Golf Magazine, Utah Golf News, Rocky Mountain Golfer, Fairways Magazine, Jackson Hole Golf News, Talking Golf With the Golf Guy, Voices In The Community.com, and Jeffgolfguy.com. He is the author of multiple books, stories, articles, posts, and evaluations of other writers’ publications. Jeff began his public communications career in High School and has had a constant presence in sports commentary throughout the years, providing play-by-play and color analysis at many diverse levels, including announcing football, baseball, and basketball games, along with local and national golf tournaments, while performing on other media platforms as well. Jeff was an early pioneer in Sports Radio, hosting a weekly talk show, “Talking Golf with the Golf Guy,” broadcasted and aired on various radio stations throughout the regional market, syndicated nationally on The Rocky Mountain Golf Network, and offered on most of the recognized podcast directories and streaming services. Over his extensive announcing career, Jeff has provided the vocal narration for hundreds of voice-overs, commercials, radio programming, sports interviews, tournament updates, blogs, podcasts, audiobooks, and videos, including the original voice work on the best-selling X-Box Links golf game. Jeff also contributed voice and commentary on the Centennial production, “One Hundred Years of the Utah State Amateur,” which is available on iTunes and Apple Music. As a member of the Golf Writers Association of America, Jeff has attended and reported on-site more than a hundred golf tournaments, including an assortment of Major Golf Championships, including The United States Open Championship, The Masters, the PGA Championship, and The Ryder Cup, along with other competitions on the PGA Tours annual tournament schedule. Jeff has produced, directed, and distributed numerous film and video projects as stand-alone presentations while incorporating them within his blog, website, syndicated podcasts, and national radio programming. All are available for review on YouTube. Known as “The Voice of Golf” and “The Golf Guy” throughout the Western United States, Jeff is regularly sought for advice and counsel and often speaks to groups on golf-related subjects. You may contact Jeff by email at jeffgolfguy@att.net and on his website at www.jeffgolfguy.com.