Talking Golf With The Golf Guy-Season 6 Episode 7 With Bill Roland
in Archives, Blog, Podcasts

Talking Golf With The Golf Guy-Season 6 Episode 7 With Bill Roland

Bill Roland was a young man in Akron, Ohio, following his golfing hero, Tony Lema on the back nine of the 1966 PGA Championship at Firestone County Club, when a chance encounter with the golfing legend led to a lifelong fascination of the Major Championship winner and budding superstar, resulting in Roland’s researching and publishing a definite work on Lema after his untimely death the next day in a plane crash on an obscure and backwoods Ohio golf course.

That book, “Champagne Tony Lema: Triumph to Tragedy.” available on Amazon and Google at www.tonylema.com sadly became the last siren to a man and athlete that many saw unmistakable and achievable greatness.

Winner of the 1964 Open Championship contested on The Old Course at Saint Andrew’s, besting Jack Nicklaus by five shots, Lema had checked all the boxes for golf Superstardom.

Ryder Cup, Rookie of the Year, Leading Money Winner, sustained and constant winner on the PGA Tour, endorsements, and a best-selling book “Golfers Gold” published in 1963.

All gone, taken with his untimely and tragic death at 32 years old.

It was left to Roland to sustain his memory and chronicle his deeds.

Which he did with his definitive work on the life and times of Tony Lema released in 2013 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lema’s 1964 Open Championship, at Saint Andrew’s.

Bill Roland graduated from St. Louis University in 1969 and then earned a Communication Degree from the University of Utah when he embarked on his career in Golf Journalism.

Editing Golf Travelers Magazine and enjoying a long association with Golf Card, Bill has produced a constant presence in Sports Publishing with Roland Golf Services and is a Member of the Golf Writers Association of America.

On the eve of the 2021 PGA Championship, contested on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, The Golf Guy, PGA Master Professional Jeff Waters, caught up with Bill to discuss the abbreviated life and times of a golf superstar that very few people now recall or appreciate for the virtuosity and brilliance of his truncated genius on the golf course and a glass of champagne in his hand,

Please listen here.

https://oembed.libsyn.com/embed?item_id=19158398

With over a half-century of engagement in the sport of Golf, Jeff Waters has become one of the most accomplished, experienced, and qualified Golf 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 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.