The 19th Hole: Johnny Walker

By |  May 16, 2016 0 Comments

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Johnny Walker

Director of Golf Course Maintenance // Bentwater Yacht & CC, Montgomery, Texas

After 18 holes, what are you drinking? Well, if I’m buying, it’s beer. If someone else is buying, it’s bourbon.

Congratulations on being elected to the GCSAA Board. Thank you, it’s something I’ve been working on for 25 years. I enjoy every minute of it, the issues we discuss are A to Z. Those 20-plus years serving the South Texas GCSA and the Lone Star GCSA prepared me.

Houston has been getting hammered with rain. How are you guys holding up? We’ve got another 4 to 6 inches coming today and tomorrow on top of, in some cases, 18 to 20 inches. I’m going to guess there are a dozen courses still under water. We’re 45 minutes north of Houston, so we didn’t get the heavy stuff.

What’s the best thing about sharing a name with a famous scotch? Strangers pay attention to you immediately.

Any negatives? Most of them don’t believe that’s my name.

Do you like drinking Johnnie Walker? I hate it. I’ve tried to like it, I just don’t. It’s like every great once in a while I try to eat liver and onions, and I still don’t like it.

What are your sports teams? I graduated from Texas A&M, so anything Aggies. I grew up in Dallas, so I have to pull for my Cowboys. And now I live in Houston, so I have to pull for the Texans.

What’s the best thing about living in Texas? Both of the seasons: hot and cold.

You don’t miss fall and spring? Well I don’t know about it, I’ve never seen it!

ZZtop-promoWhat was on the radio on the way to work this morning? I start every day with classic rock. My all-time favorite is ZZ Top.

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever seen on a golf course? Tons. I’ve witnessed a lot of nature’s cool stuff. Thirty years ago I saw a hawk swoop down and pick up a squirrel. As he was flying away with his meal, a bald eagle swooped in on the hawk, the hawk dropped the squirrel and the eagle picked the squirrel up before it hit the ground! It was a one-in-a-gazillion chance of me being there. I was in awe to have witnessed the whole thing.

Fill in the blanks: At my funeral, they’ll serve ______ and I hope someone says ______? They got to serve barbecue, that’s a rule — my dad owned a barbecue place for 47 years. And I heard this from a friend: You have a recording of yourself inside the casket, and it’s motion activated, so as people walk by it, it says, “Thanks for coming!”

Photos: pete seltzer, ZZ top promotional photo

This is posted in 19th Hole, People

About the Author: Seth Jones

Seth Jones, a 18-year veteran of the golf industry media, is Editor-in-Chief of Golfdom magazine and Athletic Turf. A graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Jones began working for Golf Course Management in 1999 as an intern. In his professional career he has won numerous awards, including a Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) first place general feature writing award for his profile of World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman and a TOCA first place photography award for his work covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In his career, Jones has accumulated an impressive list of interviews, including such names as George H.W. Bush, Samuel L. Jackson, Lance Armstrong and Charles Barkley. Jones has also done in-depth interviews with such golfing luminaries as Norman, Gary Player, Nick Price and Lorena Ochoa, to name only a few. Jones is a member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association. Jones can be reached at sjones@northcoastmedia.net.


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