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The 19th Hole: Mark Marney, Golf Operations Manager

By |  November 5, 2013

Mark MarneyWhat can I get you?
A draft beer…. Bass, if they have it.

So did you catch the finale of Breaking Bad?
I did watch it. That show wasn’t a ritual for me until the last season. They wrapped everything up, but it was a bit oversold. You know, that show is kind of like working for the City of San Diego… every time you think you’ve got it all figured out, they throw a twist at you!

Tell me about your golf highlight.
Lauren Thompson from GolfNow came out to do a show. I was on camera and came three inches away from making a hole-in-one on No. 3 at Torrey Pines South. They showed it on TV a couple times.

That’s the time to hit a nice shot, when the camera is rolling.
Yeah, you don’t want to shank one off the hotel right then.

Have you ever wanted to try out the hang gliding that goes on by the cliffs at Torrey Pines?
You know, I’m built to stay on the ground. It sure is interesting looking, but it’s not on the forefront of my to-do list.

You do woodworking, right? How did you get into that?
I got into it primarily because I’m cheap. When the kids were a younger age and needed something — say, a bookcase — that’s when I was into it. I haven’t been doing much lately. But I made some stuff, like some Mission style furniture, that was acceptable.

The U.S. Federal Government is shut down right now. Does that have any impact on you, working for the city? And what do you think of the whole mess?
It hasn’t had a direct effect on us, no. The biggest bummer is that it validates the belief that the government is screwed up. I think it may get worse as you go up, from city to state to national.

What was your favorite car you ever owned?
I had a 1971 Volkswagen Bus I really liked. I was in my early 20s, it was a fun car. It worked fine until I had to put car seats in it…

Exactly! I just wrote my column this month about selling my Z28 Camaro. So let me ask you… am I making a huge mistake, or is it just a part of life?
It all depends, but when you think about it, a Z28 is a huge pain when you have kids. What I think you should do is go buy one later in life when you’re rich and famous, and get one that’s fully restored — so you don’t have to worry about the little things that are probably wrong with it by now.

As interviewed by Seth Jones, October 7th, 2013.

This article is tagged with and posted in 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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