Fo r e Yo u r I n fo r m at io n
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MEMBER HIGHLIGHT
JEFF JENSEN,
G C S A A F i e l d S ta f f, S o u t h w e s t R e g i o n By Scott McCullough
This month we’re doing our spotlight on Jeff Jensen who is our Southwest Field Representative for the Golf Course Superintendent Association of America. Jeff’s area covers Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada. Jeff got his start in the industry in 1994 working for Golf Enterprises (owned by former PGA Tour player Jim Colbert) at the Las Vegas Municipal Golf club while he attended college at UNLV. Golf Enterprises was taken over by American Golf and he worked in a variety of positions from maintenance, golf shop operations, and lastly Assistant General Manager. Jeff ended up moving to Memphis Tennessee to work for KSL Fairways at Memphis Oaks Golf Club. He spent two years working for that club before returning to Henderson Nevada where he worked at Black Mountain Golf & Country Club. Next, he worked for OB Sports and managed Angel Park & Legacy Golf Clubs before he left the golf industry. He went to work a Marketing firm specialized in branding, advertising, and government relations. He remained in that position for 6 yrs., Jeff really enjoyed working for the Marking firm but ended up making a change back to golf and began working for the GCSAA starting in 2012. Jeff has been blessed to work for several great people and mentors over the years which helped guide his career. Jeff’s career highlight so far has been representing GCSAA’s over 19,000 members. Prior to that he had the opportunity to handle the marketing duties for
UNLV Basketball and then University of Oklahoma Head Basketball Coach Lon Kruger from 2006-2011. To have insight into the program and that time he spent there he will always cherish. It was a great time in his life. We asked Jeff what he does not like about his job and he said the extensive travel can wear on him both mentally and physically. Airplanes, long drives & hotel rooms are not all they are cracked up to be. Since Jeff has been able to remain in the golf business he has been able to maintain an index of 4.4. Jeffs extensive travel hasn’t allowed for him to have a family of his own but he has a loyal 10 year old Jack Russell Terrier that keeps him busy when he is at home. Lastly Jeff says working for the GCSAA has been a great experience covering the Southwest Region and learning about the agronomics and challenges in a diverse array of settings has been enlightening. Golf Course Superintendents have a great ability to adapt to any situation and solve problems. Since Jeff has worked in the marketing world, he says it’s remarkable how similar a good superintendent and good artist/graphic artist are. They both identify problems and opportunities and tackle them to turn out a masterpiece. The creativity and outside the box thinking from both professions is remarkably similar. We “THANK” Jeff for the great job he is doing for all of us in this industry. He is a resource that has made all of us better at our jobs.