The Golfer ’ s Journal is produced quarterly and features some of the nation ’ s best golf writing and photography . |
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“ I just got back from a 60-day road trip with those events ,” Bannon said , including several at Virginia courses like Ballyhack in Roanoke . Bandon Dunes in Oregon , Pinehurst in North Carolina and Trinity Forest in Dallas also were on TGJ circuit . And frequently playing in those events are among the perks — call it psychic income — for Bannon as well .
The actual The Golfer ’ s Journal printed publication has a circulation of about 40,000 and is growing all the time . There are far-flung subscribers in China , Australia , Great Britain , Ireland and other European nations . They also get the digital version as well as the podcasts and newsletters .
Bannon is involved in every aspect of TGJ ’ s varied offerings , including writing for the print edition and website himself . He ’ s loving the work and is still able to play a lot of golf , just as he did coming up as a junior player in a wide variety of Virginia State Golf Association events all around the Commonwealth .
Cutting Casey ’ s Teeth Going into his senior year of high school in 2013 , Bannon finished fourth in the VSGA Junior Stroke Play Championship at Laurel Hill in Lorton and also reached the semifinals of the Junior Match Play event that year .
Because he was such a late golf bloomer , Bannon did not attract much attention from the major collegiate golf powers , but ended up playing at Division II St . Leo near Tampa . In that VSGA Junior Match Play
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semifinal , Bannon lost to future St . Leo teammate Griffin Clark , who died in 2016 in a single-car crash just months after securing the winning point for the Lions in the DII championship final against Chico State . Bannon would later use his platform at TGJ to write a stirring tribute to his friend and teammate .
Bannon was on the golf team all four years at St . Leo but admittedly burned out a bit on the game after he graduated . During his senior year , he had an internship with the Rhode Island-based New England Sports Network , a regional cable operation , mostly in marketing , with some exposure to writing for their website .
When the internship ended , Bannon took a construction job in Warwick , R . I ., but he knew that eventually he wanted to get into journalism in some shape or form . He applied and was accepted in the masters program at Northwestern ’ s prestigious Medill School of Communications , and clearly thrived .
Before he even earned his degree , he was working 20 hours a week for TGJ , with his dorm room serving as his remote office . Diploma in hand , he did an internship with the company , then was hired full time this past January .
Despite myriad responsibilities , Bannon said he still has been able to play a lot of golf , sometimes starting at 6 a . m . before heading to work , or later in the day
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until the sun goes down . He ’ s enjoying the California life , but also had to admit “ Virginia still feels like home .
“ Through the VSGA I got to learn about so many little pockets of golf around the state ,” he said . “ And when I got to places like Richmond , Virginia Beach , Blacksburg , those kids and the way they played golf was mesmerizing to me . There were fabulous courses and you never had a flat lie anywhere .
“ A lot of those Virginia kids were really tough . They had homegrown swings , a ton of personality and a touch of recklessness . I ’ ve kept up with a lot of them . It was really a great experience .”
And so , too , is The Golfer ’ s Journal . Definitely not too shabby for a onetime bad boy now made very good .
Leonard Shapiro was the long-time golf writer for The Washington Post and a past president of the Golf Writers Association of America .
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CASEY BANNON |