Jeff Johnson

Interview With Jeff Johnson Director of Instruction Ojai Valley Inn & Spa

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Jeff Johnson, the Director of Instruction at Ojai Valley Inn & Spa. The following are a few traditional and non traditional golf centric questions that I love to ask influential people in the golf industry.

Can you provide our readers a brief biography?
Raised in Ventura, CA, starting playing golf at the age of 12. I have played in hundreds of tournaments from local junior events to National Amateur tournaments, played on the #1 ranked U.C.L.A. Men's golf team, to mini tours and the P.G.A. Tour's L.A Open.

From this playing experience, working with worlds top instructors and from teaching players of all levels for over 30 years, I feel that draw from a wealth of knowledge and can help golfers enjoy this great game to the fullest.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
Driving by the local golf course with my dad at age 12, I mentioned that I would like to give golf a try. A week later, I took my first of six beginner golf lessons and have been playing ever since.

What is your current home course?
Ojai Valley Inn & Spa

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Playing on the #1 ranked UCLA Men's Golf Team.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Players who do not respect the golf course.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
Six iron. It is right in the middle of the set.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Whistler, British Colombia

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Augusta

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Pinehurst #2

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Speed of play...have 4-somes strive for 3 hour rounds rather than 4 hour rounds.

Dream foursome (living)?
Jack, Tiger, Phil and Greg Norman.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Hogan, Moe Norman, Bobby Jones and Payne Stewart.

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Long Drive

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
Round of Life...haven't had it yet!

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
Twilight...the light and shadowing shouldn't be missed.

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Power draw.

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Neither, pack a lunch.

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bathroom

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Wrap

8) Around the green, being in sand OR thick rough?
Thick rough

9) Walking OR riding?
Walking

10) Do you carry traditional 3 iron OR hybrid? Carry both.

11) Do you prefer long par 3 OR long par 5?
Par 5

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Nicklaus

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Beatles

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
For fun.

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Bump and run.

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Lay up.

18) 18 holes OR 36?
36

Revised: 09/18/2013 - Article Viewed 33,712 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.