What do you want to be when you grow up? Or, if you’re already grown up, what did you always want to be? When I was in high school I wanted to be President of the United States. When I was in college I wanted to be Rick Reilly and/or Walter Iooss, Jr. Since college, for what feels like nearly two decades, I’ve essentially wanted to be Matt Ginella. I wanted to be President because I loved the United States and believed I could really make a difference in the lives of others. I wanted to be Rick Reilly because I loved to write and coveted a permanent column in Sports Illustrated or Golf Digest. And, I wanted to be Matt Ginella because… well, because from where I sat Matt was paid to do literally everything I’d ever wanted to do – write, play great golf courses, meet the legends of the game and travel the globe. That is the definition of a Power Player to me – someone whose full-time job seems way more like full-time play than any-time work.

Matt says as much, “I can honestly say, I’ve never worked a day in my life.” Humbled and forever feeling blessed… that’s Matt. I can appreciate that perspective, but it’s underselling all the work he put in to get where he is. Matt’s dream job as a kid was to be the play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres. He ended up in golf. Matt’s career began at Oakmont Golf Club in Santa Rosa, California, as a range picker, before becoming a jack-of-all-trades in course maintenance. Matt has always contended that if he wasn’t doing what he’s doing now, he wanted to be a golf superintendent – with a dog, of course.

His first real “job” after graduating from Saint Mary’s College (where he played golf) was an internship at Sports Illustrated that led to a golf photo editor position in 1996. “I began my career in sports journalism the same week Tiger Woods turned pro.” As photo editor he envied the magazine’s writers and went to Columbia Journalism School to follow that career path.

He became Director of Photography at Golf Digest and Golf World Magazines two years before completing his journalism degree (in 2003) and then three short years later Jerry Tarde gave him his big break – Travel Editor for Golf Digest. “Jerry was and is an amazing boss, leader and communicator!” Matt held that position for six glorious years, until Molly Solomon (executive producer of Golf Channel) pursued him as a “Lifestyle Expert” for the revamped Morning Drive and lured him away from print into broadcast journalism. Today he is the Travel Insider for Golf Channel and Editor-at-Large for Golf Advisor.

Who were your role models in the industry? Too many to mention. More names than you’d have words in this story. I’m here because of Jerry Tarde and Jack McCallum, but… sheesh… I wouldn’t be here without people like Father Mike Russo, Tim Rosaforte, Jaime Diaz, Geoff Russell, John Ashworth, Marty Carr, Dan Robertson, Steve Fine, Heinz Kluetmeier and… well… so many more but I’ll never forget Ward Haynes, who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center. He trained me for the position he essentially gave me at Sports Illustrated and called me September 10^th (the night I got the job… the night before he died) and said, “Matty Kid, Matty Kid! Congrats on the new job. So proud of you!” I so miss his love of golf and endless positive energy.

Matt is the consummate family man, and credits so much to his parents (both still alive), and much of his love of golf to his Uncle Tony. (He hosts an Uncle Tony Invitational at Bandon Dunes in Oregon every year.) The youngest of five kids, his dad was an engineer at Bechtel Power and his mother was an interior decorator. He played his first round of golf at age 8 or 9 with his friend Matt Cohen at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. His brothers both golf, and his oldest brother Sean is really working on his game, but Matt says with a laugh, “I will make sure he never beats me!”

Greatest golf experiences? The first great course he ever played was Pebble Beach, with his dad, for his high school graduation (back when it only cost $125 to play). He’s played 86 of Golf Digest’s current Top 200 and literally thousands of courses around the world. Matt’s remaining “bucket list” isn’t nearly as lengthy as most of ours but it includes some of the same courses – Augusta National, National Golf Links of America and Crystal Downs. A few of his favorite golf-related highlights include playing the Irish Open with Rickie Fowler, A.P. McCoy and Patrick Kielty at Royal County Down (with Matt’s best friend as his caddie), getting Tiger Woods to pose with a tiger for a 1998 cover of Sports Illustrated and shooting 74 at The Old Course at St. Andrews with the sun setting on the town… wrapping that night with a few pints at the Dunvegan.

Matt has so many great stories – easily enough to write a book – but some of his favorite moments include the time he spent with legends like Pete and Alice Dye, and Arnold Palmer at Bay Hill, playing in the BMW Championship Pro-Am with Wayne Gretzky and (the almost unknown at the time) Brooks Koepka. Matt spoke fondly of J.P. McManus (owner of Adare Manor in Ireland) and his legacy of giving and giving back, and he shared the inspirational message given to him by comedian Ron White, on how to succeed in the entertainment industry, “Figure out who you are, and then see how far that can take you. Only the authentic are truly successful.”

A great deal of my respect and appreciation of Matt comes from his parallel perspective to my own on many of today’s “issues” in golf. He loves golf getting a bit more rambunctious and more like mainstream sports – the unbridled enthusiasm of fans at events like the Waste Management and Ryder Cup. He’d like to see golf operators do more for pace of play by understanding the significance of playability in tee marker positions, green speeds, pin positions, length of rough (and even remove some bunkers and fescue). He’s all for rule changes to help the amateur, but thinks the pro game is perfect as it is, and while he is active on Social Media, his platform of preference is Instagram because it is more visual and respectful – in general a better platform for storytelling (his passion).

I asked him about Midwest golf courses that he loves and he gave me many, including: “The Classic at Madden’s on Gull Lake, Ozarks National (Missouri), both courses at Giants Ridge, Sutton Bay (South Dakota) and Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley (Wisconsin).”

When people talk about wishing they had Matt’s job, I feel like they’re missing half of Matt. It’s his perspective on golf, life and family that I appreciate and wish more people knew of. Sure I’d love to have his career path, but it’s what makes the man that is so much more impressive to me.

Matt, the family man, met his beautiful wife, Katie, at the 2015 PGA Show in Orlando, became fast friends, and he proposed to her in Winter Park (Florida) on a deck overlooking a lake. (He had a photographer friend of his hide in the bushes to capture the moment. Lol.) They were married at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri (in my favorite U.S. chapel), overlooking Table Rock Lake. “When I met Katie, I thought, if she’s not The One, then The One doesn’t exist. We look at life as one big adventure. We have the same energy and appreciation for travel, cultures, people and kids.”

Matt and Katie have four kids. Katie has three from a previous marriage: Kaili, Gavin and Max. And they have one together: Bandon, who is already 2! “I spent my whole life thinking about me and my priorities with very few responsibilities. The day I held my baby boy for the first time I started looking behind me at what I was leaving behind and how I could improve the world around me for my kids.”

Matt Ginella’s story is a powerful and inspirational one, of what you can accomplish with passion, ambition and plenty of effort… even if you don’t see what you’re doing as work.