Golfweek 50th anniversary memories: Jared Clemons went from video intern to staffer

As part of the fun surrounding our 50th anniversary, Golfweek has been walking down Memory Lane with a number of former employees who helped make the brand what it is today.

We continue the series with someone who started as an intern and became an integral part of our video production side, Jared Clemons.

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When did you work at Golfweek?

2007-2012

What was your Golfweek title, and give us a brief description of what you did.

Video producer.

What’s your current title and company?

Freelance video producer with numerous golf clients.

What’s the one moment you’re proudest of while working with Golfweek?

Golfweek was well ahead of its time when it came to online video production. We were creating daily videos, posting them to the website, well before internet video was a thing. We did everything from tournament recaps, day-in-the-life videos, to game shows and more. We even livestreamed the NCAA Championship! This was before YouTube or Instagram were a thing! We were cutting-edge for sure.

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Golfweek’s video team was a proving ground for what internet video would become. We were tasked with every part of the production to create our videos. One of my proudest moments is likely what got me hired at Golfweek. As an intern in the spring of 2007, I worked alongside our crew to livestream the NCAA Championship. It was quite the undertaking with several cameras spread along a hole, live commentators, and interviews. After the tournament, we had a discussion about the production and ways we could improve it, during which I proposed eliminating a third-party vendor and bringing the whole production in-house. I created a pitch, with a gear list, signal flow, and costs breakdown. Golfweek took a gamble on an intern and it paid off for both of us. We brought the whole production in-house and saved a ton of money, even improving the broadcast. We introduced graphics, preproduced stories, and live scoring. It was a full-fledged production and well ahead of its time.

That summer, I was offered a full-time position and spent the next five years traveling the world producing golf content, some of the best years of my life. I was able to cover everything from Tiger Woods winning the 2008 US Open, to Jordan Spieth winning the U.S. Junior Amateur, to Rickie Fowler in the Walker Cup and more. Truly a memorable time spent at Golfweek.

What’s the ‘hair-on-fire’ moment you remember most vividly?

Being on the cutting edge, we were constantly pushing the technology of the time in order to produce the content we wanted to make for our audience. One such moment is producing a livestream of the Hogan Award at Colonial Country Club. With budgets tight, fellow Golfweek producer Mike Wolfe and I were tasked with creating not only a livestream of the award show for the internet broadcast, but also creating a quick-turn video recapping the nominees’ day leading up to the awards, and then also all the video elements displayed to the live audience.

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Looking back, I really don’t know how we were able to pull it off, but we did! A full production with live graphics and video switching being sent out to the multiple screens in the ballroom as well as our internet audience. I handled the production, fighting audio issues, playback issues and more, while Wolfe ran around to the several cameras placed in the ballroom acting as our camera operator. Somehow, we did it, but man, it was definitely a stressful production that could have been better suited for more than just two people!

What’s your favorite golf course you’ve played and why?

TPC Sawgrass is still one of my all-time favorites. I love a good Pete Dye design, whom we interviewed for GolfweekTV, and his whole philosophy behind golf course architecture. The Stadium course is not only a great test of golf, but also looks spectacular through the lens, and is an excellent venue to watch live golf as a fan.

(Editor’s note: We appreciate all the former employees who have contributed time and effort to this feature. The golf journalism community is a small one and we’re proud of the achievements of all our former colleagues.)

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Golfweek 50th anniversary memories: Jared Clemons went from video intern to staffer