Jul 28, 2026

Inside Look at Being a Senior Editor at Golf.com with Jessica Marksbury

golf media podcast

If you have ever read Golf Magazine or scrolled Golf.com, there is a good chance you have come across Jessica Marksbury's work. She is a senior editor who has been with the brand for almost twenty years — since right out of college — and she has had a front row seat to one of the most dramatic shifts in the history of golf media. Women's golf going mainstream. Print giving way to digital. Social media going from one person's side project to a full team running around the clock. She has lived all of it.

This week Jessica joins us on T-Time, and we talk about all of it. How she built her career, what the women's golf boom actually looks like from the inside of a major media company, how Golf.com thinks about content in 2025, and what it is like to love golf when you have two kids, a working husband, and about fifteen rounds a year to show for it.

Before you read on, grab the free Short Game 100 workbook

30 days of short game practice, laid out so simply you can walk into the facility knowing exactly what to do. The digital version is completely free for T-Time listeners. Short Game 100

How Jessica Landed at Golf Magazine Right out of Columbia

She was an English major who knew she liked writing and played golf her whole life but had no plan. Then a summer job at a golf course led to a chance meeting with the instruction editor, which led to an internship her senior year, which led to a full-time job when she graduated.

She started processing invoices. She ended up a senior editor. And she has loved every bit of it.

The Move From New York to Arizona

Jessica's husband is a golf pro, her family is West Coast, his family is in Ireland, and they had a daughter in 2016 who made the daily sprint to beat daycare closing time feel a little unsustainable. So in 2017 they packed up and came to Arizona — a state she had fallen in love with years earlier covering the WM Phoenix Open for Golf Magazine's Anonymous Pro Survey. Her editor said yes. COVID made remote work universal. She has never looked back.

The Women's Golf Boom — From the Inside

Jessica has been at Golf.com long enough to watch women's golf go from an afterthought to one of the most talked-about topics in the game. Her take on why it happened: COVID made people realize how much they needed something outside and active. Social media gave women's golf a platform and a community. The LPGA has made real strides. And the brands finally started paying attention.

What Actually Resonates with Female Golfers

One of Jessica's special projects in recent years was elevating Golf.com's women's golf coverage — figuring out what female golfers actually want to read, watch, and buy. Her answer: instruction that speaks to how women's bodies actually move (she shouts out Kelly Stencil for doing this especially well), equipment designed for how women actually swing, lifestyle content that reflects the whole picture of being a woman who golfs, and commerce content that acknowledges something the golf industry has been slow to catch on to.

Women's Equipment is Finally Catching Up

Jessica recently tested the Ping GLE — clubs designed specifically for swing speeds of 80 mph or less — and came away genuinely impressed. She thought she might be on the border of that range. She was at 67 mph. Eye-opening in a way that was a little uncomfortable. But the technology is exceptional, and she loves that brands like Ping and Callaway (with their full Riva line) are treating women golfers as a premium market worth investing in. And yes, there is an eight hybrid in the Ping set. Jessica is fully on board with that.

Print vs. Digital and the Evolution of Golf.com

U.S. magazine print advertising revenue has dropped 70% since 2010. Jessica has watched this shift happen in real time, and she is clear-eyed about it without being precious. The magazine still does things digital cannot — a two-page photo spread of a golf course, the font that pulls you into a story, the layout that makes you feel something before you read a single word.

But digital is where most readers live now, and Golf.com has built accordingly. One social media editor became a full team. Affiliate commerce became a meaningful revenue stream. And the "I Tried It" franchise — where staff members actually use the products they write about — has become one of their most trusted content formats. No writing off press releases. If you liked it, say so. If you did not, do not bother.

How Big Editorial Packages Come Together

A few years ago, Jessica helped lead a mothers-in-golf package built around a detail most fans had never heard of: the LPGA Tour runs a traveling daycare for players' kids. That story expanded into a day spent following Brittany Lincicome, a Michael Bamberger piece on Tiger's mom, and a full package that rolled out over a week. It started with a phone call and a question: do people know about this? It usually starts that way.

Jessica's Relationship with Golf Right Now

About 10 to 15 rounds a year, mostly in the Arizona summer when deals are easy to find, mostly with her mom who is her biggest encourager and primary golf companion. Her kids are 9 and 6. Golf is coming for them soon — she has a plan — but right now it is swim lessons and martial arts and getting them active. She is in no rush.

Jessica is firmly in the play-nine, be-done-in-two-hours camp. She played 36-hole days in college and cannot fathom how. She loves what is happening in golf right now with shorter formats, short courses, and the idea that you do not have to commit a full day to enjoy the game.

Ireland, Journalism, and What Keeps the Job Fresh

Jessica's husband is Irish, they go every July, and in the early years they played a lot — Ballybunion, Tralee, Royal Dublin. Now the trips are about family. She would go back to golf there in a heartbeat. And her favorite thing about her job after almost 20 years? Her colleagues. Followed closely by the fact that it is the same structure every day but always something new to chase.

Desert Classic Brought New Players Through the Door

Jessica wrote a piece on the Desert Classic for Golf Magazine, and this year players showed up at registration saying they found out about the tournament from the article. That is the best possible outcome for everyone. We are so grateful for her coverage, and we cannot wait to have her back at the event.