Kelly Herrington, now an associate dean of admissions at the College, was Greg Midland's freshman roommate, and remembers thinking, “When I was assigned Greg
as one of my roommates, I assumed he would be a hockey player, never a golf fanatic. I find it funny that a boy from Buffalo fell in love with golf.”
Golf fanatic is right, and today Midland '96 is an editor at GOLF Magazine, happily visiting far-flung places and writing everything from tournament reports to instructional articles on the art of golf.
Midland always loved golf (every winter break during college, he and his father played in a father-son tournament in California), but he never thought about it in terms of a career until the end of his college experience. His academic interests at Union lay mainly in economics, but he reached a turning point during his junior year, when he embarked on a term abroad to York, England. Upon his return, Midland squeezed in an English minor in his last year and a half.
He used a couple of paths to get into the world of golf writing. He landed a 1995 summer internship at the United States Golf Association, which helped him understand and become familiar with the golfing industry. And, at one of those father-son tournaments, he approached the editor-in-chief of
GOLF Magazine and spoke with him about his interests in writing for the magazine some day. Soon after, Midland sent in his resume, and he was offered a job with the magazine's online division. His first title was associate editor of
GOLF Online. From
1997 to 2000, he traveled the United States and beyond, writing “travel articles” about exotic places such as Hawaii and New Zealand, reporting on tournaments and golfing events. Most recently, Midland has been working with top teachers and players to create instructional articles on the art of golf, the largest section of the magazine.
His work has also allowed him to meet the best of the best in the world of golf, including Jim Flick and Davis Love III. One of his most memorable moments was the once-in-a-lifetime experience of playing thirty-six holes with Jack Nicklaus. “Working with the best is pretty remarkable,” he says. “I like to catch them in their casual moments, when they let their guard down.”
In the future, Midland would like to see himself play a larger role in the production of the magazine. “It is so cool to see our magazine in an airport newsstand and know that I contributed to it.”