Relentlessly Dedicated With Jeremy Feister
Name: Jeremy Feister
Title: Superintendent
Facility and location: Magnolia Green Golf Club, Moseley VA
Troon Value: Relentlessly Dedicated
Q: When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up and please explain if there was a story around that?
A: I never had anything specifically that I wanted to do. As I got older, I wanted to go into the military and join the navy but quickly figured out that it wasn’t for me.
Q: What/Who got you interested in the business of agronomy and what was your first experience with the industry?
A: Chad Karr and Jay Wade were my bosses when I began working in golf course turf, two of the best guys in the industry and really supported me. I was really good at it, and it seemed like a good fit, so I continued my education through college.
Q: What has been your career progression thus far?
A: I started working at Magnolia Green when it opened in 2010 as a 9-hole facility. I began when I was 15, washing carts, and getting rides back and forth to work from my parents and older brother. Throughout high school, I worked year-round, after school and on weekends as a cart attendant. I attended Virginia Tech in 2012 and ended up dropping out after a few weeks in ROTC. Jay and Chad hired me for maintenance and gave me a little more money. I enjoyed it but was not sure I wanted to pursue a career in turf management.
I went back to VA Tech in Spring 2012 to work on a degree in Forestry. I got a part time job at Blacksburg Country Club while in school and continued working summers at Magnolia Green. I was part of a 9-hole construction project in 2015, which completed Magnolia Greens 18 holes. I graduated VA Tech in 2016, and Jay (Superintendent) hired me as an Assistant Superintendent immediately upon graduation. I worked as an Assistant for about eight years until Jay accepted a new job in April 2024. I was then promoted to Head Superintendent shortly after. In total, I have been at Magnolia Green for over 14 years and have seen it being built from the ground up, it has been a great experience.
Q: What do you do in your daily job or life to inspire others interested in turf management and the agronomy business as a career?
A: I really enjoy talking to the high schoolers who play golf out here or those that just work summers at the club. A lot of them ask what we are doing that day, so I give them a little rundown, so they know a little bit of the agronomy side of things. It reminds me of what I used to be like when I was their age, not really knowing what I wanted to do.
Q: What is an interesting fact about agronomy that not many people outside the Agronomy world know?
A: Having a degree in forestry, I delt mostly with trees. What a lot of people don’t know is how similar trees and turf grass are. They have the same pests, same diseases, similar treatments, and require the same managements plans to grow successfully.
Learn more about Troon’s DE&I Initiatives, Associates and Stories.
Follow #GolfForEveryone
For more stories on Troon’s DE&I initiative and associates