Peter Jacobson first planted the seed in Johnson Wagner’s mind when the two filmed a “Jake’s Take” segment at a PGA TOUR event 15 years ago. You’d be good on TV, Jacobson told Wagner. But while he appreciated the compliment, Wagner was in midst of a successful TOUR career that would see him win three times. Trading his clubs for a microphone wasn’t anywhere on his radar screen. Two years ago, though, that time came. A tryout for PGA TOUR Live led to a trial week at Golf Channel, which led to another and another. He started full-time with the network in 2023, and the affable Wagner has quickly become one of the rising stars at Golf Channel and NBC Sports. On the eve of the recent FedExCup Playoffs, the engaging 45-year-old took time for this Q&A with Essential Golf.
Q: What prompted the pivot from playing golf to talking about it on TV?
WAGNER: I love the game of golf so much, and my game had kind of fallen off a bit the last couple of years. I played ‘21 and ’22 and had some nagging knee issues that I had to have an operation on my right knee. When this opportunity came and I went and did the trial week, I was like, that was really fun. I get to talk about golf and I absolutely loved it. I think I don’t really have any other qualifications outside of the golf world. So, this was just the best opportunity that came for me.
Q: Who helped you get comfortable in this new job?
WAGNER: Two guys at Golf Channel, this older producer named Tom Archer, he used to be with ESPN. … Tom really, really helped me a lot and has taught me pretty much all I know about television. And then a young producer for Golf Channel named Harris Chang. … He’s been very helpful and gotten me out of my comfort zone. We’ve gone to dinner a few times and talked golf and he’s like, Johnson, this is what we want on the show is you being yourself as if you’re at a bar talking to friends. That’s who we want, and we want that personality to come across on air.
Q: What is your favorite thing that you get to do on TV?
WAGNER: It’s funny. With Golf Channel, I feel like I do something different every week. So, I haven’t really gotten tired of any particular role. I’m leaving tomorrow to go up to studio in Connecticut, and I haven’t been up there since early February. I’m excited to get back in a jacket and tie and watch all the golf with the different sort of headspace trying to come up with ways to break players down — not in a bad way, just to have quality breakdowns of the event and certain players and the course even. I feel like on the studio side you get more time to make a point. But then again, when I’ve been the lead analyst in a booth and watching a tournament come to the end, it’s really exciting. So, I’ll be doing a bunch of that this fall on Golf Channel shows.
The recreations are an absolute blast. Being able to get out on a major championship venue seven nights a week is pretty darn special. The walk and talks are the things that make me the most nervous. I don’t find myself to be a particularly good interviewer yet. And so I find that I struggle the most with those. And the hardest job on the broadcast is being an on-course walker. The timing of it … I just find that to be what most players would think would be the easiest role out there on a golf course. I find it to be the most challenging.
Q: Do you remember the first time you had to recreate a shot and how it went?
WAGNER: I do. It was Thursday of THE PLAYERS Championship and Rory McIlroy started on 10 and had hooked it in the water on 18. And there was a little discussion — I think he was playing with Jordan Spieth — of where he dropped. And then on 7, it was his 16th hole, he hit another quick hook, hit it in the penalty area, and it looked like he and Spieth were having heated words. So I went out to try to look at where his ball crossed. I found his divot, I saw where he walked across the bunker, and my whole goal was to throw balls into the side of the hill to see, because you could see it perfectly on the camera angle where it bounced. … I was out there basically throwing air as hard as I could to try to match Rory McIlroy’s 185-mile an hour ball speed with the driver. And I felt like I did a bad job. And I remember calling to my boss, Matt Hegarty, saying like, gosh, I feel like I messed up. I feel like I proved Rory took a bad drop. And he is like, have you looked at social media since you’ve left? And I said, no. He said, well, when you get back to the hotel, give me a call back. And the response was just like people apparently loved it. I don’t know why. But yeah, THE PLAYERS was the first week and then the next night I hit a shot that Rory had played from the right trees on 7, and I basically shanked it right into the tree and it went backwards. So, it started with a bang.
Q: Is that your favorite part of what you do?
WAGNER: Yes, it is. It’s definitely built my career to the point where it is now. I think it’s given me this little role that nobody else is doing that has sort of set me apart from the rest of the golf broadcasting world. So yes, I do thoroughly enjoy it. It’s different though. Sitting there all day at a major championship and just trying to figure out one shot can be a little bit, if nothing pops out, I’ve got to get creative. But I’ve gotten better at coming up with a story or a theme of a day with multiple players on a certain hole to a certain hole location. So, it has forced me to think outside the box a little bit. And I would absolutely say that it’s the best part of it. I’ve got two camera guys, sometimes three with a drone, and we’re out there waiting sometimes for an hour and a half or so to go on and we’re just having a ball cutting up and just having a good time. And it’s those memories off camera that I’ll never forget.
Q: Was it your idea to start doing the recreations?
WAGNER: After my first full year, I had talked to Matt. … And I was like, look, man, Live From is my favorite show. I would love to somehow be on Live From. And he kind of came up with this idea because Frank Nobilo used to do these “Tee to Green” segments, but they would film them like two, three weeks before a major, and they’d air them as if they were live. … He said, would you have interest in that? And I said, well, yes, those are my favorite segments. And he said, well, I want to do them live after the rounds and at night Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. It just went from there, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.