Who We Are

GolfintheUSA.com is an American story. Ending up in a good Place.

It’s often said that it’s not where you start out that matters; it’s where you end up.

This thought encompasses the GolfintheUSA.com story perfectly, as the idea for covering golf and travel – and then dabbling in all things Politics and Culture in America – began in a cramped cubicle in an unremarkable office in Alexandria, Virginia, and has since spanned decades and constituted a major part of a career that’s included toiling in the so-called “business world” and then working at home since shortly after the turn of the century.

“I’ve always loved golf,” remarked GolfintheUSA concept creator and founder, Jeff Rendall. “In the summer of 2000, I was spending my days in a rather run-of-the-mill 9-to-5er desk job, basically biding my time until I made it to… well, somewhere else. The one great thing about that state government relations position was, it provided me tons of time for searching the web during the summer. That’s where I came across golf websites that looked intriguing.”

Thinking “I could do this,” Rendall contacted the owner of a very prominent golf site that featured pretty standard copy and whatever photos the courses or destinations provided the reviewer. Surprisingly, the publisher returned Jeff’s email inquiry almost immediately, and the golf phase of Rendall’s writing career began right there.

This was about the same time he left the government relations world to try a career as a freelance writer. Jeff’s wife Shari and he had two young daughters in daycare, and they agreed to arrange it so one of them could work from the home office and take care of the girls at the same time.

“I never realized how much work it was to raise kids,” Rendall recalled. Jeff honed his “Mr. Mom” routine while balancing his writing portfolio. GolfTheMidAtlantic.com was built by a talented friend at the time, and with an actual website to show potential clients, the new businessman was able to tempt courses and resorts into offering visits in exchange for a write-up.

Rendall quickly surmised he couldn’t get very far with a website that looked like it’d been designed by a friend in her basement, so he made a deal with a local talent “enhancer” who arranged to put him in touch with a website building group that could help him “up his game”. GolfTheMidAtlantic.com received its major upgrade and things went from there.

The family welcomed a son in late 2006, and Jeff decided he needed even more home-centered work, thus motivating him to revive a political commentary portfolio that he’d dabbled in on and off since about the time he began writing about golf. The two genres really aren’t as different as one might think.

“I found that the skills I’d learned as a golf journalist and publisher translated nicely to writing about politics,” Rendall remembered. “You’re really just writing about human stories in either case. Every place has a tale to tell, just as American leaders took divergent paths to get where they are. Bring out the stories, and you’ve got something there.”

A lifelong history buff, Jeff was able to put his love of liberty and politics to good use as well. Rendall then began freelance writing for a group that published a number of political websites, and the rest is, let’s say… history.

“After providing website content and covering events for the political group for almost a decade, I began writing a daily politics blog in 2015. I was fortunate that I first started offering daily commentary about the same time Donald Trump announced his run for the presidency,” Rendall added. “I liked several of the Republican candidates, but Trump certainly was the most interesting and entertaining.”

Because he was preoccupied with the workings of American government, golf writing took a bit of a backseat. Rendall changed the name of his publication to GolftheUnitedStates.com in 2011 and made as many site visits as could be squeezed into the schedule between coaching baseball and softball for the young ones and following the topsy turvy nature of the American political scene.

Which brings us to today. “Now that the kids are grown, it’s time for a new project,” Rendall explained. “GolfTheUnitedStates.com would be too narrow for what I want to do, which is establish a publication about a variety of topics, just as long as it’s American at the core. Hence, I plan to travel and write and make videos and vlog and blog and hopefully make it entertaining and informative.”

In other words, expect a little bit of everything from GolfintheUSA.com. “The sky’s the limit in terms of where we plan to go. We’ll travel anywhere… as long as it’s interesting and fun.”
And one more thing. “We’ll definitely have our point-of-view – I’ve done it from the beginning,” Rendall expounded. “But we’re open to all views. Kind of like a podcaster with a variety of guests, we enjoy mixing-it-up with everyone. I remember the days when people used to talk about everything and then went away after shaking hands and wishing each other well.”

What else would you expect from a guy who found a “career” while sitting at a desk searching for bigger and better things to occupy his time?