QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH MONIKA GEISLER
Tell us shortly about the company where you work. How did it come that you started there?
The name and the idea of Nineteen Golf Magazine are not just a coincidence, it’s about the 19 hours next to the round of golf. Nineteen, because a day has 24 hours and we spend 5 hours on the golf course, leaving 19 hours for special culinary delights, relaxation and many other experiences. And that’s what my magazine is all about, we give inspiration for the 19 hours besides and the preparation for the new round to come. Nineteen is an ideas magazine for lifestyle-oriented golfers.
I had the idea when I was sitting with my partner on the terrace with a glass of wine after a wonderful day of golf in the summer almost two years ago. We were talking about what makes our sport so special. It struck us that most golf magazines focus on topics that don’t interest me personally, such as past tournament results or training tips.
Today, I am the CEO and journalist for Nineteen Golf and love to write emotional travel reports to make my personal experiences and emotions behind the stories tangible. At the time, I never imagined that within such a short time I would be the highest-circulation independent golf magazine in Switzerland.
How/where/when did you start to play golf?
I remember that very well, I personally didn’t have a very good time back then and there were a lot of changes and challenges in my life. My best friend Jenny plays single handicap and took me to the driving range to clear my head. Golf wasn’t really my sport, but I thought it was time to learn something new. Something that would require my extroverted and lively nature to stay focused.
So I spontaneously signed up for an intensive golf course near Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 2012, just before I emigrated from Germany to Switzerland. Shortly after my emigration I didn’t have much time to play golf, fortunately this has changed in the last two years.
What has the golf meant to you as a woman?
Learning golf helped me get over a difficult period in my life full of losses and was also a channel for me to overcome bad emotions and get new impulses of happiness. Today golf is not only a sport for me. Golf is a way of life and with the magazine I make my favorite sport my profession. Thanks to golf, I found love, because I met my life partner on the golf course.
THE IMPORTANCE OF GOLF
“I remember that very well, I personally didn’t have a very good time back then and there were a lot of changes and challenges in my life”.
What is most important for you on the course?
I am active and like to be outdoors, preferably with my partner. We like to travel and combining this with our favorite sport is a passion. Also, taking time out with my girls after a nice round of golf to chat over good food and a glass of wine is pure joy of life. I love fashion, so my outfit on the golf course is coordinated from head to toe.
How has the last year been on the course?
I am not an ambitious golfer. I don’t practice at the driving range and I’m not concerned with getting as low a handicap as possible. I describe myself as a leisure golfer. I also traveled a lot for the magazine and was able to play around 40 of the most beautiful golf courses in Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, France and Hungary.
What is your best golf tips?
Mark Twain already said “Golf is a good walk spoiled. “. Golf is a game and a sport and it is not a matter of life and death. Golf is paradox – so please don’t take it too seriously!
What do you do when you don’t play golf?
Athletically, I like to be in the gym and train strength and endurance. I live right on the edge of the forest and I like to take advantage of that for a short jog or long walk. Otherwise, I live and work in Zurich.
If you got to play at any course in the whole world, which one would it be?
In Vienna I was recently told a very nice sentence about Wiener Schnitzel “I can only tell you the place with the second best Schnitzel, because there could always be a better one” I see it the same way with golf courses. But at the top of my list are interesting golf courses that offer something for the eye.
What is your favorite garments from Daily Sports?
That’s for sure, the Magic High Water Pants. I’m very small and petite and the pant length fits perfectly. Whether golf or business, I’m always perfectly dressed with them.
FASHION ON THE GOLF COURSE
“I love fashion, so my outfit on the golf course is coordinated from head to toe”.
