In January 2025, the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena and the surrounding Los Angeles County hillsides. The neighboring Altadena Golf Course lost its clubhouse. Eaton Canyon Golf Course, somehow, didn’t. A year later, I went out with Jonathan Williams to shoot a story about what’s left, what came back, and what it’s like to play golf on that edge, and handled the videography myself.

The Project

This one wasn’t a typical gear or course review, it was a recovery story. We documented the scorched perimeter against green fairways, and sat down with General Manager Johnny Eusebio, PGA, for an exclusive interview about the night the fire nearly took the course. My role was videography: getting the on-course footage, coordinating around the drone shots, and capturing the interview in a way that did justice to a genuinely emotional local story.

Why This One Mattered

Most golf content is gear talk and swing tips. This was a chance to shoot something with real stakes, a community course and the people who kept it running through a disaster. It’s the kind of story that needs a videographer who can read a room and a location, not just press record.

If you’ve got a course, brand, or story in the LA golf community worth telling, I’d love to help shoot it. See more of my work and get in touch here.

---

Follow along: I post more behind-the-scenes shoots and course content on Instagram @dmac_golfs and YouTube.