Interview With Arthur Hills By Brian Weis

Interview With Arthur Hills

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Arthur Hills an American golf course designer who achieved a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science from Michigan State University. He has designed more than 180 new golf courses, including private, resort, upscale, and public golf courses around the world.

The following are a few traditional and non traditional golf centric questions that I love to ask influential people in the golf industry.

Can you provide our readers with a brief bio.
Founder of Hills & Forrest International Golf Course Architects
Graduate of Michigan State University and the University of Michigan
Golf course architect since 1965, 225+ new course designs and 125 renovations

When did you start golfing and who introduced you do the game?
I grew up close to Ottawa Park Golf Course, a city owned course in Toledo, Ohio. Began playing there at age 8 or 9. Parents played a little. I used their older clubs.

What is your current home course?
Inverness Club, Toledo, OH

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment on the course or in the industry?
Creating courses which players enjoy.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
On the course - large greens.
Off the course - politicans in D.C. and elsewhere, their failure to promote sound policies.

What is your favorite club in the bag and why?
Wedge - I do best with it.

What is your favorite golf destination?
St. Andrews, Scotland - fun to play.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
I have played them all, except in Australia, the good ones, that is.

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
St. Andrews

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Keep the ball from making some old courses from being almost obsolete.

Dream foursome (living)?
My friends

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
My friends

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Long drive, because I occasionally make a long putt.

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
Round of life, I've had three holes-in-one.

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
Crack of dawn

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Either

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Halfway house

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bathroom

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Tuna sandwich or fruit

8) Around the green, being in sand OR thick rough?
Sand

9) Walking OR riding?
Walking!

10) Do you carry traditional 3 iron OR hybrid?
Hybrid

11) Do you prefer long par 3 OR long par 5?
Long par 3

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Shorts

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Either

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Elvis

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Both

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Both

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Depends

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18 holes

Revised: 02/12/2013 - Article Viewed 32,788 Times

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.