Ben Pluer's Son - Liam

Interview With Ben Pluer Director of Golf Fairways of Woodside Golf Course

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Ben Pluer the Director of Golf at Fairways of Woodside Golf Course.
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 a brief bio?
I've been the Director of Golf at the beautiful Fairways of Woodside for the past 3 years. I've only been in the golf business for 5 years so I am very fortunate to have progressed so quickly in an industry that I love. I worked retail management at a home improvement store for 9 years after high school and it ended up driving me nuts!! So I followed my dream and have not looked back ever since!

When did you start golfing and who introduced you do the game?
I started golfing over 20 years ago in the second grade with a set of women's clubs (that I shared with my brother) my grandpa got us at a rummage sale. Unlike so many other's whose father's got them into the game, my father did not golf. My neighbors took me to a junior clinic at the classic Rainblow Springs Golf Course in Mukwonago, WI. Loved the game from day 1! My best memory was when I met the late great Payne Stewart at Rainbow Springs around the 5th grade. He was larger than life to me and I owe him all the credit for my true passion for the best game ever invented!

What is your current home course?
Fairways of Woodside Golf Course. Sussex, WI.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
I quit my job of 9 years and up and moved to South Carolina to attend the Golf Academy of America. Once I was done with school I moved back to S.E. Wisconsin and 3 years later I am the Director of Golf at an awesome course. I never dreamed that it would happen so fast and am very fortunate for having a job I love in the golf business being around a game I love so much!

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Not fixing ball marks on greens. It bugs me when golfers have to pull there carts within inches of tee boxes and greens. There are perfectly good carts path's right there! If you can't walk the extra 10 feet.....maybe bowling is better suited for you!!

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
60 degree lob wedge. It's gotten me out of tons of trouble.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Kohler and Lake Geneva Wisconsin.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
There's this quaint little track somewhere down south, Georgia i think? Maybe you've heard of it.......Augusta something or other?

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Whistling Straits. You don't even feel like your in America when your there! Just amazing!

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Golfers should get a 2 stroke penalty for not fixing their ball marks on the green........I'm serious.

Dream foursome (living)?
My 2 son's, Bill Murray and myself.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
My 2 son's, Payne Stewart and myself.

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Both don't suck.

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
Round of life. That's why we golf, to get good not lucky. (obviously I'm bitter about never having an ace!)

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
Twilight. Slow old guys play in the morning.

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Snap hook usually.

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Beverage cart, met my wife on one of those! WAIT......halfway house for sure!!

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
#1 bushes, #2 bathroom......maybe.

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Footlong Dog.

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Riding.

10) Do you carry traditional 3 iron OR hybrid?
Hybrid. 18 Degree.

11) Do you prefer long par 3 OR long par 5?
Par 5. Only takes 1 good shot to make up for 2 bad ones.

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants. I have serious chicken legs!! Maybe I should walk more instead of riding to work on those things!

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Palmer.

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Elvis, it's all in the hips, it's all in the hips!!

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Winning money is super fun! So both.

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Flop shot.

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble.

18) 18 holes OR 36?
16...I usually fall apart on the last 2 holes.

Revised: 07/19/2012 - Article Viewed 34,644 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the Publisher of GolfTrips.com, a network of golf travel and directory sites including GolfWisconsin.com, GolfMichigan.com, ArizonaGolfer.com, GolfAlabama.com, etc. Professionally, Brian is a 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). In 2016, Brian won The Shaheen Cup, an award given to a golf travel writer by his peers.

All of his life, Brian has been around the game of golf. As a youngster, Brian competed at all levels in junior and high school golf. Brian had a zero chance for a college golf scholarship, so he worked on the grounds crew at West Bend Country Club to pay for his University of Wisconsin education. In his adult years, his passion for the game collided with his entrepreneurial spirit and in 2004 launched GolfWisconsin.com. In 2007, the idea for a network of local golf directory sites formed and GolfTrips.com was born. Today, the network consists of a site in all 50 states supported by national sites like GolfTrips.com, GolfGuide.com and GolfPackages.com. It is an understatement to say, Brian is passionate about promoting golf and golf travel on a local, regional, national and international level.

On the golf course, Brian is known as a fierce weekend warrior that fluctuates between a 5-9 handicap. With a soft fade, known as "The Weis Slice", and booming 300+ drives, he can blast it out of bounds with the best of them.