Joe On the Course

Interview With Joe Stadler, PGA Executive Director Wisconsin PGA

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Joe Stadler, PGA Executive Director Wisconsin PGA. He has been a PGA member since 1994 and Executive Director of the WPGA since 1995. He enjoys play competitively but realizes as he is getting older he is not getting any better.

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

When did you start golfing and who introduced you do the game?
I started playing when I was 13. A friend of mine, Darrin Arriens, took me to Warnimont Park in Cudahy. I was hooked. We played 70 times that summer.

What is your current home course?
Don't have one. I am fortunate to be able to enjoy pretty much any golf course that I have the time to play. The people in the industry are very kind to me.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
I would have to say the success of the WPGA Junior Foundation and the growth it has experienced since its creation.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Slow Play

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
Putter - it works better than the rest

What is your favorite golf destination?
Kohler in state and Kiawah out of state, although I just returned from the DR and that could move up to the top quickly!

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Augusta National

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Milwaukee Country Club in the Slocum Open

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
How long it takes to play.

Dream foursome (living)?
Stricker, Kelly and Wilson - I've played with Steve and Jerry but not since we were kids. They have all been very supportive of our efforts so it would be great to spend more time with them.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Bill Murray, Jackie Gleason and Darren Clarke

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Long Putt - even better if it is to win a side bet

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
Round of life

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
Neither - I'm about a 1pm kind of guy

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Fade

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
BYO - just kidding - usually beverage cart

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bathroom

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Dog

8) Around the green, being in sand OR thick rough?
Sand - I can't chip

9) Walking OR riding?
Love to walk but almost never do

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

11) Do you prefer long par 3 OR long par 5? l
Long par 5 - more chance to goof up and still make par or even birdie

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants - too many years behind a desk for shorts

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Nicklaus

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Beatles

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Usually money unless it's the right group of people

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Most likely I'd putt it

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18 is perfect - then we can hang out for the next 4 hours

Revised: 12/16/2011 - Article Viewed 30,443 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.