Interview With Paul Braun Executive Director The Golf Affect By Brian Weis

Interview With Paul Braun Executive Director The Golf Affect

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Paul Braun, the Executive Director and co-host of The Golf Affect Radio Show. The weekly show features weekly contributions from Steve Stricker and Dennis Tiziani. The proceeds of the program are used by Steve and Dennis to help people and organizations through The Golf Affect Charity.

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?
When I was 12 years old a friend talked me into playing 9 holes. He gave me 3 jack Nicklaus Firestone Golf Balls (I think they cost 35 cents each) and five left handed clubs. I five putted the first hole. The highlight was giving him back one ball after the 9 holes.

What is your current home course?
Cherokee Country Club in Madison.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Helping establish and being a part of the Steve Stricker and Dennis Tiziani Golf Affect Charity.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Golfers who do not repair ball marks on the greens.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
My 4 iron. For whatever reason I am very confident when I have that club in my hands.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Hilton Head South Carolina

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Pebble Beach

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Arthur Hills in Hilton Head

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
More left handed Golf Instructors.

Dream foursome (living)?
Phil Mickelson -Bubba Watson - Mike Weir and me. 4 lefthanders in the same group.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Phil Mickelson - Tiger Woods -Steve Stricker and me. (I would need about 20 strokes)

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Sinking a long putt

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

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

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Power draw

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Beverage cart

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bathroom

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
I love hot dogs but my size says wrap

8) Around the green, being in sand OR thick rough?
Either one means extra strokes

9) Walking OR riding?
I should walk but I am not in shape so I ride.

10) Do you carry traditional 3 iron OR hybrid?
Hybrid and I dont hit it any better then tbe 3 iron.

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Shorts even though I should probably wear long pants

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Nicklaus

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Neither

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Fun

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

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Lay up

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18

Article Tags: Interview With Paul Braun

Revised: 01/12/2012 - Article Viewed 31,979 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.