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 35,090 Times - View Course Profile

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.