The Famous Flower Hole

Interview With Mike James SentryWorld General Manager SentryWorld

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Mike James, the SentryWorld General Manager at SentryWorld. 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 biography?
Class A PGA Member since 2001.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
I started playing golf after graduating high school at Stevens Point Area Senior High (SPASH). I worked at, of all places, SentryWorld in the cart barn. Let's just say the course forced me to learn the game quickly! The trees surrounding the old hole 2 used to eat my golf balls.

What is your current home course?
SentryWorld

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
I shot 65 on Pine Needles Golf Course in Pinehurst with a group of members. That was fun! I haven't been close to that score since&

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Slow play! It's simple - hit it find it and hit it again!

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
Some days none of them!

What is your favorite golf destination?
Wintertime: Tiburon GC in Naples, Florida. Summertime: SentryWorld right here in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. (I know that sounds cliche however, I am a home body and love the new course!)

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Augusta National I'd give my left pinky toe to play it!

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
The Cobb Course in Daniels, WV and play with some lifelong friends.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Allow for a free drop if in a divot. A perfectly executed tee shot that finds the middle of the fairway should be rewardednot penalized.

Dream foursome (living)?
My good friends Justin Beard, Keith Honaker, Greg Darby and Victor Flanigan

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
My dad and meno one else

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Long drive

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
Round of lifealthough I haven't had a hole-in-one in a long time

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

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Draw

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Bev cart

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bathroom, please!

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Neithera good ol' Wisconsin beer brat

8) Around the green, being in sand OR thick rough?
Roughmy sand game is weak!

9) Walking OR riding?
Walk in the park

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

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants always

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Stricker

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Elvis

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Funbecause I hate losing and losing money!

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
B&R

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Depends on the game and scenario

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18 max nowadays.

Revised: 03/03/2015 - Article Viewed 35,201 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.