Interview With John Schlaman, PGA General Manager, Prairie Landing Golf Club By Brian Weis

Interview With John Schlaman, PGA General Manager, Prairie Landing Golf Club

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with John Schlaman, PGA General Manager, Prairie Landing Golf Club, West Chicago, IL. Prior to Prairie Landing he was at Innisbrook in Tarpon Springs FL and Director of Golf at Eagle Ridge in Galena, IL. 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 golfing at age 13 when I was introduced to the game as a caddie at Red Run Golf Club in Royal Oak, MI.

What is your current home course?
My current club is Prairie Landing Golf Club in West Chicago, IL approx one hour straight west of Downtown Chicago. Prairie Landing is a Prairie Links style public 18-hole par 72 golf course with fabulous practice facilities and a full service clubhouse/banquet facility. The golf course was designed by renowned golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. and is ranked among the best courses in Chicagoland and rate 4.5 Stars by Golf Digest Magazine's "Best Places to Play"

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
I'm not known as a great player but I like to compete when possible and have qualified for many IL State Open Fields and won one IL PGA Stroke Play Tournament in 1993. As I stated; not much to brag about but I enjoy playing the game.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
As a golf course manager my pet peeve on the golf course are people disrespecting the game and the golf course by not replacing or sanding their fairway divot, fixing their pitch mark on the greens and raking their sand bunker after use. Off the course my pet peeve is impatience.

What is your favorite golf destination?
My favorite golf destination is probably the coastline any coastline!

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Ireland golf courses

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Pebble Beach, Whistling Straits and the Ocean Course at Kiawah

Dream foursome (living)?
Jack, Arnie and Paula Creamer

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Sarazen, Hagen and Hogan

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Long Putt for eagle

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
Round of a life I already had four HIO's and only one round of my life

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
Neither, I kind of like an 11:00 tee time

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Power draw to a back left hole placement. If I could only hit a draw!

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Depends on who is working

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bushes for sure

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Hot Dog, mustard only

8) Around the green, being in sand OR thick rough?
Sand for sure and a hole out

9) Walking OR riding?
Riding unless I have a good caddie

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

11) Do you prefer long par 3 OR long par 5?
Neither really, I'm a short knocker

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants, I'm and Golf Pro

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Both

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Beatles, too young for Elvis

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Money, golf isn't always fun

16) Bump or run OR flop shot?
Flop shot but I'm not that skilled at either shot

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Both, but you have to know when to do it

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18, maybe 27

Revised: 07/27/2011 - Article Viewed 33,627 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.