Interview With Bruce Stoller

Interview With Bruce Stoller Director of Golf Arrowhead Golf Club

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Bruce Stoller the Director of Golf at Arrowhead Golf Club. He started playing golf with his parents and grandfather when he was only four. He started playing more seriously in high school. He took a summer job at Arrowhead when he was in college and before he knew it he was a golf professional. 28 years later he is at the same club with his dream job.

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?
My parents both played so I've been dabbling in golf for as long as I can remember. My fondest memories are of Sunday afternoon rounds with my parents when I was a living in Ohio as a young teenager. No pressure, just fun followed by a great burger.

What is your current home course?
Arrowhead

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Being a part of the transformation of Arrowhead Golf Club. It was always a fun place to be with a welcoming staff, but the golf course and clubhouse were nothing special. The upgrades to the course and facility over the past 20 years have been remarkable, and it has been a privilege to be a part of it.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
People who never seem to enjoy themselves. I don't understand people who get up at 5:00 AM on their day off and then complain about thier round every week. Seems like they should find a new hobby.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
Putter. If it weren't so good with it I might never break 80.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Tallahassee, Florida. I can always find a good football game to go to when I'm done playing golf.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Augusta and St. Andrews

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Muirfield Village

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
I would love to see new golf courses open that are fun to play, not too difficult and inexpensive. We went through a very long phase where almost all of new courses were the exact opposite of that and I think it has hurt the game. We need to stop stroking the architects ego and start making golf fun.

Dream foursome (living)?
My dad, Bobby Bowden, Jack

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
My dad and my grandfathers

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Long Putt - There's nothing like the sound of the ball going in the hole

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
Round of life - it might make me money instead of costing me.

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
Twilight - I'm still not a morning person

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Power fade - play to your strength

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Beverage cart

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bathroom at Arrowhead, bushes anywhere else

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Are you serious?

8) Around the green, being in sand OR thick rough?
Sand

9) Walking OR riding?
Walking. You don't get a body like mine by riding. Oh wait, yes you do

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

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Shorts if it's just for fun which it should always be

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Nicklaus. I grew up in Columbus inthe 70's

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Elvis. There's only one king

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Fun

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Bump and run. Easy is better

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble. I'm not playing for my living and you only live once

18) 18 holes OR 36?
27. I can play every hole at Arrowhead and be very content

Revised: 05/11/2012 - Article Viewed 35,040 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.