Matthew Nations

Interview With Matthew Nations Assistant Golf Professional Arrowhead Golf Club

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Matthew Nations, the Assistant Golf Professional at Arrowhead Golf Club. 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?
>From age 11-15 I played golf with only ONE person: My brother. He knew my game inside & out and I knew his. Truth is, we were kids and we didn't know squat. All we knew was how to encourage, have fun, and instill confidence in each other. That's all it took. That's all it takes.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
My step father Raymond got me started in the game when I was 11. Probably the most mentally tough golfer I've ever known. Do NOT poke the bear.

What is your current home course?
Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton, IL.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Whenever the simplest piece of advice *clicks* with a golfer.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Slow play.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
My 3 wood because it looks great and I never use it.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Everything after the 1st hole.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Kiawah Island

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Ripley's Old MacDonald's Farm Mini Golf.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Make the hole bigger. Am I right?

Dream foursome (living)?
Bob Gibson, Adam Wainwright, Ozzie Smith, Lou Brock.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Roy McAvoy, Bagger Vance, Ty Webb, Shooter McGavin.

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Plead the 5th

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

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
Breakfast Club.

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Can't have one without the other.

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Bev Cart

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
plead the 5th

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Dog

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Walking

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?
I like having the option?

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
The Bear

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Dylan

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
For fun of cour$e!

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

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Tomay-toe tomah-toe

18) 18 holes OR 36?
Why stop there?

Revised: 02/11/2015 - Article Viewed 35,417 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.