(Left to Right) Ron Whitten and Michael Hurdzan, Ph.D.at Erin Hills holding USGA Amateur Trophy

Interview With Michael Hurdzan, Ph.D., Hurdzan/Fry Environmental Golf Course Design

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Michael Hurdzan, Ph.D., Hurdzan/Fry Environmental Golf Course Design. 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 at age 4 or 5, taught by my Dad who was a teaching pro at a small course in Columbus, Ohio. My Mom is now 88 years young and plays five days a week-and pretty darn well at that. Golf with my Son Chris, whom my dad started at age 3, and my Mom is my perfect golf group and we play fast and hard. Doesn't matter the course for we play for the love of family and friendship.

What is your current home course?
I can play about anywhere so I really don't have a home course and I play lots of public courses with my friends, but I am a honorary member at Country Club of Darien, (Connecticut), Devil's Pulpit and Paintbrush in Caledon, Ontario, and a few other places around the USA.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
I have no significant championships to brag about, and only a couple of holes-in-ones, and I am a middle handicapper at present, so my proudest accomplishment must be my professional standing in the golf Industry. I am on a first name basis with people from every discipline and rank who are my good friends and colleagues. For me, that is more cool than winning some obscure championship. My friends and knowledge of golf courses has made me a welcome visitor anywhere in the world.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Slow play, golfers not taking care of the course, and that more play have not discovered the wonderful world of golf.

What is your favorite golf destination?
I love to play the Monterey Peninsula courses or Eastern Long Island, Irish and Scottish courses blow me away, and golf down under in Australia and New Zealand are the best courses---but there are no really bad courses, some are just better than others. My select few would be Devil's Paintbrush, Cypress Point and Erin Hills.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
I must shamefully admit I have not been to Bandon Oregon to play those wonderful courses. If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play? Cypress Point ! Early in the morning, in the autumn is the best.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
I would encourage that the only time you keep score is when you are In a competition that requires it---otherwise just enjoy each hole as a separate challenge and source of pleasure. Keeping score can ruin an otherwise enjoyable day.

Dream foursome (living)?
My Mom, my Son, and Pete Dye

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
My mentor and business partner Jack Kidwell, my Father, and Alister MacKenzie

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Long Drive that ends up in the fairway

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
The full round with people I like best

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
Tough Choice but I am a morning person----Dawn

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
I have never hit a power draw so that would be my choice

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Halfway house

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Clean bathroom or any bush, or not as long as it is downwind

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
All American Hot Dog---mustard, onions, sour kraut----or a good coney.

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

9) Walking OR riding?
WALKING as long as I am healthy enough and riding when I am not

10) Do you carry traditional 3 iron OR hybrid?
Carry both

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants unless it is unbearable hot

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
I know Jack best and I like the guy

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Beatles for they remind me of my high school days

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Play for fun money---chump change and a buck or two

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

17) Lay up OR gamble?
My head says lay up but my heart says "go for it."

18) 18 holes OR 36?
I can handle 36 a day but I think the round should be 15 holes---18 seems like too many these days

Revised: 07/27/2011 - Article Viewed 29,096 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.