Dave Hallenbeck, Director of Golf at Grand Geneva Resort

Interview With Dave Hallenbeck, Grand Geneva Resort

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Dave Hallenbeck, Director of Golf at Grand Geneva Resort. Dave is celebrating his 34th season in the golf industry and has worked at Grand Geneva when it was the Playboy Club.

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 in college and did it on my own. After playing baseball, I wanted to keep active in competitive sports.

What is your current home course?
Grand Geneva Resort

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Raising over $10,000,000 for charities through golf - which I have personally been involved with during my 33 years career.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Not respecting others or a property. Just because you pay a green fee, doesn't give you the right to do what ever you feel. Golf is the only true gentleman's game left - respect it.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Scottsdale

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Augusta National

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Dessert Mountain - Any of them

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Make the hole bigger - Everyone that has missed a putt on the lip will agree! The game is so very difficult for 95% of all golfers, so why not give some relief for the mass majority. By increasing the hole slightly, would not only offer some additional relief. But scores would decrease and the pace of play as a result. Everyone wins.

Dream foursome (living)?
Palmer - Nicklaus - George Bush - my Dad

Dream foursome (dead)?
Hogan - Nelson - Snead - my Mom
I am the 5th in both

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Drive

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
Round of life which include a HIO

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
Twilight - Nothing better than a great sunset!

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Fade

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Bev. Cart - for obvious reasons

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
What ever is the closest

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Wrap

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Walking

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

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
The King - Mr. Palmer

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Beatles

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
For fun

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Still haven't perfected the flop - Bump it up

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Always go for it!!!

18) 18 holes OR 36?
If the time would allow - 36.

Revised: 01/18/2012 - Article Viewed 34,890 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.