Interview With Charles Spangler Proshop employee Heritage Golf Group (Oyster Reef Golf Club)

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Charles Spangler, the Proshop employee at Heritage Golf Group (Oyster Reef 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?
After retiring from teaching, I looked for a job in golf. I was hired to work at Oyster Reef (in proshop) and at Shipyard (in maintance). I started 11 years ago. My wife and I met on a golf course. We enjoy playing golf 2-3 times a week.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
I started playing golf back in the early 1970's. I took it up with some friends.

What is your current home course?
Heritage Golf Group courses (Oyster Reef, Shipyard, Palmetto Hall, and Port Royal) on Hilton Head Island.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
My hole-in-on at Dolphin Head Golf Club (on Hilton Head Island)

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

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
Putter. I feel comfortable with it.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Here at Hilton Head (home). Next favorite would be as courses around Atlanta, Ga.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
None in particular.

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Stone Mountain, Ga.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Cost at PGA tournament courses is way too high.

Dream foursome (living)?
Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Greg Norman.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus.

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

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

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

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
Twilight

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Power draw

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Beverage cart.

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bathroom

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Hotdog

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Riding (too old to walk)

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?
Shorts

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Nicklaus

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Elvis, in his early days.

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

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

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18

Revised: 09/19/2013 - Article Viewed 33,354 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.