Mike Holt

Interview With Mike Holt Certified Golf Course Superintendent Santee National Golf

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Mike Holt, the Certified Golf Course Superintendent at Santee National 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?
I am a 13-16 handicap golfer who would be a 13-16 handicapper if I played once a year or everyday. I have been around golf since the age of 8 and have been in the industry since 1990. I am very fortunate to have a career that I love and I tell people everyday that I don't mind going to work. I eat, sleep and breath golf.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
My dad introduced me to the game at the age of 8. Two of the greatest memories I have are ironically enough, putting peanuts in a bottle of coke after our round at Holly Hill CC and going over to the town football field to hit balls with my 7 iron that my dad cut to fit me.

What is your current home course?
Santee National Golf Club

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Becoming a CGCS, Certified Golf Course Superintendent in 2013.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Bunkers, they are hazards!

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
"A" wedge, because I just love to hit it.

What is your favorite golf destination?
For the dollar, Santee, SC. For the beauty, the mountains of NC.

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

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Pinehurst #2 before the restoration. Nothing personal to the restoration but it's just too difficult for me now, from the tips anyway.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
The emphasis that has been placed on bunkers. When a hazard becomes more consistent that the rough and other turf areas around it and people are yelling for the ball to get in the trap...golf has taken a turn that is off track from what the game was meant to be. Your fairways can be excused but your bunkers better be perfect and more importantly, consistent. It's just wrong and I blame TV golf for this change in expectation. When professional golfers would rather be in the bunker and average golfers hear and see that on TV, it creates a major problem for the golf industry.

Dream foursome (living)?
Me, my dad, my brother, David Madden and Chris Williams. "We play fast, we won't hold anybody up, I promise."

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Me, my dad, my brother, David Madden and Chris Williams. "We play fast, we won't hold anybody up, I promise."

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?
Hole in One, already have one and would like to validate that one as not being a fluke.

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?
Hot dog

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Walking for enjoyment, riding for pace of play

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?
Palmer

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Buffett

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Fun, money makes it too serious.

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

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Lay up? whats that? I didn't get to be a 15 handicap by laying up!

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18

Revised: 01/30/2014 - Article Viewed 33,467 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.