Getting To Know: Royal St. Patrick's Golf Links

An Insightful Interview With Nick Stephens, PGA, Owner & Head Golf Professional

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Nick Stephens, PGA who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Blessed with an incredible piece of Wisconsin broad lands, Royal St. Patrick's Golf Links was created in 2003 as an inspiration to early Scottish / Irish golf heritage. The out and back Championship Links layout meanders through 500 acres of rolling terrain. Eleven crystal clear lakes and wind swept golden fescue grass; not only adds to the beauty of the residential community, but also creates a challenge for our daily fee play and as well as outing and league players.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
The staff at Royal St. Patrick's believes you deserve a great experience and we have gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of fairways, greens and tees remain are the best playing surfaces for your game. Our tees are a prototype grass, mowed to a height that rivals some course's greens. We offer five sets, which allows for varying abilities to enjoy the Links, but also gives us versatility in setting up the course different each day to keep your rounds unique. Our gigantic fairways are bent grass and in addition to their flawless appearance, many players claim they are the best they have ever played. Combining a nice cushion to get under the ball, and a firm bottom to shallow out a descending blow, all abilities rave that we make the game too easy. Our greens are special and unlike most others. Renowned as some of the smoothest in the area we have a pure sand sub-surface. Ball marks are minimal, and rain storms wick through the sand layer in minutes returning these beauties to their original putting integrity. Lacking severe or silly undulations, our greens are subtle and challenging. While all putts look "make-able", it takes rounds of study to solve their Links-like riddles. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
A feature unique to our Links is wind. We have some of the widest fairways in Wisconsin according to one of the USGA's chief agronomists; and given the wind conditions, you are free to use every square inch. Wind makes the Links play different every day. Wind may save your ball from flying in the tall fescue grass, wind may dry out an approach allowing you to run a ball onto the green, wind may make your wedge shot spin back, one of the coolest feelings in golf. Wind makes the Links interesting, and the Links was designed for wind.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
The course and its offerings are really my life's work. When I arrived there was nothing, and now there is an awesome golf and dining experience. No awards are necessary, all that matters is that people love it, and they do.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Halfe Pint is the Valley's only 19th hole. Used as a bet-settling bonus hole, or perhaps a tune up to your tour of the Links. You can join our tradition of experiencing Halfe Pint at the completion of your round. Check out the monument next to the 18th green that reads:

Burn, Fjord and Moorland Passed
Braveheart Struggle Not Yer Last
Memories Replayed From 18th to 1st
Halfe Pint Hole To Quench Yer Thirst

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
The 11th Hole. A par 4 of 360 some yards, this hole bends hard to the right with water all down the right. Wind is generally hard from left to right on the tee shot. If you're like me, the options are perplexing. You can hit an iron off the tee, and I would argue this is a low stress choice. Any lay up down the right, certainly brings the water into play, but really shortens the second shot. The problem being, your second shot will be all over water. Should your lay up be taken down the left, the second shot is now much longer. Those who play here on a regular basis, know the rough on the left is like velcro, getting it on the green from there is close to impossible. But then there's the choice of driver. It might actually be the better choice. From the tee the hole appears to be a 90 degree dogleg, if you could hit the ball 250 in the air, you could argue the fairway is 100 yards wide. However, if you hit the ball 280, you'll be looking for it in the soybeans. Now should you hit the driver, and you avoid the deep sod wall bunker through the fairway, it's possible your second shot is a mere 90 yards. There is a mound at the front of the green that repels any wedge that isn't hit perfectly. Such a great hole, with so many options. Good luck.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Imagine in your mind the Slow Roast Pork Shoulder, Smoked Ham, Pickles, Dijon Mustard, all on Fresh Grilled Sourdough Bread. You just imagined the popular "Cubano Sandwich". Believe me when I tell you that no one goes to the lengths that we do, to make things fresh in house. It's Amazing!

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
I should know this, but I don't.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 7,071
Slope: 137
Rating: 74.0

More Information
Royal St. Patrick's Golf Links
201 Royal St. Pat's Drive
Wrightstown, WI, 54180
920-532-4300
www.royalstpatricks.com

Revised: 03/22/2014 - Article Viewed 32,088 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.