Island Hills Golf Club

Getting To Know: Island Hills Golf Club

An Insightful Interview With Andy Mears, President & COO

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 Andy Mears 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
Island Hills Golf Club is a Ray Hearn masterpiece. Nestled next to Lake Templene the terrain provides for both a wooded and prairie golf conditions. Along with its wonderful flow, golfers will find "country club" conditions and outstanding service. Island Hills Golf Club will land on your "best of" list for golf.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Value! For the price, you can't beat Island Hills. It is a course any golfer can play and any golfer will want to play, time and time again.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Take a good look at our brand new tee signs. Very vivid detail of the hole route. It will guide you correctly for shot placement. Also, be careful on the greens - very fast and formidable.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Island Hills has hosted many qualifiers for national tournaments...it is that good. We've also created three short-courses within the golf course configuration. Providing golfers with an opportunity to play a quick round and return to the clubhouse.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Undoubtedly #17, Par 3. Downhill at about 175 yards and you will need carry entirely over marshland with Lake Tamplene as back drop. Beautiful hole.

Golfers can enjoy viewing #17 from the new Golf Cottages opening Memorial Day weekend 2013. Natural, Country, Elegance.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
#18 is a magnificent Par 5. Tee shot over water (235 from back tee) that sweeps dogleg left up the hill, back toward the clubhouse. There is risk/reward as longer players can attempt to carry over the creek that meanders in front of the green. The green itself may be the most difficult on the golf course - large and angulated. A true test of golf for a finishing hole. Very fun!

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Back soon with the answer. Island Hills has a new restaurant proprietor and The Grille Tavern re-opens April 1, 2013. Come on out and discover your own favorite dish and drink.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 7038
Slope: 135
Rating: 73.9

More Information
Island Hills Golf Club
61809 Stonegate Dr.
Centreville, Michigan, 49032
269-467-7267
www.islandhillsgolf.com

Revised: 04/08/2013 - Article Viewed 42,588 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.