Greg Babinec

Interview With Greg Babinec, Head Golf Professional at Crystal Mountain

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Head Golf Professional, the Head Golf Professional at Crystal Mountain. 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've been a member of The PGA of America since 1988. I worked with the Japanese Women's Golf Program at Ferris State University and saw several students return to Japan to compete on the women's tour, along with students who became PGA Professionals and remained in the United States. I spent 11 years at Arcadia Bluffs Golf Club and took on roles such as Head Professional and Director of Golf and joined the Crystal Mountain team in 2012.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
I was introduced to golf by Mike McGovern (my Brother-in-Law), when I was 10 years old at Oceana Golf Club in Shelby, MI

What is your current home course?
Crystal Mountain

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Being named PGA Professional of the Year for Northern Michigan in 1992.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Being late.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
Putter! It will always be the difference between a good score and a great score.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Anywhere I am playing with friends and/or family

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?
The Old Course at St Andrews.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
The anchoring rule for putting.

Dream foursome (living)?
Tiger, Jack, Lee Trevino and myself.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Arnold Palmer, Bobby Jones , Ben Hogan and myself.

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

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

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

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

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

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Halfway house

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Either

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Hot dog

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Walking

10) Do you carry traditional 3 iron OR hybrid?
Neither

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Shorts

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Nicklaus

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Beatles

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

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

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble

18) 18 holes OR 36?
36

Revised: 02/12/2018 - Article Viewed 23,647 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.