Interview With Billy Baumgartner Golf Manager The Bridges Golf Club at Hollywood Casino

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Billy Baumgartner, the Golf Manager at The Bridges Golf Club at Hollywood Casino. 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 fell in love with the game in 1999. I enjoyed hitting balls and practicing, the game at one time came to me pretty easily. I have been lucky enough to live in a climate that allows for golf roughly 340 days per year. I do not play as much as I used to or would like anymore but still love the game.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
I started in 1999. I started out as a part time cart guy and my Head Pro, Chris Altese got me into the game.

What is your current home course?
The Bridges Golf Club

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Starting from the bottom and working myself to the top of my profession.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
I cannot stand when someone does not rake a sand trap after they have played from it.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
My 6 iron has always been my go to club...I have more trust and confidence in that club than any other. When I need to keep one in play and move it straight down the fairway...she is the one I go to...

What is your favorite golf destination?
I have enjoyed Las Vegas and Destin FL.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
I would love to play Augusta National either in the month of or after The Masters.

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
One of my all time favorites is Hattiesburg CC.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
I think for the most part, the rules are pretty solid...

Dream foursome (living)?
Phil
Tiger
Rory/Bubba

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Bobby Jones
Ben Hogan
Tiger

Just to see the battle between Hogan and Tiger...

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Putt

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

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

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Fade

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Beverage cart

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bushes

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Wrap

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Riding

10) Do you carry traditional 3 iron OR hybrid? Hybrid

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Shorts

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Palmer

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Elvis

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Money

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

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble

18) 18 holes OR 36?
As many as possible

Revised: 01/18/2014 - Article Viewed 34,125 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.