The Bridges

Getting To Know: The Bridges Golf Club

An Insightful Interview With Billy Baumgartner, Golf Manager

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 Billy Baumgartner 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
We are the only golf course on the gulf coast that has everything on property. We have a 24hr casino, hotel, RV park and 3 restaurants. The course is built in the wetlands of south Mississippi and every hole has scenic marsh views. The course gets it's name because of the 21 bridges that span over 17 ponds and together the bridge work is a mile long. It is the only Arnold Palmer Signature golf course in Mississippi. Arnold stated in his magazine "Kingdom" that The Bridges is one of his top 100 designs. With an abundance of water hazards, undulating fairways and Tif-Eagle greens it is a beautiful challenge.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
The Bridges offers something for everyone. If your looking for a beautiful scenic course then The Bridges is for you, with beautiful marsh views, views of the back bay and an abundance of wildlife. If your looking for a challenge The Bridges can be a shot makes course, with all the water and marsh hazards to carry over it truly can be a challenge.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Accuracy is better than distance at The Bridges. With all the water hazards here it is better to play placement golf to set yourself up for your next shot.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
The Bridges has owned a spot in the top 50 casino courses in the nation for the last 3 years. The bridges has also been ranked in the top 10 of the state by Golf Digest.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
I would have to say #8 is our "featured" hole. This hole has everything you could want. Beautiful marsh views, hotel/casino views and views of the Bay of St. Louis. The hole is a short par 4, your tee shot is over marsh to a green surrounded by bunkers and hazard.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
I would have to say #8 is my favorite hole...I love the views and the risk reward this beautiful hole gives you. This hole plays 283 yards from the back tees. The opportunity for eagle through double bogey present itself. I personally like to hit 3 wood from the tee and leave myself a short wedge into the green.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Bloody Mary is hard to beat.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Kevin Stadler shot 64 in the Zurich Classic PGA Tour's Monday Qualifier. Kevin said he hit everything close. I did not have the opportunity to see any of his round.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 6841
Slope: 137
Rating: 73.4

More Information
The Bridges Golf Club
711 Hollywood Blvd.
Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, 39520
228-463-4047
www.hollywoodcasinobsl.com

Revised: 01/28/2014 - Article Viewed 32,316 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.