Interview With David Madden Head Golf Pro Santee National Golf Club

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with David Madden, the Head Golf Pro at Santee National Golf Club. 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 started working in the golf industry when I was 15. I knew soon after that I wanted to stay in this industry. I wasn't a great golfer, but loved the business of golf and being at a place that people came to enjoy! (Most people anyway) To this day I have only worked at Golf facilities. From carts, food and bev., maint and Proshop, I have gotten a taste of all of the industry. I was asked in 1999 to temporarily fill in as Head Pro for a course that I was just working part time at while attending college. They were searching for a new Pro and I was on Summer Break. 10 Years later the search must have been still ongoing because I was still there and had become a PGA Member. I was 19 when I started filling in and couldn't even go get the Keg for an upcoming Member-Guest. I Had to send a Cart Attendant that was of age. I guess you could say I learned from experience. I still love it to this day and never mind getting up in the morning to come to work.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
I started golfing with my Dad when I was young. I really just went to drive the cart. Then I started getting a little better and had the goal of beating him. It took years. He would shoot 78-82 every time we played. I could shoot under 75 for a week straight and I would think I was ready to take him. He would get in my head and still beat me. I lost him to cancer in 2010. I think I may have won 4 or 5 time in the hundreds of rounds we played.

What is your current home course?
I currently work at Santee National Golf Club. This is where I play most of my golf.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
My proudest accomplishment is becoming a PGA Member. I had to really work hard being that it was a self paced program and I was working a 60 hr min. week as a non-member golf pro.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
I have many because I know how hard it is to maintain a golf course. Seeing Carts close to the greens and tees, parking with 2 tires of the cart path, or not repairing ball marks and divots drives me crazy. Being at a public course, we see a lot of this. It will never be solved so we try to educate people instead of scolding them. We want and need them to return.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
Ball Retriever. Pro V's are expensive even if you work in the golf business. JK. My putter usually saves me.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Santee, South Carolina. Is there any other place that you can play such great courses for such a value. It is a no-brainer!!!

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Has anyone not answered Augusta National yet. I go every year to see Monday's Practice round and I am just waiting my turn to get out there and play it.

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Santee National. Fun Layout and always in good shape.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
None.

Dream foursome (living)?
ME, My Brother, Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. That would be a fun round of golf.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Me, My Brother, Dad and Mom. I lost my Mom to cancer in 2013. She doesn't play but could take pics and keep her boys honest. My Brother and I need one more chance to beat the Old Man.

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

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

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

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight? Crack of Dawn

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

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Beverage Cart

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bushes near Bathroom

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Wrap

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Riding

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

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Either

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Beatles

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Fun

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Flop

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble

18) 18 holes OR 36?
36

Revised: 01/30/2014 - Article Viewed 32,817 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.