Monte Ortel, Assistant Tournament Director, The Greenbrier Classic

Interview With Monte Ortel, Assistant Tournament Director, The Greenbrier Classic

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Monte Ortel, Assistant Tournament Director, The Greenbrier Classic. The following are a few traditional and non traditional golf centric questions that I love to ask influential people in the golf industry.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you do the game?
I have been playing golf for 20 years - my father introduced me to the game of golf

What is your current home course?
The Old White TPC at The Greenbrier

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
I don't have just one, I would have to say being part of three world class Tournament Staffs that put on three world class PGA TOUR events: 84 LUMBER Classic, Turning Stone Resort Championship and The Greenbrier Classic

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Slow Play

What is your favorite golf destination?
West Virginia! The Greenbrier's combination of The Old White TPC, The Greenbrier, The Meadows and The Snead (private residents - only course) provides the golfer with a golf combination hard to find anywhere else.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
There isn't just one - Honors Course, Augusta National and Pebble Beach

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Quail Hollow Club

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
I don't believe I would change anything.

Dream foursome (living)?
My father, Steve Stricker, Arnold Palmer and myself

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Ben Hogan, Bob Hope, Sam Snead and myself

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?
Round of my life - it's special when all facets of the game come together during a round of 18 holes

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

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Power draw when the swing is behaving

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Beverage Cart - you never know what you are going to get...

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Depends on what is readily available at the current time

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Hot Dog every time

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Walking

10) Do you carry traditional 3 iron OR hybrid?
Hybrid but prefer the 4 iron

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Arnold Palmer - he lights up the room when he enters...he's something special

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Neither: Aerosmith

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Money always adds a different dimension to the game

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Bump and run - less room for error

17) Lay up OR gamble?
As I get older...the play tends to be the lay up

18) 18 holes OR 36?
36

Article Tags: Interview With Monte Ortel

Revised: 09/29/2011 - Article Viewed 34,544 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.