Interview With Gordon McHugh, PGA Professional Raven Golf Club

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

Below is an interview with Gordon McHugh, PGA Professional at Raven Golf Club at Snowshoe Mountain. Gordon is an 11 year Member of the PGA of America, 7 years as PGA Professional at Raven Golf Club, and Level III Member of Professional Ski Instructors of America. 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? My father plays golf and I gravitated to the game after high school when I didn't have any more team sports to play.

What is your current home course? Raven Golf Club at Snowshoe Mountain

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment? Completing the PGA of America's GPTP and getting my Membership - grueling!

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course? Singles - why don't people like to play golf with other people?

What is your favorite golf destination? Any Mike Strantz golf course.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet? The Old Course at St. Andrews

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play? Tobacco Road

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why? I would make the hole 6" in diameter. It would speed up the pace of play.

Dream foursome (living)? Fred Couples, Darren Clarke, Paula Creamer and me

Dream foursome (living or dead)? Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Harvey Penick and me

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? Round of life

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

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw? Draw

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house? Beverage cart

6) Bathroom OR bushes? Bathroom with bushes

7) Hot dog OR wrap? Hot dog

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

9) Walking OR riding? Walk

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

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

12) Pants OR Shorts? Pants

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus? Palmer

14) Beatles OR Elvis? Beatles

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

16) Bump and run OR flop shot? Flop

17) Lay up OR gamble? gamble

18) 18 holes OR 36? 36

Article Tags: Interview With Gordon McHugh

About Brian Weis

Publisher and Golf Traveler

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.