Ojai Valley Inn & Spa

Getting To Know: Ojai Valley Inn & Spa

An Insightful Interview With Mark Greenslit, Director of Golf

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 Mark Greenslit 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
Our is classically designed by George C. Thomas in 1923. Beautiful and spectacular mountain and valley views on every hole.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
George Thomas has designed many of the best golf courses in Southern California (Riviera CC, L.A. CC North Course, Bel Aire CC, La Cumbre CC). All of these golf courses, including Ojai, are a true test of golf and offer the golfer a classic golf experience.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
You have to play the course the way that George Thomas designed it. You can't overpower this course, you have to lay up on the short par 4's and make sure your tee shots are the right place of the fairway to be able to hit your approach shots on the greens.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Golf Digest Top 75 Golf Resorts

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Hole #16

205 yard par 3 hole with a deep barranca on the left, out of bounds on the right, and 4 large intertwining bunkers in the front.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It? Hole #18 (442 yard par 4)

Our 18th hole is a great finishing hole you have hit a high draw off of the tee to put your shot in the best position to hit the green. Your second shot is uphill and you have to carry two large bunkers to reach the green.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Jimmy's Pub. Named after legendary PGA Tour golfer Jimmy Demaret who represented the Ojai Vally Inn & Spa from 1948 - 1955.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
PGA Tour player Buddy Allin shot 61 during the Senior Tour event (FHP Health Care Classic) in 1985.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 70
Yardage: 6292
Slope: 132
Rating: 71.0

More Information
Ojai Valley Inn & Spa
905 Country Club Road
Ojai, California, 93023
805-646-2420
www.ojairesort.com

Revised: 09/18/2013 - Article Viewed 31,529 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.