Interview With Andy Stoterau Head Golf Professional TPC Harding Park By Brian Weis

Interview With Andy Stoterau Head Golf Professional TPC Harding Park

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Andy Stoterau, the Head Golf Professional at TPC Deere Run. 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?
PGA Professional, Andy Stoterau, is the Head Golf Professional at TPC Deere Run, a position he has held since January 2007. In his position, he coordinates all activities for the Golf division of the club. Andy has built a solid foundation of relationships with members, guests, sponsors, tournament coordinators, vendors, the John Deere Classic Tournament office, local colleges, community leaders, and his employees.

Andy is a twelve (12) year employee of the PGA TOUR with a previous stint at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, MN. While employed at TPC Deere Run, Andy has been recognized as the Iowa Section Merchandiser of the Year in 2008, 2011 and 2013. he has received the Golf World Business top 100 Golf Shop award from 2008 through 2016. Andy was elected to the Iowa Section Board of Directors in 2012 and served a two year term. He was re-elected to the Board in 2015. He was recognized for the Golf Operation of the Year in 2010 an award given to the top Golf Operation at the PGA TOUR.

Andy started in the golf industry in 1998 at a golf facility in Belle Plaine, MN after graduating from South Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in History with a Teaching Minor in Mathematics and an emphasis in Middle School Education/Coaching. In Belle Plaine, Andy met his wife Katie whom he married September 14th, 2001. Andy has three daughters, Ella, Addie, and Audrey.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
I started at a young age, 5ish. My father was a big influence on me as I began to learn about the game. I remember getting a locker at the local club and riding my bike to the course early in the morning and spending all day at the club. I'm sure I bugged the heck out of the local pro, but they let us do our thing and that is when the passion started.

What is your current home course?
TPC Deere Run

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Becoming a Class "A" member of the PGA of Amercia

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

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
My putter. So many memories of making a long putt on 18 for the win.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Maui

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Royal County Down

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

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Bring the long putter back for amateur play. If it allows for more enjoyment to the game we should reconsider the ban.

Dream foursome (living)?
My father and two brothers.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Bobby Jones
Frank Sinatra
Clint Eastwood

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 life

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

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Fade

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Both

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bushes

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Hot dog

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?
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? Fun

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Flop shot

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18 holes

Revised: 02/19/2016 - Article Viewed 33,971 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.