Al Murdock Providing a Student a Fitting and a Lesson

Interview With Albert Murdock, Club Fitting Professional Raven Phoenix Perfect Fit

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Albert Murdock, the Club Fitting Professional at Raven Phoenix Perfect Fit. 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 have been playing golf since I was 12 years old and 47 years later I still play the game, but I enjoy helping people play better golf.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you do the game?
I was introduced to the game in my back yard by my sister's boyfriend at the time who was working on his degree in agonomy. Being able to practice at the golf course and then going home and prcticing some more.

What is your current home course?
Raven Golf Club Phoenix.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Being President of The Southwest Section PGA

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Unrepaired ball marks on greens and slow play.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
I like them all

What is your favorite golf destination?
I live in Phoenix Arizona, does not get much better than that.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Forest Highlands GC in Flagstaff Arizona.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
We need to have the courses easier for all players and also easier to maintain. Courses are to hard and the dollars spent to maintain them is prohiting the game from growing.

Dream foursome (living)?
My dad, he does not play along with my three friends the I grew up with.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Bob Jones, President Kennedy, Mr Carr.

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?
Depends on the circumstance, I have had both.

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?
Halfway House

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bushes!!!

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Hot Dog

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Walking

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

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Depends on the weather!

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Palmer

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Elvis

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Juts play!

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Keep it on the ground!

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble

18) 18 holes OR 36?
All day maybe more than 36!!!

Revised: 12/17/2012 - Article Viewed 34,861 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.