Gary and Lila Williams, Sun City Mesquite at opening of Conestoga GC

Interview With Gary Panks Golf Course Architect Gary Panks Associates

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Gary Panks, the Golf Course Architect at Gary Panks Associates. 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?
College golf at Michigan State University. Captain 1963. Competitive amateur golf over 40 years. Started golf course design in 1980. Completed 50 courses to date. Web site is www.garypanks.com Last completed course is Conestoga in Mesquite Nevada. I have had an enjoyable and gratifying career and there may be one or two more to design under the right circumstances.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you do the game?
I started at age twelve. My dad sent me out with other kids and I learned by trial and error. I had previously caddied for my Dad and Grand Dad and learned to mimic my Dad's swing as my Grand Dad had a lousy swing. I remember a year or two later (after three or four bad shots) throwing my clubs into a pond. I learned two things from that experience. IE: How to swim and the importance of keeping cool under fire. My low competitive round over the years was a 64 and I have betterd my age several times, the first at age 68.

What is your current home course?
Arizona Country Club

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Designing golf courses enjoyable for all golfers which can be quickly set up for tournament play.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Designers who place too many bunkers on a course. They cause too much visual clutter and are expensive to maintain and replace. Fairway Landing zones and green targets can be more clearly defined by fewer bunkers. 40 to 64 is enough to do the job.

Slow play on the course and slow drivers on the road.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
My wedge because I can usually get it in the "make-able" range. We all like what we do well.

What is your favorite golf destination?
The Phoenix Scottsdale area.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Cypress Point

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Pebble Beach.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Putting with the club anchored to the body.

Dream foursome (living)?
Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Long Putt. It always feels good going in!

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
Round of life.

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
At the crack of dawn.

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Power draw.

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Half way house.

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bushes.

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Hot dog.

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

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? Long Three.

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Depends on weather.

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Palmer.

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Elvis.

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

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Bump and run.

17) Lay up OR gamble?
I would rather gamble but at my age must lay up more often.

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18

Revised: 01/11/2013 - Article Viewed 32,783 Times

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.