Interview With Aaron Perry

Interview With Aaron Perry General Manager of Willow Run GC Willow Run Golf Club

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Aaron Perry the General Manager of Willow Run GC Willow Run Golf Club. He has been in the golf business since 2005 when he started as an Assistant Golf Professional at Stonebrooke Golf Club in Shakopee, MN. Most recently he was a Golf Professional at New Berlin Hills until recently being promoted to GM of Willow Run.

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 Dad brought my brother and I to the driving range when I was 14 when we lived in St. Louis, MO. We spent many hours at that range working on how far I could hit the ball with the demo clubs they had.

What is your current home course?
Willow Run Golf Club.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
On the course is keeping my game consistantly in the 70's for 8 years now. I didn't really play until I was 17 and I shot over 100 so being self taught I'm proud of what I put together. Off the course I am proud of the difference I've made with juniors and beginners teaching them the game and making it more fun for them. Making Willow Run a success will top that though.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
My biggest pet peeve is slow play. There is no reason why many players play at the pace they do. Also I wish people would just take 5 solid minutes before they tee it up to stretch or swing or anything to get loose. They would play better and enjoy it more.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
Favorite club by far is my Titleist D2 driver. I hit it a mile and I hit it straight.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Osage Beach, MO. Osage National is a great resort. Hidden gem and very affordable to golf down there.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Pebble Beach or TPC at Scottsdale. They just seem amazing.

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Hazeltine or the Irish course at Whistling Straights.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
I would make the standard of golf more fun. We have to break out of the old mold of how we think and make the game more modern in relation to how the public plays golf. People enjoy music, drinks, attractive people and success. Golf needs to be more catered towards that. Put a cooler in every cart, make the hole bigger...things like that.

Dream foursome (living)?
Tiger Woods, Bill Clinton, my brother Adam and I.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, Tiger Woods and I. I'd be the saint in the group.

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Long Drive

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
Hole in One. You never know if it's the round of your life until your life is over.

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

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

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Beverage Cart

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?
Hybrid

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Nicklaus

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Elvis

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?
18

Revised: 04/20/2012 - Article Viewed 34,654 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.