What You Need To Know: Turtleback Golf Course By Brian Weis

What You Need To Know: Turtleback Golf Course

An Insightful Interview With Ben Resnick, General Manager

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 Ben Resnick 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
Turtleback is an amazing facility with a full 18-hole golf course, restaurant, event center, and practice facility. Our design is unique with the perfect mix of challenging yet scoreable holes, undulating greens, and scenic views.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Someone looking to play golf in our area should choose Turtleback because our value is unmatched. Our course is carefully manicured every day. This coupled with a unique design makes the course especially fun to play. Since our property also includes a restaurant, Turtleback offers a great opportunity to grab lunch after the first nine, then sit on our deck overlooking the 18th hole enjoying dinner and a drink after the round. Be it an anniversary, annual golf trip, bachelor party, or just a weekend getaway, the Turtleback experience is unmatched.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Our front nine is fairly straightforward. You can hit the driver often and be aggressive with approach shots. Take advantage because this is your chance to score. The back nine is much different, position yourself in the fairway and keep the ball below the hole on approach shots.

Any recent changes to the golf course? Or any upcoming changes?
Recently, there have been no recent changes to the golf course, but in 2021 we added a deck outside of our restaurant and we are working on putting in a patio with a roof outside our 19th hole.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
We have been awarded the prestigious 4-star rating from Golf Digest and pride ourselves on how well the course is cared for every year. We've also been proud of hosting State-Am qualifiers each of the last two years. Most WSGA or WPGA tournaments are hosted in the southern part of the state, so it's been a great opportunity and honor to be able to host qualifying sites the last two years.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
The signature holes at Turtleback are split between the 9th hole and the 18th. Our 9th hole is a driveable par 4 with a pond short of the green while our 18th is a beautiful par 5 coming back towards the clubhouse. There is a pond reachable off the tee and in play on your layup shot, but the green is reachable in two for big hitters, making it a great risk-reward hole.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole is the par 4 9th. It's a great opportunity to get a birdie before heading into the back nine. Hit driver just right of the green, leaving you an easy chip up to the pin.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
A must-have dish and drink is a spotted cow on tap with a Turtleback burger. It's hard to beat a cold beer and a burger after golf.

For the traveling golfer, do you have lodging onsite or partner with any area hotels?
We do not offer onsite lodging currently but we do partner with a hotel in our area.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
We have 3 people tied for the course record here. One is a member of ours, another is a pro from the area, and the third is actually myself. All shot an 8 under par 63 from the tips. I can't speak for the other two, but I know that the 2 footer I made on the last was the most nerve-racking 2-foot putt I've ever had in my life.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 71
Yardage: 6646
Slope: 136
Rating: 72.2

More Information
Turtleback Golf Course
1985 18 1/2 Street
Rice Lake, Wisconsin, 54868
715-234-7641
www.turtlebackgolf.com

More Information »

Revised: 01/03/2023 - Article Viewed 2,387 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.