Interview With Peter DeBraal General Manager/Director of Golf Marriott Golf-Cattails at MeadowView By Brian Weis

Interview With Peter DeBraal General Manager/Director of Golf Marriott Golf-Cattails at MeadowView

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Peter DeBraal, the General Manager/Director of Golf at Marriott Golf-Cattails at MeadowView. 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 the General Manager/Director of Golf at Cattails at Meadowview in Kingsport since 1997. Prior to moving to Kingsport, I was the Head Golf Professional at Marriott's Orlando World Center in Orlando, Florida. I was responsible overseeing the construction of Cattails at Meadowview and facilitated the golf course opening in 1998.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
I started playing golf with my dad at age 12. We played at Reid Municipal Golf Course in Appleton, Wisconsin. My dad is my golf role model, as he was an active member of the Good fellowship Golf League at Reid for almost 60 years.

What is your current home course?
Cattails at Meadowview, Kingsport, Tennessee

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
My proudest accomplishment in golf is being honored with the PGA Tennessee Section Resort Golf Merchandiser of the Year Award five times.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
My biggest golf pet peeve is golfers not properly caring for the golf course...fixing ball marks, replacing divots, etc.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
My favorite club is my sand wedge because it gets me out of trouble.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Monterey, California

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Whistling Straits

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Black Diamond Ranch

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
I'd like the long putter to remain legal.

Dream foursome (living)?
My father and two brothers

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Bobby Jones, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan

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?
Round of My Life

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

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

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Beverage Cart

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bathroom

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Brat

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 3

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Nicklaus

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Elvis

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

Revised: 03/04/2015 - Article Viewed 33,650 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.