Getting To Know: Rend Lake Golf Resort By Brian Weis

Getting To Know: Rend Lake Golf Resort

An Insightful Interview With Brian Laur, PGA Golf Professional

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 Brian Laur 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
Rend Lake Golf Resort is centrally located between St. Louis, MO and Evansville, IN. We are literally seconds off Interstate 57 and ten minutes south of Interstate 64. With 27 Championship holes Rend Lake Golf Resort gives an individual the opportunity to play 3 separate 18 hole combinations throughout a weekend. A large percentage of our rounds involve large groups staying at Seasons Lodge for 2-3 days, playing 27-54 holes a day and enjoying the opportunity to eat and drink in our restaurant without ever leaving the property.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Rend Lake Golf Course is in excellent condition. We hosted the Southern Illinois Open(a professional event thru the Gateway PGA) in 2014 and received huge compliments from some of the best professional and amateur golfers throughout Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana on the condition and set up of the course. Our location gives us an advantage compared to most courses in the area, and after trying different courses that are more out of the way we hear from our guest all the time that they will just stay and play Rend Lake Golf Resort for their entire trip next year.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Before playing any of Rend Lake's three nine hole layouts it is important to practice some long lag putting. The greens are enormous and it is likely that an individual will have a few putts of 60-90 feet. Judging the speed from these distances to have the opportunity to get down in two putts is critical to scoring well at Rend Lake.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
We are most proud of the constant compliments day in and day out that we heard about the condition of the course and how well everyone was treated by our golf shop and hotel staff.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
There are quite a few holes that I hear people mention when talking about this topic but I would say our hole that is most photographed would be #6. It is a par 5 that allows you to aim at our popular golf ball water tower on your tee shot. Even in the summer with our mature trees in full bloom the golf ball water tower is easy to see from #6 tee.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole is #18. This is the last hole of the "middle nine" that was added in 1994. It is a difficult finishing hole with water left and a deep fairway bunker right on your drive. You really have to zone in and focus on your target if you are hitting driver and you can be rewarded with a short iron to an uphill green over water. If you lay up with less club it is likely most golfers will have 180-200 yards left in to the green. The green is very undulating(like all 27 holes) and has a tricky ridge through the middle of the green which can lead to difficult reads. A par is definitely a great score on this hole with so many obstacles.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: @ 6900 yards depending on 18 hole selection

More Information
Rend Lake Golf Resort
12476 Golf Course Road
Whittington, IL, 62897
618 629-2353
www.rendlakegolfresort.com

Revised: 01/08/2015 - Article Viewed 32,882 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.