Interview With Daniel McGahee Asst. Golf Pro Oyster Reef Golf

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Daniel McGahee, the Asst. Golf Pro at Oyster Reef Golf Club. 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 played Junior golf while growing up in St. Simons Island, GA, where there are some great courses. After playing for my school team, I went to college and got a degree in Professional Golf Management. I was then hired as the Asst Golf Pro at Oyster Reef in Hilton Head Island, Sc, where I am currently employed and furthering my education with the PGA and the golf industry.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
I was introduced to the game by my father, who is an avid golfer and not to bad of a player. I was around five when he started taking me to the course on weekends. He had an old set of clubs cut down for me so I could hack it around a little bit while he played. By the time I was ten I was spending summers with my grandparents and going to golf camps. I was hooked from then on.

What is your current home course?
Oyster Reef Golf Club on Hilton Head Island, Sc.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Passing my PAT my second time out on the course I grew up playing.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Grumpy Golfers. Its a game, not life or death. And of course slow play!

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
My Driver. I'm not overly long off the tee but I hit a lot of fairways. It has always been a key part of my game.

What is your favorite golf destination?
I get kind of home sick every now and then, so I would have to say St. Simons Island, GA where I grew up. It has a lot of great courses and is just a great place to be.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
St. Andrews in Scotland. My dad and I have been planning a trip to Ireland and Scotland forever. You have to play the course where it all began, its a must for anyone.

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Harbor Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, Sc. My dad took me to the Heritage Golf Tournament when I was young, and have played it a handful of times. I have great memories of the place.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Slow play. I also think the new rule concerning anchoring the putter to be a bit much.

Dream foursome (living)?
Davis Love III, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Palmer

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

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
How about having both on the same hole. Sounds good to me.

2) Having Round of Life OR Hole in One?
Hole in one!

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
I like both, but I have to pick Twilight because I'm not much of a morning person.

4) Hit a power fade OR power draw?
Power Fade. Its more controlled and that's what I play anyways.

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Beverage Cart. Unless I'm hungry, then halfway house.

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
HAHA! If I really have to go its the bushes!

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Hot Dog, always.

8) Around the green, being in sand OR thick rough?
Sand. We have Bermuda in the south, you don't want to mess with that stuff when it is thick.

9) Walking OR riding?
If it is walking with a caddie, then walking. That's the best way to play the game.

10) Do you carry traditional 3 iron OR hybrid?
3 Iron. I use to have a 2 but that came out for a Hybrid awhile ago.

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants. It looks better and I play better in them.

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Palmer, because of the charisma.

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Beatles

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Matters on who I'm playing with

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Super Flop Shot!

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble. I never learned to lay up, not sure what it means.

18) 18 holes OR 36?
36 or more!

Revised: 09/24/2013 - Article Viewed 32,958 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.