New Golf Director at Eagle Ridge Resort Drives Big Plans for Award-Winning Midwest Course By Brian Weis

New Golf Director at Eagle Ridge Resort Drives Big Plans for Award-Winning Midwest Course

Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa to Expand, Upgrade Golf Program and Facilities

By Brian Weis

This winter, when a warm day on the greens is a hazy memory, the new director of golf for Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa, Ryan Brown, and Thomas Ruhs, general manager, will be dreaming big and making substantial upgrades to the golf experience in 2020. The Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa golf courses and resort won the 2019 Stella Award for "Best Midwest Golf Resort," but that doesn't mean that Ruhs and Brown are taking it easy on the back nine.

"Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa has iconic greens and beautiful grounds, but we never want to stop moving forward," said Ruhs. "That's one of the reasons we hired Ryan Brown, whose energy and skill will make golf at Eagle Ridge a more outstanding and memorable experience for everyone."

Brown's 20 years in the golf industry and 9 years as a PGA Member, brings his experience at major resorts as well as private golf clubs. He's looking forward to expanding the Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa golf community as well as bringing new technology to the game.

"For the 2020 season we're implementing Golf Genius, the leading web-based tournament software," said Brown. "It's great for groups or corporate events. Each player can see live scoring on the app or watch the results in real-time from the clubhouse."

Brown also plans to add more opportunities for junior golfers and beginners, including clinics, private lessons, playing lessons, and custom club fittings.

"Junior golfers - those 17 and under - have always played for free at Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa if they're playing with a paying adult," said Brown. "We are going to grow our junior program through our local schools and using programs like PGA Junior League to do so."

Physical expansions and improvements
Along with spring program planning, construction will begin during the winter months to treat golfers to new and enhanced facilities by the start of the 2020 season.
* Woodstone restaurant, which offers magnificent panoramic views of the tri-state region, is being enlarged to accommodate more players and maintain the un-rushed atmosphere of the resort.
* The General, the largest and best-known course at Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa, will house an all-new and greatly expanded buildout of the golf pro shop.
* The General Store and the gas station will be moved up to Woodstone Restaurant for improved convenience.

More Information
https://www.eagleridge.com/

Revised: 11/25/2019 - Article Viewed 13,633 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.