Interview With Kenny Cashwell PGA General Manager Sequoyah National Golf Club By Brian Weis

Interview With Kenny Cashwell PGA General Manager Sequoyah National Golf Club

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Kenny Cashwell, the PGA General Manager at Sequoyah National 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 began playing golf at the age of 3 when my grandparents introduced me to the game. I fell in love with the game as a teenager and become obsessed with mastery. Of course golf cannot be mastered and like many I became frustrated and stopped playing for about 5 years. My uncle convinced me to go out with him on weekend and I was hooked almost immediately. I give up my school teaching and coaching career to peruse membership in the PGA of America. I accomplished that goal and became a Class A member of the PGA of America in 3 years. I obtained Certified PGA status ten years later in 2005 when I became Certified in both General Management and Golf Operations. I am one of the fortunate PGA Members to also be married to a PGA Professional; my wife Becky became a PGA Life Member a couple of years ago.

What is your current home course?
My current course is Sequoyah National in Cherokee NC. It is always beautiful and challenging.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
One of the proudest accomplishments for me is to see many of my former junior golf students grow up to become very, very successful adults. They have no idea how proud I am for them.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Rudeness in any form is very frustrating. It is bothersome when folks don't consider others before acting.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
The 7 iron, because it is the one I train with the most. I was taught to use it in practice, as it is long enough to demand proper technique and short enough to be forgiving

What is your favorite golf destination?
The Charleston, SC area. I have many friends there and every course in the region is beautiful.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
I would like to play the new Finley Golf Club in Chapel Hill. It is the home course of my alma mater the University of North Carolina and I have not played in since the redesign.

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Olde Mill in Laurel Fork Virginia. It is scenic and challenging and I enjoyed some success there as a high school golfer at Mount Airy High School in NC.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
I can't think of any rule that I would change. I do think that there is room for two sets of rules, one for competitions and another for every day casual golf which the majority of golfers play.

Dream foursome (living)?
Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Clint Eastwood.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
My father Ray Greene(deceased); Tom Watson, and Jack Nicklaus.

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Putt

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

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

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

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Beverage Cart

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bathroom, but bushes are fine

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Hot dog

8) Around the green, being in sand OR thick rough?
Sand

9) Walking OR riding?
Riding I am no spring chicken

10) Do you carry traditional 3 iron OR hybrid?
Hybrid

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

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?
Bump and run

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18

Revised: 02/11/2016 - Article Viewed 31,574 Times

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.