Martin Chuck

Interview With Martin Chuck - Owner Tour Striker Training Products and Golf Academy

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Martin Chuck Owner and Director Tour Striker Training Products and Golf Academy. He grew up under the tutelage of the great Canadian player, George Knudson. Martin attended New Mexico State University on a golf scholarship and turned professional in 1992. After a few years playing the mini-tours in Canada and the US, he became the Director of Golf at Indian Ridge Country Club in Palm Desert, California. His club career took him to Reno, Nevada and then Bend, Oregon. After the successful launch of the Tour Striker Training Product line, he resigned from club management roles and now coach and teach full time. His winter location is at The Raven - Phoenix and spends summers at the Sunriver Resort in Central Oregon.

The following are a few traditional and non traditional golf centric questions that I love to ask influential people in the golf industry.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you do the game?
I started playing golf around the age of seven. My father "disappeared" on Saturdays and I wanted to know where he went! It wasn't long before he was dragging me along and I fell in love with the game immediately. I had a 9-hole course a short distance from my home in Toronto and I was able to play a lot of golf at a young age. At the age of nine, I took my first lesson with George Knudson and also met Moe Norman. I look back now and realize how lucky I was to be around such great strikers.

What is your current home course?
I coach/teach at The Raven Golf Club in Phoenix, AZ. My business partner is at the Academy is top teacher, Jeff Ritter.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
I would have to say it is the development of the Tour Striker Training Club. To date, we have sold 80,000 units in all corners of the globe. I've received thousands of e-mails from people who have been helped by practicing with the club. I'm very pleased to know that something I designed has made such a big "impact" on the game of golf.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Too many to list! New courses are way too hard now. In the "old days" a course could be prepared for great players, but todays new courses are just plain HARD right out of the gate. Besides that, smokers, please put your butts in the trash. The course isn't a trash can.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
I love hitting short iron shots. I feel like I can knock down the pin.

What is your favorite golf destination?
There are a ton of them...I went on a trip to Scotland and loved it. I enjoy working the ball; trajectory, shape, etc, and in the winds of Scotland, you need to be creative and I enjoy that a lot.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Augusta!

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
The National Golf Club of Canada. I grew up working and playing there and it is truly magnificent.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
The disqualification for not signing your card. Everybody knows what you shot. I guess if you were playing alone, you should have to sign a card. The fact that you need to sign for it after playing in front of TV viewers doesn't make sense anymore.

Dream foursome (living)?
Tiger, Phil and Gretzky

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
My dad, Hogan, Moe Norman

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

1) Hitting Long Drive OR Sinking Long Putt?
Long putt

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 Fade

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Halfway House

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bushes

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Dog

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Walk

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

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

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Nicklaus (tough to pick)

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Beatles

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Money

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Flop

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18

Revised: 01/30/2012 - Article Viewed 35,775 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.