Roger Porzak

Interview With Roger Porzak Director of Golf The Retreat, Links & Spa at Silvies Valley Ranch

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Roger Porzak, the Director of Golf at The Retreat, Links & Spa at Silvies Valley Ranch. 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?
My 55 plus years in golf involves being a competitive player, accomplished teacher, Board Member and/or President of a variety of golf associations, Head Professional, Director of Player Development and Co-Founder of the Porzak Golf Academy, staff member of Callaway Golf, creator of Links Fore Life (a non-profit charity focused on growing the game) and Director of Golf for Silvies Valley Ranch.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
Age 10, my father introduced me to the game.

Playing golf at Bel Air Country Club with Ray Bolger, the Scare Crow in the movie Wizard of Oz. He sang the song "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" as he danced down the fairway. It was SPECTACULAR!

What is your current home course?
Bernardo Heights Country Club in San Diego, California and Silvies Valley Ranch in Seneca, Oregon.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
The work I have done in developing junior players and growing the game. Presently, I am a ten-year Board Member of the renowned San Diego Jr. Golf Association (SDJGA) and Past President. SDJGA runs the IMG Academy Jr. World Golf Championships, the oldest and largest junior tournament in the world. I lived and worked in China for one-year establishing a junior tour, junior programs, teaching teachers how to teach the game and introducing the game in the school system. My son and I created a
golf academy in 2013 that has developed some of the top ranked juniors in the country. Golf provided me with so many opportunities as a young man and it is my passion to open doors for juniors through the great game of golf. I started a non-profit charity, Links Fore Life, that provides free lessons and equipment to juniors who come from less-fortunate families.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Players who do not take proper care of the course.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
Sand Wedge - 70% of scoring occurs within 70-yards of the green. The sand wedge (56 degree) can be used in so many ways. Nothing is more pleasing then to save par from the most difficult of situations.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Silvies Valley Ranch in Eastern Oregon and Carnoustie in Scotland

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

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Carnoustie

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
A free drop from a divot in the fairway. Players who hit a good shot should not be penalized for a golfer not taking proper care of the course.

Dream foursome (living)?
Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and my son, Adam.

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and me.

Favorite 19th hole drink?
A beer

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

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

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

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

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

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Halfway House

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bathroom

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Hot Dog

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Walking

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

11) Do you prefer long par 3 OR long par 5?
I enjoy the strategy associated with playing a long par 5.

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Shorts

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Nicklaus

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Beatles

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Play for Money

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Bump and run

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Lay up ( I love playing strategic golf).

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18 holes

Revised: 04/06/2020 - Article Viewed 12,716 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the Publisher of GolfTrips.com, a network of golf travel and directory sites including GolfWisconsin.com, GolfMichigan.com, ArizonaGolfer.com, GolfAlabama.com, etc. Professionally, Brian is a 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). In 2016, Brian won The Shaheen Cup, an award given to a golf travel writer by his peers.

All of his life, Brian has been around the game of golf. As a youngster, Brian competed at all levels in junior and high school golf. Brian had a zero chance for a college golf scholarship, so he worked on the grounds crew at West Bend Country Club to pay for his University of Wisconsin education. In his adult years, his passion for the game collided with his entrepreneurial spirit and in 2004 launched GolfWisconsin.com. In 2007, the idea for a network of local golf directory sites formed and GolfTrips.com was born. Today, the network consists of a site in all 50 states supported by national sites like GolfTrips.com, GolfGuide.com and GolfPackages.com. It is an understatement to say, Brian is passionate about promoting golf and golf travel on a local, regional, national and international level.

On the golf course, Brian is known as a fierce weekend warrior that fluctuates between a 5-9 handicap. With a soft fade, known as "The Weis Slice", and booming 300+ drives, he can blast it out of bounds with the best of them.