Harbor Shores Golf Club

Getting To Know: Harbor Shores Golf Course

An Insightful Interview With Brianne Schmidke, Director of Sales/Communications

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Brianne Schmidke who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Host of the 2012, 2014, 2016, & 2018 Sr PGA Championships. This 18-hole, daily-fee Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course reflects the high standards of the world's leading design firm, Nicklaus Design. It runs over remarkably diverse terrain that challenges golfers even as it offers a spectacular setting in which to play. The Inn at Harbor Shores opened May 2014 and features stay and play packages for groups and singles.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Why not play where the champions play?
In 2010, the course celebrated it's grand opening by hosting Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, and Johnny Miller to play together in a foursome for the first time ever.

In 2012, the course hosted its first Sr PGA Championship and then signed on to host 3 more championships for a most unprecedented sequence: 2014, 2016, & 2018.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course? Make sure to use the practice facilties before your round! The undulated putting green is indicative to what Jack designed out on the course.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
The course is situated in the small beach towns of St Joseph and Benton Harbor making it a destination course with a BIG heart. Set up as a non-profit development, none of the greens fees are used to pay for the construction of the facility. Instead, revenues above operating expenses are granted back to the community for job training and educational programs.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Harbor Shores is a Jack Nicklaus Signature course so every hole is as scenic as the next. The course winds through 4 distinct quadrants, running over remarkably diverse terrain that challenges golfers even as it offers a spectacular setting in which to play. Perhaps the most photographed and talked about are holes 7, 8, and 9 offering dramatic views of Lake Michigan. However, eleven holes border the Paw Paw River, Ox Creek and its wetlands, and four holes wind through rolling hills, ravines, and a hardwood forest. There's a challenge and a view at every tee box.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
Hole #10 is a favorite of mine as it's one of Nicklaus' most famous greens where he sunk a 100 ft putt during the Champions for Change grand opening event. Depending on pin placement, the four-tiered green can be treacherous.

Play your layup shot to the left side of the fairway to give yourself the best shot at the green.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
The Harbor Shores Burger with bacon jam, cheddar cheese, sauteed mushrooms served on a pretzel bun. Dee-lish!

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Kenny Perry holds the competitive course record with a 9-under-par 62 including 8 birdies, 1 eagle, and 1 bogey during the 2012 Sr PGA Championship. Roger Chapman won the championship that year with a total 13 under par.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 71
Yardage: 6852
Slope: 143
Rating: 74.7

More Information
Harbor Shores Golf Course
201 Graham Ave
Benton Harbor, MI, 49022
269-927-4653
www.harborshoreslife.com

Revised: 06/23/2014 - Article Viewed 29,821 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.