Getting To Know: Amana Colonies Golf Club By Brian Weis

Getting To Know: Amana Colonies Golf Club

An Insightful Interview With Stephen Kahler, PGA General Manager

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 Stephen Kahler 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
Amana Colonies Golf Club opened for play in 1989, and has been masterfully designed to preserve the natural features of the land. Our 18-hole championship golf course winds through 600 acres of stately white oak trees and forests.

The golf course features meandering streams, shining ponds, and striking scenery that add to the aesthetic beauty and enjoyment of the game. The golf course offers 5 sets of tees, ranging from 5,228 to 6,824 yards, designed to accommodate players of all skill levels. Many of our guests describe the course as "beautiful, breathtaking, charming, enjoyable, playable, tough, and intimidating."

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Very unique setting in a secluded and wooded area of the Amana Colonies. The beauty and challenge of the golf course is what sets it apart from any of the area golf courses. Lots of wildlife also abounds at the golf course, including deer, wild turkeys, and turtles. Golfers of all levels will enjoy a well conditioned golf course that has unmatched beauty and has been ranked in the Top 5 Public Access Courses throughout it's 25+ years of existence.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
The best tips to score better around the Amana Colonies Golf Club are to keep the ball in the fairway and keep it below the hole on the greens. Fairways are pretty generous but some of the wooded ares you won't be able to play out of. The greens have pretty good slopes to them and it is best if you can putt uphill when you get on the greens.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Amana Colonies Golf Club hosted the Iowa Golf Association Men's Match Play Championship in 2014 Ranked as a Top 5 Public Access Golf Course throughout its 25+ years by Golf Digest and Golfweek Magazines

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Hole #2 Par 5 (522 from the Back Tees) It is an elevated tee shot to a risk reward fairway that doglegs right to left. If you can cut of the corner, you will have a shorter approach to try and reach the severely uphill green in two. The view of this hole from the green backwards is absolutely stunning, getting there is hard part.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
All of them! Amana Colonies Golf Club is a "must play" golf course!

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
The local microbrewery Millstream Beer! Oldest microbrewery in Iowa and Amana Colonies Golf Club is proud to serve their IPA and Amber beers at the 19th Hole.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 6824
Slope: 146
Rating: 73.6

More Information
451 27th Ave
Amana, IA, 52203 3196226222

www.amanagolf.com

More Information »

Revised: 09/30/2016 - Article Viewed 33,851 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.