Tom Hoch

Interview With Tom C. Hoch President Tom Hoch Design

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Can you provide our readers a brief biography?
Founded in 1963 in Oklahoma City by Tom (senior) and Joanne Hoch, Tom Hoch is a design-build firm specializing in club, resort, hotel, restaurant and recreational spaces, and a recognized worldwide leader for delivering exceptional results on schedule and within budget. It has created many of the most memorable, engaging and functional spaces in the golf, hospitality and leisure industries, including award-winning, revenue-bolstering projects for leading luxury brands.

Tom Hoch has revolutionized the category via its "revenue-based design"� model, a space planning, sizing and mapping process for retail-driven spaces such as golf shops and food- and-beverage operations. The revenue-based design model can be applied to new construction, and is particularly effective with cost-sensitive remodeling projects. It is scalable and can be utilized with any size space in a wide variety of industries (golf, restaurant, hotel, spa, recreational clubs and more).

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
I started in golf as a young kid and quickly grew to love the game. I grew up paying at Quail Creek Country Club in Oklahoma City.

What is your current home course?
Twin Hills in Oklahoma City. It's a classic Perry Maxwell design that I never tire of.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
The company's strong growth over the past five years, despite challenges with the economy and golf industry. It's exciting breathing new life into our clubhouse designs, whether they are brand new or renovations.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Anchored putters ... pleased with the recent ban! And great golf courses with holes lined by homes.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
My 21-degree hybrid, which is a much needed game changer for my mediocre game.

What is your favorite golf destination?
Apes Hill Club, Barbados. Incredible course, amazing setting.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Well, I just had the distinct pleasure of crossing Augusta National off my bucket list recently, so now it's Cypress Point.

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Augusta National, again.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Over-built, inefficient clubhouses that cost more to operate than they add to the top or bottom line.

Dream foursome (living)?
Bill Clinton, Annika, Jack Nicholson, Celine Dion

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
President Eisenhower, Ben Hogan, Buddy Hackett, Foster Brook

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions

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

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

3) Golfing at the crack of dawn OR twilight?
Crack of Dawn

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?
Long Par 5

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Palmer

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Beatles

15) Play for fun OR play for money?
Money

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Flop Shot

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Gamble

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18

Revised: 06/12/2013 - Article Viewed 40,452 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.