Pinewood Country Club

Getting To Know: Pinewood Country Club

An Insightful Interview With Chip Bromann, Owner

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 Chip Bromann 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
Pinewood Country Club, "The Most Scenic Golf Course in the Northwood's", is a beautiful 18 hole public golf club located in Harshaw, Wisconsin. We are a 20 minute drive from Minocqua, Rhinelander and Tomahawk. The golf course and driving range is spread over 325 beautiful acres in the Northwood's. The golf course was built in 1962 by Al and Marie Bromann, Jr. Today it is still a family owned and managed business, with the third generation now owning the golf course, Chip and Jayne Bromann. This year we celebrated our 50th Anniversary.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
The golf course is split in to two distinct nines with four sets of tees for all golfing abilities. The front nine is a sporty layout where you need to keep the driver in the bag on many of the holes. Play to the yardage markers on the front nine to keep your score low.

The back nine is carved out of the woods and is over 500 yards longer than the front nine. Keep it between the trees and your score will show your accuracy.

The golf course plays harder than the numbers indicate with the hilly terrain and the woods lining the back nine, the slope and rating are a bit deceiving.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
We are most proud of the fact that we are a third generation golf course that continues to improve the playing conditions. Each year we improve on tees, irrigation and green complexes to make the overall condition of the golf course improve year after year. We have come a long way in 50 years when my grandfather use to mow the fairways with a jeep and a pull behind mower. Having a family business in the golf course industry is quite an achievement.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Hole #4 is the number 2 handicap hole and is only 277 yards from the back tees. There are two ponds on this hole. The landing area for the hole is at 175 yards from the back tees. To clear the second pond from the back tee is over 250 yards. Your second shot goes in to a raised green with moguls on either side of the green to add to the difficulty of the hole.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
Hole #6 is a 300 yard hole from the back tees. We recently redesigned this green complex to an elevated green with a spectacular view of the front nine from the green. The best way to play this hole is to hit your tee shot to between 100 and 150 yards from the green as the fairway slopes both to the right and the left at 165 yards from the tee. The tee shot is important so that you can have a level shot going in to the green. On the second shot you will need to take at least 1 extra club maybe 2 if the wind is in your face like it normally is during the summer. The green area slopes into the green so by hitting your ball far enough you will guarantee at least a bogey or better as the area around the green funnels towards the two tiered green.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
We have many great drinks at the golf course but our cook shack, which is set up between the 9th green and 10th tee, has great sandwiches during the season. Our 1/3rd pound Angus burgers with all the trimmings at the cook shack is a real treat.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
On June 6, 1999, Don Willie shot the record round at Pinewood by carding a 70.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Slope: 117
Rating: 70.4

More Information
Pinewood Country Club
9000 Pinewood Valley Rd
Harshaw, WI, 54529
715-282-5500
www.pinewoodcc.com

Revised: 11/19/2012 - Article Viewed 41,141 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.