Interview With Jumpei (JP) Okuda Golf Course Manager Rising Star Casino and Resort By Brian Weis

Interview With Jumpei (JP) Okuda Golf Course Manager Rising Star Casino and Resort

A Light Hearted Golf Q & A Interview

By Brian Weis

Below is an interview with Jumpei (JP) Okuda, the Golf Course Manager at Rising Star Casino and Resort. 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?
Assistant Golf Professional at Newman Golf Course, Cincinnati, OH 2004 - 2010.
Head Golf Professional at Newman Golf Course, Cincinnati, OH 2010 - 2012 Elected Class A PGA Membership August 2012 Golf Manager at LINKS Golf Course, Rising Star Casino, Rising Sun, IN 2012 - current

When did you start golfing and who introduced you to the game?
Started the game of golf at age 7 and was introduced by my father.

What is your current home course?
LINKS Golf Course, Rising Star Casino and Resort, Rising Sun, IN

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
Elected into the Class A PGA Membership 2012 Hole in One 2014 - 137 yards

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Golfers not fixing the divot on the green and fairway!

Golfers who are NOT modest of their game!

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
Putter.
It is the only club that can you money and rich!

What is your favorite golf destination?
The Masters at Augusta National

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Augusta National St. Andrews Pebble Beach

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
Hazeltine National Golf Club, Minnesota

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
Change the belly putter rules - bring it back.

Dream foursome (living)?
Tiger Woods
Rory McElroy
Isao Aoki
Jumpei Okuda

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
Ben Hogan
Payne Stewart
Tiger Woods
Jumpei Okuda

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?
Hole In One

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

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

5) Beverage cart OR halfway house?
Halfway House

6) Bathroom OR bushes?
Bathroom

7) Hot dog OR wrap?
Wrap

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

9) Walking OR riding?
Riding

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

11) Do you prefer long par 3 OR long par 5?
Long 5

12) Pants OR Shorts?
Pants

13) Palmer OR Nicklaus?
Nicklaus

14) Beatles OR Elvis?
Elvis

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

16) Bump and run OR flop shot?
Flop Shot

17) Lay up OR gamble?
Lay up

18) 18 holes OR 36?
18

Revised: 03/05/2015 - Article Viewed 33,519 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.