Getting To Know: Shell Landing By Brian Weis

Getting To Know: Shell Landing

An Insightful Interview With Kenny Hughes, 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 Kenny Hughes 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
Come discover why Shell Landing Golf Club is the premier golf club on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Our club offers two putting greens, a beautiful practice facility, and expert golf instruction. Our 18-hole golf course, which includes a challenging collection of bunkers, slopes, water hazards, sand traps, and other features, attracts tourists and local golfers of all ages, both beginners and seasoned pros.

We are located just south of Highway 90, only 15 minutes from Biloxi, and visitors to our lush golf course can enjoy breathtaking views of the Gulf of Mexico, marshes, and wildlife.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
It is the prettiest golf course with the most unique design of different holesin the area. Uh, I don't think every hole looks different, every hole plate is different and uh, I think from the, for the price, the quality of the condition, the location to get to a from Biloxi where most of the hotel rooms are a, I think it's an absolute must have.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Download the YamaTrack app to your smartphone. The app is free and provides useful information like distances, flyovers and useful tips for each hole.

Any recent changes to the golf course? Or any upcoming changes?
Over the past six years, we have removed trees and cleared out the underbrush on every hole on the golf course. This has opened up some amazing views and vistas throughout the property. In addition, conditions have improved with less tree roots and more green grass.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
2017 Golf Digest Ranked Shell Landing #6th Best Golf Course in Mississippi, also Golf Digest names Shell Landing among America's Best New Courses of 2002. In The January 2003 issue ranked the Davis Love III championship design #5 in America in the Best New Upscale Public category, and the only one in the top 5 located in the South.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Hole number 6 is a great par four. Standing on the tee box, you will be faced with a forced carry over the marsh.Its hard not to be intimated by that marsh as it also runs down the entire left side. Golfers need to get up and bust one driver down the middle. Your second shot is played to a green guarded by marsh on the front, back and left-side. You do have a bailout area to the right, but there's a sneaky deep bunker there. Walking off with a par is a good feeling.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole is the par 3, 17th. It is a mid length par 3 that will require a well struck shot to carry the marsh in front. The green slopes from back to front, so long is the play to spin it back towards the cup.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
The Landing Restaurant serves traditional pub food. The locals rave about our Angus been hamburgers. If you are coming down from the north, you will want to try our awarding wining shrimp po' boy sandwich. As far as liquid refreshments, I am a Dos Equis beer man so we always have that on tap.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 7024
Slope: 134
Rating: 73.8

More Information
Shell Landing
3499 Shell Landing Blvd.
Gautier, MS, 39553
228-497-5683

www.shelllandinggolf.com

Revised: 03/11/2019 - Article Viewed 17,138 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.