General Burnside Island State Park

Getting To Know: General Burnside Island State Park

An Insightful Interview With Stephen Lutz, Head Golf Professional

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 Lutz 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
General Burnside Island is a fun layout, with tees and challenges to suit golfers of all abilities. Located just south of Somerset, the island itself has golf, camping, and one of the largest boat ramps on Lake Cumberland. If roughing it is not your cup of "tee", there are several national chain hotels and dinning experiences in South Somerset only minutes away from the golf course.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Don't be fooled by the scorecard! Many first time players at General Burnside look at the yardage and pick the wrong set of tees. With the many elevation changes and zoysia fairways, the course plays longer than the yardage. At least two thirds of the greens are elevated, which requires a longer shot than a player may suspect.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
The Grounds Crew take great pride in the product they put forth as can be told by the regular high ranking in Ky Life Magazine as one of the best courses in Kentucky.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
The 2 most talked about holes on the course are numbers 6 and 16. Number 6 is a straight away par 5 with a scenic view of Lake Cumberland down the entire right side of the hole. This also happens to be a lateral hazard so stay left. Number 16 is a sneaky par 3 that plays anywhere between 136 and 170 yds. The tee shot is all carry over a pond featuring a fountain, to a angled green. This puts proper club selection at a premium.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite thing about this course is not a particular hole, but the layout of the par 71 course. The front side has 3 par 3s, 3 par 4s, and 3 par 5s, while the back 9 is all par 4s, with a couple 3s thrown in and finishing with the lone par 5.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 71
Yardage: 6349
Slope: 126
Rating: 70.1

More Information
General Burnside Island State Park
8801 South Hwy 27
Burnside, KY, 42519-0488

http://parks.ky.gov/

Revised: 02/12/2014 - Article Viewed 33,094 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the Publisher of GolfTrips.com, a network of golf travel and directory sites including GolfWisconsin.com, GolfMichigan.com, ArizonaGolfer.com, GolfAlabama.com, etc. Professionally, Brian is a 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). In 2016, Brian won The Shaheen Cup, an award given to a golf travel writer by his peers.

All of his life, Brian has been around the game of golf. As a youngster, Brian competed at all levels in junior and high school golf. Brian had a zero chance for a college golf scholarship, so he worked on the grounds crew at West Bend Country Club to pay for his University of Wisconsin education. In his adult years, his passion for the game collided with his entrepreneurial spirit and in 2004 launched GolfWisconsin.com. In 2007, the idea for a network of local golf directory sites formed and GolfTrips.com was born. Today, the network consists of a site in all 50 states supported by national sites like GolfTrips.com, GolfGuide.com and GolfPackages.com. It is an understatement to say, Brian is passionate about promoting golf and golf travel on a local, regional, national and international level.

On the golf course, Brian is known as a fierce weekend warrior that fluctuates between a 5-9 handicap. With a soft fade, known as "The Weis Slice", and booming 300+ drives, he can blast it out of bounds with the best of them.