AT HOME WITH MIKE WEIR Photo by John Thomson - Pioneer

At Home with Mike Weir
INSIDE
THE GOLF
SUPERSTAR’S
MAGNIFICENT
UTAH HOME
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AT HOME WITH MIKE WEIR
Photo by John Thomson
By Robert Thompson
In a picturesque area overlooking Salt Lake City in Utah, a group of families
is gathering for a housewarming. After a year of renovating, the new family
on the block is preparing to host a neighbourhood gathering, to introduce
themselves to their new neighbours and to show off all the work
they’ve done on their large home, that sits in the foothills, presenting a
clear view of the city below and with the east mountains as a backdrop.
However, the guests – the husbands mainly – recognize this isn’t just
any housewarming and this isn’t just any neighbour. Rarely does a neighbour
win the Masters golf tournament. Rarely has a neighbour won
nearly US$24 million in prize money during a decade-long career on the
PGA Tour. Surely the visitors have been aware for some time that the
Weir family, led the best professional golfer in Canadian history, have
taken up residence on their small street. And as the guests enter the
14,000-square-foot home with its rustic Italian façade of brick and stucco,
the wives take in the decorating that Weir’s wife, Bricia, has undertaken.
The men, on the other hand, have one thing in mind: seeing what
Weir jokingly calls, “my little facility down there.”
In truth it there’s nothing little about it at all. Formerly a garage for the
previous owner’s RV, Weir had turned it into his own indoor driving range,
replete with enough area to watch the ball travel in the air for 15 yards,
and punctuated by a computer system he can use to analyze his swing.
“While Bricia was showing the ladies the art and couches in our
place, the guys all wanted to go and see the room: my gym and my
practice facility,” Weir says.
Showing off the house, which the Weir family acquired in 2006 after a
plan to build a home fell apart, brought to a close a year-long process of
designing, decorating and furnishing. It also represents a degree of permanence
in the transient life of Weir, who was raised in Brights Grove,
near Sarnia, Ont., but who has chased a little white ball across golf
courses around the world since the early 1990s.
On Top of His Game
Weir’s relationship with Utah is longstanding, starting with a recommendation
from Canadian PGA Tour winner Richard Zokol, who suggested
Weir consider attending Bringham Young University in Provo and playing
on the school’s golf team, which was then regarded as among the best
in the U.S. It was at university that Weir, who would become an All-
American on the golf team, met Bricia, who was studying to become a
social worker. He turned pro after leaving school in 1992, Bricia, who is
originally from Los Angeles, worked in Utah to support the couple while
Weir chased his dream.
“Bricia had a job as a social worker right out of school, so she kept it
going for us as I tried to establish myself,” he says. Bricia continued to
work while Weir travelled the world playing golf, including stints in

At Home with Mike Weir
Australia where he literally ran out of money on a couple of occasions.
Other times, he’d make the 11-hour drive to California to visit Mike
Wilson, his swing instructor at the time. It was a difficult period during
which the couple had little money and the golfer didn’t progress up the
ranks as quickly as many expected.
“Bricia traveled with me for three years in there,” he explains. “We’d
get an apartment and when I had to go on tour we’d just put everything
in storage.”
That changed in 1998 when Weir made it through the daunting qualifying
school: six rounds of difficult, pressure-filled golf, and finally found
himself on the PGA Tour. His rookie year was far from a disaster, but he
didn’t earn playing privileges for 1999. Instead he went back to Q-
school, won that tournament and would become the first Canadian to
win an event in Canada in more than four decades when he captured
the Air Canada Championship in Vancouver. That set him up to become
the best Canadian golfer in history, winning again in 2000 and 2001
before his breakthrough year of 2003, when he won three times and
became the first Canadian to win one of golf’s four major championships
when he prevailed over Len Mattiace in a playoff at the Masters.
By then the days of stuffing the family’s belongings in storage while
Weir played golf was a distant memory. In Canada, Weir became a sports
superstar, instantly recognizable through a series of television commercials
and billboards in support of a Toronto-based mutual-fund company.
He made nearly US$5-million on the course in 2003, and millions more
off the course through endorsement and sponsorship deals set up by his
management company, IMG Sports.
As Weir’s star grew, the family, which now included daughters Elle and
Lili, became more attached to Utah, especially the outdoor activities and
the privacy it offered.
“It was a good base and soon enough all of our friends were here,”
Weir explains. “We grew to like it and loved the out-of-doors, the skiing,
the lifestyle. We liked it all. And I’m definitely more anonymous here than
if I lived in a golf town like Scottsdale or Orlando. Golf is big here, but no
one is bugging me at the grocery store.”
Making a Home
On a mild day in December, Weir is enjoying a break from the rigors of
professional golf. He didn’t win in 2008, but he did make more than
US$3 million in a solid year. His year came to a close at the end of
October, and since that point he’s spent more time at home in Utah at
one stretch than he can easily recall.
“I enjoy getting up, getting the girls breakfast and taking them to
school,” he says. “It is about being dad.”
Schooling for the girls was one of the big considerations to the location
of their new home, which Bricia found during an Internet search. It
With its rustic brick-and-stucco façade, Mike Weir’s 14,000-
square-foot home almost looks as if it sprung from the
mountains surrounding Salt Lake City, Utah. Mike’s wife
Bricia worked closely with a designer for a year to create
a sense of scale and comfort that suited the family.
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Photo by John Thomson

At Home with Mike Weir
Photo by John Thomson
had been the dream project of the previous owner, whose spouse died
suddenly, leaving the house largely unfinished.
“It was a beautiful home, but it was a question of what we could do
with it,” Weir explains. The new house was 20 minutes closer to the school
the girls were attending, and had a bigger lot for outdoor activities.
Located about 25 minutes outside Salt Lake City (“the highways put in
place for the 2002 Olympics make it really easy to get around,” Weir says),
the house offers the privacy the family was striving for while also providing
the natural beauty of the mountains with the city in the distance.
But its vast size presented a challenge, especially since the family didn’t
want it to seem too expansive. In order to take the house from the massive
shell to a homier, more comfortable setting, the Weirs employed a
designer that worked with them for more than a year. Working closely
with Bricia, who managed the process of redesigning the house, the goal
was to make the main rooms feel less spacious. This was done by creating
what Weir calls “rooms within rooms,” essentially utilizing furniture
to create intimate sitting areas within some of the more expansive areas
of the house. In the great room, for example, which is one of the central
areas of the house, Bricia and the designer acquired a number of antique
items that separated elements of the room, and utilized earth tones to
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Photo by John Thomson
The great room is the focal point of the Weirs’ Utah home. To give this expansive space a more comfortable scale, they acquired
several antique items to separate various areas, and used earth tones to add warmth. So that the big Pioneer Kuro plasma TV
from dominating the area, there’s a movable abstract painting in front of the screen. It rolls up when the TV is turned on, then
back down, hiding the screen, when the TV is turned off.

At Home with Mike Weir
Photos by John Thomson
The Pioneer Kuro plasma TV in the master bedroom is installed inside a large cabinet. When it’s not in use, the screen is hidden
by sliding bookshelves, which can be pushed to the side when Mike and Bricia want to catch a late-night movie.
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bring a warm sense to the area.
“We wanted the house to have a cozy feel, because it was so big and
open when we bought it that my vision for it wasn’t great,” Weir says.
But Bricia was taken with the possibilities of the home and worked with
a designer to take the Italian theme from the home’s exterior and extend
it to the interior décor.
Film Festival
The golfer did bring one element to the home’s design: he wanted it outfitted
with Pioneer’s Elite Kuro plasma televisions. Weir had first heard
about the televisions from fellow PGA Tour pro Jerry Kelly, who had a
sponsorship deal with Pioneer. The Weir family purchased one and put it
in their ski condo in Sundance, Utah and Weir was so pleased with it that
he acquired a dozen more for the new home.
The Weirs are big movie watchers, often using the televisions to take in
the latest Hollywood fare. And while there isn’t a lot of golf shown on
the screens (though Mike occasionally tunes into the Golf Channel), he
has been known to preview courses he’s not familiar with by watching
videos of past tournaments. However, most of the time spent watching
the televisions is focused on college sports (particularly football) and
sports news programming on ESPN, which is a regular draw for Weir –
though not as much for his wife, he admits.
The only area on which the golfer and his wife disagreed was on how
the televisions should be presented. Bricia didn’t want them dominating
rooms and didn’t want one in their bedroom. Weir took a mulligan,
agreeing to make the televisions in the great room and master bedroom
more discreet.
In the master bedroom, the Pioneer plasma is installed in the centre of
a large cabinet, which Bricia found in a local boutique. When it’s not in
use, the television is covered by bookshelves that slide horizontally. When
the Weirs want some late night viewing, they slide the bookshelves to
either side of the cabinet, uncovering the screen. When they’re done,
they slide the bookshelves back into the middle to hide the screen.
The great room is near the main entrance, with a big open kitchen
directly behind, separated by huge stone fireplace. The living room and
kitchen is where visitors tends to gather. Weir wanted a flat screen in the
living room so that guests could chill out and watch a game instead of
having to go into the adjoining pool room. Bricia didn’t want a big
screen dominating the décor of the room. So they hid the TV. There’s a
picture frame around the TV, and in front of the screen, there’s an
abstract painting. When no one is actually watching the TV, the screen is
completely hidden by the painting, which matches the décor beautifully.
When someone turns on the TV, the painting scrolls up on a roller,
uncovering the screen. Turn it off, and the painting scrolls back down,
covering the screen.
For music, there’s a whole-house entertainment system from a Utah
company called Control 4, with speakers built into the ceiling of the living
room. The Control 4 system operates a 400-disc changer and a hard
disc server containing the family’s entire music collection, and can also
stream music from the Rhapsody online music service. Using wall-mounted
control pads, the Weirs can program in their favourite music. For
Mike, that includes Canadian rock band Nickelback. Weir met the band’s
bassist during a trip to Hawaii and is partial to the group’s hard-edged
sound. However, big guitars aren’t the only music playing on the system.
The Weir family is also partial to country music and the system was
plugged full of Christmas music that played constantly when the family
entertained over the holidays.
“My Little Facility”
In other areas of the house, the televisions and technology come to the
forefront, specifically in Weir’s elaborate home gym, constructed by his
trainer, Jeff Handler, and in his indoor range in the converted RV garage.
Like many professional golfers, Weir has embraced the fitness revolution
that has become part of the game since Tiger Woods’ emergence as the
A whole-house entertainment system lets the Weirs program
an evening’s worth of music using wall-mounted keypads.
Music, stored on a hard-disk server and 400-disc CD changer, is
played through wall and ceiling speakers.
Photo by Gordon Brockhouse
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Photo by John Thomson
Mike Weir works out about four days a week in his well equipped home gym. While exercising, he likes to watch ESPN on the
big-screen Pioneer Kuro plasma TV.
best – and most fit – player in the game in 1997. Plagued by difficulties
with his back, a typical problem many golfers experience, Weir has long
been very conscious of his strength and conditioning, making a gym and
workout area a necessary part of the new house.
Under Handler’s guidance, Weir’s gym is designed specifically for the
golfer’s needs, and while there isn’t a huge amount of equipment, it has
all been carefully considered.
The gym includes a universal weight machine, which allows Weir to do
everything from squats to bench press, as well as an elliptical trainer, a
FreeMotion cable machine designed to promote strength and flexibility, and
a stationary bike. An average Weir workout would probably ruin most
weekend hackers. He works out – including extensive stretching – for a couple
of hours most weekdays, while he watches sports on one of the everpresent
Pioneer plasmas. “I’m there four days a week,” he says. “And the
TV is on every morning when I’m down there, with ESPN or something.”
Weir’s indoor hitting facility is the most technically sophisticated area of
the house and is the envy of many PGA Tour pros, he says. The system
was set up by JC Motion Video, a company based in Draper, Utah that
has created computerized motion-analysis systems for some of golf’s
biggest names, including Augusta National Golf Club, home of the annual
Masters golf tournament, as well as famed golf instructors Rick Smith
and Jim McLean, and actor Will Smith. The system was set up to allow
Weir to utilize one of his screens and was installed in his house in the
middle of last year.
The system created for Weir has four cameras, including an overhead
camera, with the television in a location that allows the golfer to immediately
replay any of his swings. “I can put it on auto-repeat, slow it down,
write lines on it, whatever I need to do,” he says.
In 2007, the golfer began working with Andy Plummer and Mike
Bennett, golf instructors known for their revolutionary “stack and tilt”
swing theory. Weir learned a great deal about his swing by working with
Plummer and Bennett, and became quite comfortable analyzing its
nuances, something he does regularly in the indoor range at his home.
“For me it is ideal because I can separate my game by working indoors
and being technical and get immediate feedback,” he explains. “That way
I can implement any change right away, whether it is making my irons
steeper or changing the plane of my swing. But when you are on the
range and you are at a tournament, you always have it in the back of your

At Home with Mike Weir
mind that you’re going to play and you don’t want to be too technical.”
Like the gym, Weir spends a lot of time at his hitting facility. “Basically
when Bricia is trying to find me she knows where to look,” Weir says.
“I’m either in the gym or the room beside it hitting balls.”
Family First
While it may have an ultra-sophisticated gym and golf area, it is clear that
to Weir that is the practical and functional part of his home. Weir says his
daughters – and specifically his 11-year-old Elle – have embraced technology
in a way their father has not. Elle is the one that sends e-mail to
family members or can be found listening to music in the family’s Utah
home on her iPod. And it is Elle and her younger sister Lili, 8, who have
one of the Pioneer plasmas televisions hooked up to a Nintendo Wii.
Sometimes Weir joins in.
“We don’t play much Wii Golf,” he explains. “Right now it is Rock
Band and the Wii Play games: ping pong, tennis and baseball.”
However, Bricia and Mike are insistent that the girls don’t spend too
much time on the Wii or their computer. They make sure the pair gets
out in the fresh Utah mountain air. While Weir says he likes the “physical
aspect” of the Wii, it isn’t a substitute for more traditional childhood
experiences, he says.
“They don’t play much,” says Weir. “They burn off an hour or two
after doing their homework. But we make sure they get outside, riding
their bikes or jumping on the trampoline.”
Family is a huge focus of Weir’s life. This past Christmas, the Weirs
invited 17 family members (from both sides of the family) for the holidays.
It is clear he’s thrilled to show off the finished version. And in typical
Canadian understated fashion, he’s a bit sheepish about the home’s size,
not wanting to appear ostentatious. But he’s also happy that the home
can accommodate such a large group.
“Sure the house is bigger than we wanted, but now it suits our purposes,”
he says. “When we have 17 family members at Christmas, we’ll
squeeze them all in. It’s the first time we’re getting everyone here at
once. It’ll be great.” HH
A computerized motion-analysis system in Mike Weir’s home records the golfer’s swing, then lets him analyze his technique. “For
me it is ideal because I can separate my game by working indoors and being technical and get immediate feedback,” Weir
explains. “That way I can implement any change right away.”
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Photo by John Thomson

At Home with Mike Weir
GOLF GADGETS
Products that
will help your game
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Golf used to be about hitting a little white ball with a club. But in recent
years it has become a quest to incorporate the latest technology.
Take, for instance, Taylor Made’s new R9 driver. Golf superstar Mike
Weir began working with the driver last fall. Known to be fastidious
about his equipment, often tweaking and tinkering with it for weeks
before using it in a tournament, Weir was still finding a setup he was
comfortable with when he played Tiger Woods’ Chevron World
Challenge in California in the middle of December.
Like earlier Taylor Made drivers, the R9 utilizes “movable-weight technology,”
which allows golfers to move weights in the clubhead in order
to shape their shots differently. The technology is so successful that most
golf companies have now incorporated it into some clubs in their roster.
TM’s R9 takes the technology a step further by allowing golfers to adjust
the face angle to open (for those that draw the ball) or to closed (for
those that slice it). Additionally golfers can adjust the loft of the club,
moving it from 8.5 degrees for those with higher swing speeds or higher
launch angles, to 11.5 degrees for golfers who need to get the ball in
the air more easily.
Callaway is also offering a club to help golfers keep it in the fairway.
The company’s FT-iQ driver (retailing at $529), with its unusual square
face uses technology found in Stealth bombers and Formula-1 cars to
promote distance and accuracy.
Worried that the latest drivers will only allow you to hit it further into
the woods? There’s a fix for that too. Currently on the market is myriad
of GPS devices designed to help determine accurate yardage to the green
from wherever you find your golf ball. Among the best is the GolfLogix
GPS-8, which uses GPS technology from mapping giant Garmin ($275).
Among the more intriguing developments is the movement towards
Featuring an unusual square face, Callaway’s FT-iQ driver
features technology to promote distance and accuracy.
Using a Web-based program, golfers can design their own
customized versions of MyJoys golf shoes, choosing colour,
style, laces and even logos to place on the heel.
personalization. FootJoy’s move into the personalization category with its
MyJoys shoes ($189.99) is the most intriguing and entertaining. Utilizing
a Web-based program, MyJoys allows
golfers to pick everything from the model
type to colour of the laces through to
adding the logo of their favourite football
team on the heel. Dozens of colours and
configurations are available, allowing customers
to create their own unique
footwear, from classic traditional looks to
bold and sporty. In fact, experimenting
with combinations is almost as fun as
wearing the shoes themselves.
Already among the most successful
products in golf history, Titleist’s ProV1
($49.99) golf balls get a facelift for the
2009 season. Titleist has been embroiled
in a patent lawsuit with rival Callaway
over the technology that goes into the
ProV1, a battle that has forced the
company to create a new version. As
the most popular ball on the PGA Tour,
Titleist promises the new version
(which doesn’t infringe on Callaway
patents, according to the company) will
be equal to or better than the existing
ProV1. HH
The GolfLogix GPS-8 can
store information on 20
golf courses, from a database
of 22,500. It calculates
the distance of your last
shot and tells you the
distance from your current
location to the green.
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At Home with Mike Weir
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Mike Weir’s
favourite
courses
There’s nothing particularly modern or cutting
edge when it comes to Mike Weir’s
taste in golf courses. As a golfer who has
played and won on some of the toughest
courses in the world, including Augusta
National, home of the Masters, and Riviera
Golf Club in Los Angeles, Calif., Weir is particularly
fond of the classic courses built during
the so-called Golden Age of golf design,
a period starting around the turn of the
20th century and ending just before World
War II. These courses emphasize shot-making
over power, and play to Weir’s game,
which is not simply about hitting his driver
300 yards at every opportunity.
“I’m an analytical thinker,” explains Weir. “I
like to have a game plan and I like to prepare
that way heading into a tournament. It puts
me at ease when I prepare in that way so
when I arrive at a course like Colonial, Riviera,
or Augusta, I’m playing out a strategy.”
In Canada, Weir’s favourites include
Hamilton Golf and Country Club in Ancaster,
Ont., where the RBC Canadian Open was
played in 2003 and 2006, and The National
Golf Club of Canada in Woodbridge, Ont.,
often regarded as one of the most difficult
in the country.
“I look at many of my favourite courses
and I came to realize that a lot of what
makes them challenging are the strategies,”
he says. “It isn’t an issue of losing golf balls
in fescue, or having fairways bounded by
endless water hazards. The great factor that
many of my favourite courses have in common
is that an average golfer playing the
appropriate tees can have fun without being
too beaten up by the experience. It is like
Augusta; I’ve played with my Dad there and
if he plays the correct set of tees he has a
great time.”
With all of these experiences now part of
a decade-long PGA Tour career, Weir is venturing
into designing courses, creating the
firm of Weir Golf Design with Brantford,
Ont. architect Ian Andrew. Several projects
are in planning stages.
“I’m really excited by this opportunity and
the Mike Weir Design team is coming up
with great ideas and concepts for our projects,”
he says. “Our goal is to focus on a
limited number of projects, providing a lot of
attention to detail and time on each.” HH
MAKING THE SHOT
One of Mike Weir’s favourite Canadian golf courses is the The Hamilton
Golf and Country Club in Ancaster, Ont., where the RBC Canadian Open
was played in 2003 and 2006.
The National Golf Club in Woodbridge, Ont. is one of Mike Weir’s
favourite courses, and is regarded as one of the most challenging
in Canada.
Photo by Robert Thompson
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