Wine Valley opens this April. Already the buzz is building on the Internet and in print. Links has listed the course on its website as an opening to watch in 2009. Travel & Leisure Golf has put a writer on the story. Hixson is unfazed by the attention.
“It’s all about the golfer’s experience,” he reiterates on that afternoon last October as he climbs out of the bunker at the par-5 seventh and surveys the lengthy birdie putt he has left himself. “Again, watching this group play this hole four different ways, that gets me a lot more excited than any story ever could.
“I think we matched the environment well, and that’s the key to a playable golf course,” he continues. “Here, we had the dry, rolling, bouncy terrain, so you don’t see many fronting bunkers. You have slopes everywhere. That, hopefully, will unlock the strategic impulse in the golfer.”
Hixson’s experience as a player, professional and architect have left him with strong opinions about the role of golf course design in the future of the game.
“Like a lot of pursuits, golf got a little sideways there for a while when all the money was rolling in. Developers spent so much on courses that the game priced itself out of reasonable participation. Golf needs a wide range, and the courses that are built need to be sustainable from a maintenance standpoint and a playability standpoint. Golf courses are ultimately businesses. Designers have to understand this and work with the long-term operational goals of the facility in mind. That’s how golf succeeds on any given property. We’re working right now on a nine-hole course — Crestview Golf Club in Waldport — that’s designed to be a family outing course. How cool is that? And it’s as much fun to put that together as anything else. I want golf to survive, and the way it will is if it’s accessible. Designers have to listen to clients and to the client’s customers. It’s really that simple.”
As for his role in the future of golf, Hixson takes it one step at a time. He is a throwback in many ways, a designer who has built his business regionally. In this modern age, however, his reputation is growing nationally. With Bandon Crossings under his belt and a hit in the making at Wine Valley, he is eager to discover new opportunities.
“Maybe one day I’ll see one of those big-budget, spotlight commissions, or maybe not. At this point, I’m doing what I always wanted to do. I make a living working on golf courses. I know what golf has meant to me and to my own family. I have a hand in bringing that to other families. How much more can you really ask for?”
Tom Ferrell’s writing has previously appeared in Links Magazine and Destination Golfer. This is his first contribution to Cascade Golfer.