Dan Hixson Talks Wine Valley (incl. 3), the Ballyneal Team, and Aussie Courses

[Jay Flemma]

http://jayflemma.thegolfspace.com/?p=4189

From the interview:

"JF: How did you make the jump?

DH: After my playing days, I became an assistant club pro at Columbia Edgewater Country Club, and I asked my boss, Jerry Mowlds, for time off to plan my jump to being an architect, and that’s when he informed me he was going to take a job at Pumpkin Ridge and I should stay on because I’d probably be head pro at Columbia Edgewater and so I stayed.

So I was there for another eight or nine years, (12 total), and during that time three big things happened:

1) I got divorced so it freed me up to do what I wanted, no more golden handcuffs;

2) the tax laws changed so I could sell my house for a big profit and fund a career change; and

3) the PGA changed its rules to expand categories for golf pros so I could be both a pro and an architect.

So then I was able to chase the dream. I’m 50 years old now, but I’m still the same as when I was a kid. I’m doing what I love. My interests have really never changed: golf, fly fishing, chasing girls, music, (I have 8 turntables), and biking for fun....

JF: What is your definition of minimalism and explain why it’s so good for golf?

DH: What most people call minimalism to me is naturalism. Wine Valley is minimalistic because we didn’t move dirt, but it’s also natural. To me true minimalism means a course almost mowed out of the ground with 20-30 bunkers, not 80-90 and definitely not 200. You have to work harder to make it good when you don’t have a big budget. You have to be more creative. You get better at problem solving that way. If we stretch the dollar as much as possible, more people can play it and the course can maintain itself well. The problem in the ’80s was that no one wanted to leave the site alone. They wanted to build what they wanted to build.

But if you leave natural grades, you save time, money, energy, and the soil is better and the course is better. Mounds for example – I don’t do mounds, and I tell my jobs that. Just to build mounds because nothing is there – mounds for mounds sake – wastes money.

So for me minimalism is simple golf courses. Dan Proctor and Dave Axland built Wild Horse, and they just left the ground alone and fit the features into the land and it came out great. I learned a lot from Dan Proctor when he was with me on Wine Valley, he’s another great guy.
Also, Bill Coore is a great example to follow. "

[Kalen Braley]

That last paragraph seems to make a lot of sense to me..

..from what I've seen of pictures and having played Wine Valley multiple times, I can certainly see what appears to be some similarities.

I hope to confirm that this summer when I head out and get a round in at Wild Horse.

[Jay Flemma]

Wild Horse was a great deal of fun.  Another excellent set of greens.

There were a lot of interesting things he brought up and now the Ballyneal comparisons make much more sense!

[Kalen Braley]

Wild Horse was a great deal of fun.  Another excellent set of greens.

There were a lot of interesting things he brought up and now the Ballyneal comparisons make much more sense!

I've played both Ballyneal and Wine Valley and I didn't find them very comparable, other than they were both fast and firm and neither had any trees.

Ballyneal is a lot more wild with bigger undulations, bigger landforms, a lot more up and down going thru the dunes, and a lot of "tucked" green complexes into dunes which was pretty much non-existent at WV except for #7.  The bunkering style at Wine Valley was a lot different as well...not in a bad way, they were fantastic as well.

[Jay Flemma]

Yes, Kalen, but a goodly number of others did see similarities.  Personally, I think I see why the comparisons were made:  it has more to do with both the general  "look and feel" of the courses and, more importantly, the strategic and conceptual ideas the tried out and executed so well.

[Bill_McBride]

Jay, did Dan mention Bunny Mason?  Bunny was a former head pro at Columbia-Edgewater and was still hanging around when I was a member there from 2004-2008.   He was a golf architect who designed the Glaze Meadow course at Black Butte near Bend, and a number of other Pacific Northwest courses.  He died a couple of years ago.  I'd be interested in know how much, if at all, Bunny might have influenced Dan.   From my contacts with him, he seemed to be a really nice fellow.

Note:  the first hole at Glaze Meadow is often cited as one of the worst par 5s anywhere, but Bunny blamed the forced lay up tee shot on the hand he was dealt with the property.   I didn't mind the hole myself, making 4 the only time I played it    and the rest of the course was fine.

[Pete_Pittock]

Jay,
Great interview with a very interesting guy.

Bill McB,
You need to click on the link in the original post. Bunny Mason is mentioned. And as an aside the Glaze Meadow course renovation by John Fought is done. 11 holes open Memorial Day weekend, all eighteen near the end of June, but lets keep this about Hixson.

[Bill_McBride]

Bill McB,
You need to click on the link in the original post. Bunny Mason is mentioned. And as an aside the Glaze Meadow course renovation by John Fought is done. 11 holes open Memorial Day weekend, all eighteen near the end of June, but lets keep this about Hixson.

Right, I just read right into Jay's digest, will have to open the link.

Was Fought able to fix #1?

[Tim Pitner]

I haven't heard much about Bandon Crossings lately.  How's it holding up?  After the great reception given to Wine Valley here, I was expecting more people to revisit BC and discuss how they saw Hixson's brilliance before WV.  I'm not being sarcastic, this is generally how things go--people want to claim they discovered so and so before the masses did.  I haven't really noticed that play out, which made me wonder about BC.  Maybe I'm too cynical about the whole thing.   

[Kalen Braley]

I would be interested to hear if any of last years KP contingent gave it a play?

I know for me, next time I'm in Bandon, i'll be making a point to play it....

[Anthony Gray]

  Wine Valley is in my top 10 of fun courses. Its very playable yet challenging. It is the best bunkered course I have ever played. They are positioned through out the course to challenge all players without being over done. aesthetically they are hard to beat. Seams to me many people were active in this project.


  Anthony

[Jay Flemma]

Jay, did Dan mention Bunny Mason?  Bunny was a former head pro at Columbia-Edgewater and was still hanging around when I was a member there from 2004-2008.   He was a golf architect who designed the Glaze Meadow course at Black Butte near Bend, and a number of other Pacific Northwest courses.  He died a couple of years ago.  I'd be interested in know how much, if at all, Bunny might have influenced Dan.   From my contacts with him, he seemed to be a really nice fellow.

Note:  the first hole at Glaze Meadow is often cited as one of the worst par 5s anywhere, but Bunny blamed the forced lay up tee shot on the hand he was dealt with the property.   I didn't mind the hole myself, making 4 the only time I played it    and the rest of the course was fine.

Bunny gets a quite a nice slice in the interview, actually. 

Bunny's design style didn't have much impact on Dan like Mackenzie, Dye, or C&C.  They did work together on the par-3 course and practice range at Columbia Edgewater though.

[Jay Flemma]

Tim:  He also talked in some more detail about Bandon Crossings as as well.  Most of the good stuff n that part of the discussion as well.  I especially like that he's friends with a lot of people at the resort and that they've been really kind and supportive t he and BC.

[George Pazin]

Fun read, thanks for sharing, Jay.