The Wine Valley Golf Club, seven miles west of Walla Walla, opened last week to the sort of instant acclaim it's near neighbor Palouse Ridge attracted last year (Palouse Ridge is actually 115 miles away, but what's a trifling 115 miles in this far-off corner of the State?)
Wine Valley was five and a half years in the making and created by Portland's Dan Hixson, a 47-year-old design newbie whose debut course at Bandon Crossings in Oregon opened a couple of summers ago and proved you don't need a decade's apprenticeship under Pete Dye or Robert Trent Jones to be any good. Instead of digging ditches for big-name architects, Hixson played the game professionally in Australia and New Zealand and also on mini-tours back home in the Northwest.
After deciding the touring life wasn't for him, he returned to Portland where he became the head professional at Columbia Edgewater GC. But the call to design kept gnawing away and in 1999 he gave up the security of the head pro's job to set up shop as a totally inexperienced golf course architect with no great playing record and who no one had ever heard of.
Not surprisingly, it was tough going to begin with. He rebuilt tees and greens, the odd bunker here and there, a short-game facility or two. He did actually design a full 18-hole course in Nevada but that never made it past the planning stage. Late in 2003, however, Hixson got a call from Russ Byerley, a wheat and alfalfa farmer from Walla Walla with notions of building a golf course community (the lots and homes will come later) on his property between Sudbury Road and Highway 12.
The usual land use, planning and permits issues arose and work on the 640-acre project didn't actually get underway until 2007. Hixson says designing the course was really pretty easy and that anyone could have come up with something special on a site like this. With all due respect, I couldn't agree less.
Without Hixson's innate sense of what would work in so exposed and remote a setting, his judgement of what the typical Wine Valley golfer would appreciate, and the humility he showed in allowing experienced shapers Kye Goalby and Dan Proctor to go with their instincts, Wine Valley might have been a big disappointment and probably not worth the drive from Seattle.
As it is, I can't recommend it highly enough. According to my thoroughly un-scientific, off-the-top-of-my-head rating system, there are five good holes, eight very good holes and five exceptional holes although you may very well believe I've been a bit stingy with the exceptional hole count. My favorites, and those I believe will get most of the attention - from serious course raters if not photographers necessarily - will be the Par 5 7th, 15th and 18th. The Par 3s which the photographers definitely will love are all great one-shot holes, especially the 6th whose back bunker looks for all the world to hang on the very back edge of the green but which is actually 28 yards beyond it.
That's just one example of good design - something Hixson is fast building a reputation for. The definition of a good golf course is surely one that provides a stimulating diversion for the casual golfer but which can challenge the best player looking to go low. Wine Valley passes both tests with ease. Beginners and mature ladies will love the generous fairways and large greens, scratch players the length (7,360 yards from the tips), quality of the turf (the greens feature a blend of three Bent grasses) and the considerable contouring in the putting surfaces that will test their approach play, short game and putting to their very limits. Everyone will love the stark beauty of the place.
With the Tri-Cities courses (Columbia Point, Horn Rapids, Sun Willows) and Palouse Ridge within easy driving distance either side of Wine Valley, this corner of Washington has become a very attractive destination for Seattle golfers. Base yourself at the impressive Marcus Whitman Hotel in downtown Walla Walla and spend whatever time you're not playing golf visiting one or some of the 100+ wineries in the area. It's a vintage road trip.
For more info: Wine Valley Golf Club, driving directions to Walla Walla, flight times to Walla Walla Regional Airport from Seattle
Comments
Tony, this is a great review! Too bad you don't have some pics to view on this page as that place looks amazing.
You haven't played it lately. The course charges way too much for what you get. I played it in July and again last weekend (Oct, 50 degrees and sunny). Both times the bunkers were in atrocious condition! Also, the greens have alot of patches on them. There is grass growing in the bunkers by the greens) and they are hard as a rock. Yes, the layout is nice and it has alot of potential, but it's not nearly ready for the accolades being thrust upon it. At $75 a round (no early morning discounts or October special rates) they want resort dollars for non-resort golf. Both times I played there was no-one else out there, which means that the locals must not like it either.
Then there was the indifference of the owner. I asked for a manager to talk to and was told there wasn't one available). Turns out he was playing cards 20 ft. away. I went back in when I found out and he basically said, "tough, everyone loves it". When I asked where everyone was, he waved it off.
Horrib
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