Crosswater Golf Course

Getting To Know: Crosswater Golf Course

An Insightful Interview With Joshua Willis, Director of Golf Operations

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 Joshua Willis 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
Crosswater, Sunriver Resort's golfing gem, is a gorgeous 18-hole heathland-style semiprivate course. With 600-acres of woodlands and carefully preserved wetlands Crosswater has been declared one of "America's 100 Greatest Courses." The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary certified course features five tee placements for each hole with bent grass fairways and greens. Crosswater is threaded by the Deschutes and Little Deschutes rivers adding a challenge (or boost!) as often as seven times in a round.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Take advantage of the generous width of the fairways and provide yourself the shortest iron shot possible into the large greens. If you find yourself outside the fairway line in the native fescue areas "take you medicine" and get the ball back to the fairway. Trying to play a shot from the fescues to the greens and avoid penalty generally results in large scores.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Host site of numerous Championships including the 1999 Shells Wonderful World of Golf, the 2001, 2007, and 2013 PGA Professional National Championship, the 2006 Men's NCAA Div. I Golf Championship, and the 2007-2010 JELD-WEN Tradition.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Crosswater - Hole 12 "Endless" is a perfect name for one of the longest par fives you will ever play at 687 yards. With a lake down the entire left side and bunkering and trees to the right, this is a very demanding hole. Hit it long and straight a couple of times and you will be left with a short iron into the smallest green on the course, guarded by bunkers and water to the left. Good luck!

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
Crosswater - Hole 13 "Osprey" refers to a big old growth ponderosa pine with an eagle nest in the top. This nest was originally occupied by Osprey but has been occupied the last 7 years year with bald eagles and their young. This hole requires a short iron over a wetland to a small, well bunkered, green.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Made famous in country clubs across the U.S., members and guests must try our Signature Crosswater Club Sandwich with a pint of local craft beer with many selections to choose from.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Brad Bryant, 10-under 62, during Round 1 of the 2009 JELD-WEN Tradition

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 7683
Slope: 145
Rating: 76.5

More Information
Crosswater Golf Course
17600 Center Drive
Sunriver. OR 97707
800-801-8765
541-593-4402

http://www.sunriver-resort.com/golf/crosswater-golf-course-oregon

Revised: 08/28/2014 - Article Viewed 33,033 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying 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), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.