Doug Hawley didn’t even know Redwoods Golf Course had earned a distinguished regional ranking until a regular golfer came in and congratulated him.
“For what?” asked Hawley, the general manager of the Walnut Grove course.
Turns out, Redwoods was ranked among the top 10 best golf courses in the Lower Mainland recently by Vancouver’s Best Places.
“This took us by complete surprise,” Hawley said.
They were the only course in Langley to make the list, receiving a spot out of 10, beating out Swan-e-set Bay Resort in Pitt Meadows, the UBC golf club, and Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club.
“I’m not sure what their criteria was… It was likely customer driven… but whatever the case, it’s good news,” he said. “It’s validation for the staff that we’ve been doing something right.”
In the years immediately after Redwoods opened back in the 1990s, it was very common for the course to receive different awards and recognition.
“Over the last few years, I guess with all the new courses coming on board with new style layouts, we haven’t received much, or we just haven’t noticed,” Hawley said.
People are drawn to the course because of the driving range, the customer service levels, the stunning views, various events hosted at the 88th Avenue facility, and his team’s ongoing efforts to think “outside the box.”
Hawley and his 104-member staff have been focusing much of their efforts in the past few years on charity golf tournaments.
While the course has a faithful group of “hard-core golfers” who come out week after week, the fundraising events are each different and tend to be more challenging for the staff.
“We find them more satisfying to do,” he added, noting that the team is always anxious to help organizers (whatever the charity) to raise more money than they did the year before.
“Everyone has been touched by a charity somewhere along the way, whether it’s the cancer society, the hospital foundation, or Wagner Farms. Everyone is more motivated for these,” Hawley said.
“They take a lot of pride in helping raise as much money as possible for these different causes, and so they should.”