Bill Martin, Quail Run Golf Course

Published 4:00 am Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Bulletin continues its regular offseason Tee To Green feature in which we introduce to readers a Central Oregon golf professional or other notable member of the local golf community. This week, meet Bill Martin, owner of Quail Run Golf Course in La Pine since 1998.

Martin was born in Portland but grew up near Missoula, Mont. He was a good golfer, and he eventually played on the golf team for Willamette University in Salem for two years.

He transferred to Western Montana College, where Martin helped start the college’s golf program. After college, Martin served in Vietnam for one year. In 1971, he returned to Western Montana to coach the golf team for a year.

In 1972, Martin became the assistant golf pro at Neskowin Beach Golf Course on the northern Oregon Coast. He was a do-it-all pro at the nine-hole course, including handling the track’s greenskeeper duties. Martin moved on in 1974 to Willamette Valley Country Club in Canby, where he was an assistant pro for two years.

Martin left the golf business for a short time but returned in 1977, when he bought Neskowin Beach Golf Course. He remained the owner there until he sold the course in 1995.

Martin, who is the father of pro golfer Adam Martin, moved to Central Oregon shortly there after, working as a teaching pro at various golf courses around the region. On Jan. 1, 1998, he purchased Quail Run, which at the time was a nine-hole course.

By 2006, Martin had added another nine holes and built the La Pine course into one of the most highly regarded public tracks in the region.

Q: What led you to become a PGA professional?

A: Having played college golf and then having turned professional, and I decided when we bought the little golf course and ran with it.

Q: What brought you to Central Oregon?

A: We had always enjoyed coming over here for the Oregon Open with my family and enjoyed the area. When we sold Neskowin, I kind of thought I wanted to move over here and just teach. (It turned out) that wasn’t as much as I wanted to do and (I wanted to) be involved in the business. So when we found Quail Run, I decided to do it full time.

Q: What is the most common mistake you see recreational golfers make?

A: I think the most common mistake is the setup. They don’t realize that a lot of people are hitting very good shots, but they are not going where they want it to go. And they think it is their golf swing rather than having a very solid setup that aims the club at their target and swings the club at their target. I work very hard on that with people to start off with to make sure that the setup is correct. Then we try to correct a couple small things in the swing and get ’em going.

Q: Did you ever try to play golf professionally?

A: Not other than just the club professional PGA. I never had the time or probably was never quite good enough to make it in the regular tour. It was always a dream and I thought about (trying to qualify for the Champions Tour) when I was turning 50, but once again we were buried in Quail Run and didn’t really have the time to work on my game to see if I could.

Those guys are awfully good out there. So I have had a little bit of success playing the club professional PGA events around the Northwest, and that has kind of satisfied my hunger to play professional golf for some money, and I have enjoyed it. So that was about the only time. I never really gave the (regular tours) a shot.

Q: What is your lowest score ever?

A: I think I’ve had a couple 60s at the Neskowin course, which was a pretty easy little nine-hole golf course. So I have had a couple 60 18-hole rounds. As far as on a major golf course, I think 67 at Lake Oswego (Country Club) and 68 at Kah-Nee-Ta have probably been my lowest rounds.

Name: Bill Martin

Birth date: Jan. 22, 1946

Residence: Bend

Birthplace: Portland

Family: Wife, Kerri; Sons, Grant and Adam

Education: Western Montana College

Special interests: Fishing, cooking

Turned pro: 1972