Gil Hanse Hoping to Expand the Perry Maxwell Legacy

Gil Hanse has received a good deal of attention this week in airtime and print, deservedly so, after he and partner Jim Wagner did a masterful job with their historic renovation of Southern Hills Country Club.

The club was built in the heart of the depression, and was staked to its start when 150 Tulsans put up $1,000 apiece to get things going. The course dates to 1936, and the golf course, built largely from oil money, was designed by Perry Maxwell. 

Hanse, who hosted a small roundtable of national reporters this week in representation of Rolex, a sponsor of Hanse and the PGA of America, said he hopes all the attention the golf course is getting this week will help people learn more about Maxwell, as he did in doing this project. 

“I’m hoping that if by the end of the week, Perry Maxwell is much more of a household name within golf architecture and people think that, ‘Wow, I would love to learn more about Perry Maxwell because I have never heard of the guy or seen his work before,’” Hanse said. “We feel like we have a fairly true representation (in the historic renovation) based on all of the old photographs that we have seen, and all the information that we were able to get our hands on during the process.

“I mean we are here because Perry Maxwell (who died in 1952) can’t be, but if he could be, I am hopeful he would be really proud of what we have done here.”