It’s hard to believe we are already halfway through our Toulon Golf Coastal California series road trip. We’ve already spent a long time in the car and drove hundreds of miles as we traveled from Leucadia to Paso Robles.
Today, we travel back toward the ocean, through the Big Sur region, and eventually cross over the Bixby Creek Bridge. The limited-edition Toulon Golf Bixby putter is, of course, named after that bridge.
The Bixby Bridge is a marvel. People speak of it in the same context as the Golden Gate Bridge. We will see if the putter lives up to the spectacular engineering of its namesake.
I have driven across the Bixby Bridge but I didn’t know it was named after the creek below. I was a little disappointed to learn that the bridge was not named after Bill Bixby, the best Bruce Banner ever. Since he was born in 1934, and the bridge was built in 1932, that makes sense.
That means we won’t be seeing the Incredible Hulk anywhere near the bridge but the Bixby putter is pretty incredible and part of it is arguably hulking.
Capturing the Bixby Bridge and Big Sur vibe
Toulon Golf’s selection of the Bixby name for their putter is an interesting one, a bit of a bold statement. First of all, it’s not the name of a city like their two previous models. So much for the rules of the release.
I’m not too surprised since Toulon Golf is a small, family-run shop that can create and change the rules as they see fit. They usually spoil their own Small Batch releases on social media about a week before the release date.
By choosing the Bixby name, Toulon is channeling both the vibes of the 90-mile coastal region of Big Sur and the Bixby Bridge.
For those of you who need a more solid location reference, the Bixby Bridge sits on California Highway 1 about 15 miles south of the city of Carmel. As far as significant golf locations go, very few will rival the Carmel/Monterey area.
Here is a little something for the pontists out there.
The Bixby Bridge was constructed in 1932, a true engineering marvel for the time, and remains an iconic landmark. The bridge is more than 700 feet long, constructed of concrete. Steel construction would have required more maintenance and repainting due to the constant exposure to the salty air of the Pacific Ocean.
If you are interested in bridges (and thus the word pontist), I suggest you dig a little deeper into the Bixby Bridge’s construction. It’s impressive by today’s standards and even more so when you remember that it was built in 1932.
The Toulon Golf Coastal California Bixby putter
The more I learned about the Bixby Bridge, the more I was impressed by the boldness of Toulon Golf in choosing that name. The Bixby Bridge’s next-level engineering creates big, high-arched shoes for the putter to fill.
It’s like naming your “going to be an athlete” daughter Annika, Serena or Tonya.
For the Bixby, Toulon started with a 365-gram version of their Las Vegas head shape. With this shape, they could match the central arc of the putter to that of the bridge.
Once I saw the visual similarity between the two, I forgave them for not naming the putter after a city or Bill Bixby.
The “hulking” feature I mentioned is the neck. The plumber’s neck on the Bixby stretches all the way from Carmel to Monterey. It’s as tall as the Coastal Redwood trees in Big Sur!
The long neck is not there for just cosmetics. By extending the neck, Toulon was able to minimize the putter’s toe hang.
This creates a version of the Las Vegas with a plumber’s neck look at address but with different play characteristics. This version’s face will open and close less during the stroke than a traditional plumber’s neck.
The Bixby design includes the machined three-layer sole plate that we saw with the Paso Robles yesterday. Naturally, we also see the line-characteristic Golden Sand PVD finish and Ocean Blue paint fill.
Since the Bixby Bridge is incorporated into Highway 1, the highway-sign face milling pattern is especially fitting for this putter.
One more Coastal California stop tomorrow
Tomorrow, our Coastal California tour comes to an end in the San Francisco Bay Area. No, I didn’t just ruin the surprise. It’s not like I said the Toulon Golf Coastal California Series Daly City.
Speaking of Daly City, a high five to all of the SF State grads out there who got to walk across the street to play TPC Harding Park while in school at a nice student rate.
Daly City is not our destination but you should go there and play golf. If Harding Park is booked, join The Olympic Club. Bring the checkbook with the extra-large amount box for that membership.
On a final, more somber note, I hope that the Timber Fire in Big Sur is contained soon and that the folk who have evacuated can return to their homes soon.
Thankfully, Highway 1 is now open again. But at only 26 percent containment, firefighters have a lot of work ahead to get control of the fire. Hopefully, they are heading home to their families soon as well.
We hit our last stop tomorrow. If you’ve been paying attention to the details in the photos, you know exactly where we are off to next. See you there.
The Toulon Golf Coastal California Series Bixby putter is available now at ToulonGolf.com.
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