In a celebrity golf architect world where two brothers wage a childish feud (hello Jones boys!) and Tom Fazio sometimes doesn’t even show up to his own course openings, sending a video of him talking about the new place instead, Arthur Hills is the rare golf architect of note whose ego wouldn’t qualify as five pieces of extra large carry-on baggage.

You can hear this in host Dave Berner’s excellent interview with Arthur Hills in the latest TravelGolf.com This Week Podcast. A lot of people assume (and write) that Hills still living in Toledo, Ohio shows how he isn’t caught up in the trappings of success. Which completely misses the real story, the better story: Hills would much rather live somewhere else. But he stays in Toledo because that’s where his wife is most comfortable.

Toledo is a sacrifice for the person Hills loves much like PGA Tour player Woody Austin lives in Derby, Kansas because of his wife. Just like Austin is about the only guy on the Tour who’d do that, Hills is the rare celebrity golf course architect who didn’t lose all perspective when big-shot multi-millionaires started handing him large paychecks.

Berner brings the real Toledo story out of Hills in his interview too - typical of a podcast that’s better than any golf radio show on the air because of Berner’s work.

I recently interviewed Arthur Hills as well (he answers his own phone too, which isn’t exactly happening when you call Greg Norman) about his new design in La Paz, which could change many people’s views of Mexican golf on the sea. You’ll see that story soon on TravelGolf.com. But listen to Berner’s general state of golf course design interview with Hills first. It’s more than worth the time.

It’s not like I’m recommending it just because the podcast happens to be on this network of sites either. You can find RonMon’s blog on TravelGolf.com too and I wouldn’t recommend that to even the most annoying DMV worker. And could you imagine if WorldGolf.com’s William K. Wolfrum had his own podcast? The liberal lunacy that spewed out could short circuit even Bill Gates’ computer.

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