Deep South Part II – Texas

There have been four courses in the state of Texas that have been ranked in the Top 100 Public Courses.  Unfortunately, Ram Rock (#96 Last Ranked in 2003) at Horseshoe Bay is temporarily closed for renovation.  That means another trip in the future back to the Austin area to finish this Texas foursome.  Not the ideal travel situation but we moved on and knocked out the other three.  This trek through Texas started at the JW Marriott Resort and the TPC San Antonio Oaks (#84 in Current Rankings) course.  This is a Greg Norman design and it is the yearly host of the PGA Tour Texas Valero Open.   The resort is outstanding in every way.  The hotel and the amenities are fantastic and make you want to return.  The golf course, which is one of two on property, was in fantastic condition, although because of the recent over seeding, the greens were a little slow and we had to play cart path only.  Not the ideal situation on this course as the cart paths are far from the fairways and greens.  Too bad they do not have caddies as that would require less walking and would enhance the experience.  TPC San Antonio Oaks was built to host a PGA tour event and plays long for the average resort guest.  I played the green tees at 6,242 yards and a slope of 135.  This was a challenging course which is okay but if a senior player that normally plays around 5,800 yards is at the resort, this would be quite long and the only other choice is the forward red tees at 5,514 yards.  This yardage is also too long for most women golfers, especially with the many elevated greens.  It seems as if they only want the better players to tackle this course.  They do have their other course, The Canyons, which plays shorter but I would think many resort guests would like to play both or would like to play the Oaks course from more reasonable tees.  Another set of tees would allow an option of 5,800 yards and one of 5,000 yards.  This is a great course and has many wonderful holes both in beauty and design.  The par 3 16th is known for the bunker in the middle of the green.  Luckily, we hit our tee shots where we had a direct putt to the hole.  Most of the holes were very interesting but a few were somewhat average in appearance.  The ninth hole in particular was quite ordinary.  It is a very long par 4 with no bunkering, no water, just a long narrow elevated green at the end of a grass runway.  All the greens are very large and require some serious thought before stroking your putt.  The bunkers are very deep and very penal.  If you like outstanding courses that come with a challenge, then TPC San Antonio is for you.  I can see why it might be in the current Top 100 but it does not have the “fun factor” that I think is necessary for me to place it in my Top 100.

After San Antonio, it was off to Austin and the Barton Creek Resort.  I have to temper my opinion of this resort as they are undergoing a $150 million expansion and renovation so things were quite torn up around the hotel and several of their restaurants were closed as was the Fazio Foothills golf course.  I would like to come back in two to three years when the renovations are complete.  The service was great and the course we came to play, Fazio Canyons (#78 in Current Rankings) was outstanding.  The clubhouse was gone and the new clubhouse is currently under construction.  They were using a small temporary trailer as a pro shop which was somewhat interesting considering the $250 green fee.  Once we got beyond the construction at the hotel and the pro shop trailer, we were met at the first tee by Charlie the starter.  He was a terrific guy and since we were early for our time, we enjoyed a nice conversation with Charlie about the course and the resort.  He gave us some useful information about how to play the course and it was quite helpful as we made our way around this beautiful design.  Fazio Canyons has a slope rating of 132 from the white tees of 6,002 yards and there were thick stands of trees and canyons if you ventured a little too far from the fairways.  Despite this, we thought that the course was very playable and presented a diverse, interesting set of holes.  There was a minimal use of bunkering and they were not as severe as most Fazio courses that we have played.  Hole 10 was quite memorable as it has a stream running in front of the green and a canyon left and behind the green.  My 6 iron approach shot was short but hit a rock in the stream, bounced high onto the green and ended 10 feet from the hole where I was able to capitalize with one of my few birdies on this trip thus far.  Fazio Canyons deserves its Golf Digest Top 100 rating and is moving into my Top 50 Most Enjoyable course I have played.  It is a little pricey but I think it is worth the money to experience this golf course at least once.

Our final Texas course this trip was in The Colony, a northern suburb of Dallas.  One of the highlights of this trip was playing  with our grandson, Ian.  Ian lives in Dallas and had the day off work so he was able to join Marilyn and I at The Tribute (#76 Last Ranked in 2009).  The Tribute was designed by Tripp Davis and each hole is a replica of an outstanding hole on a Scottish links such as St. Andrews.  I thought that the course was interesting, fun to play, was in very good condition and the holes which were familiar to me were very nice replicas of the originals. I understand that they were having some problems with their bent grass greens and a few months ago they were converted to the present Bermuda greens. That was a very good decision as the greens are now outstanding.  The round begins with Number 1 from St. Andrews and finishes with Numbers 17 and 18 from St. Andrews. There are also replicas of two holes from Turnberry, two from Prestwick, two from Muirfield plus one hole each from several other courses. I am normally disappointed when I play replica courses but not this time.  I really enjoyed this course and can see why it earned its Top 100 rating in 2009.  With so many great courses in the United States at this time, it is difficult to maintain that status and I would agree that it does not measure up to that status now.  But with that being said, I think The Tribute is an outstanding layout, a great value and a course that I would enjoy playing on a regular basis.

We capped off our time with a Texas Thanksgiving at our son Jason’s home with his family.  What a nice way to spend a couple of down days before heading east and playing five more top courses.  Definitely a special memory for this golfing couple.