3 days in Austin. Looking for 3-4 courses

exgolfpro · December 16, 2015

Going to be in Austin over a long weekend in January. Meeting a buddy for a mini golf trip. Wondering what courses are a must play while we are there?

I'm assuming Barton Creek is a must? Any private courses that we might be able to get on? Don't really have any connections though.

Also wondering if there are any courses in Austin that used to host a PGA Tour event? even years and years ago? Always enjoy playing historic type courses.

txeconomist · December 17, 2015

I'd try to play the two Fazio courses at Barton Creek and Wolf Dancer in Bastdrop

raholland71 · December 17, 2015

Barton creek and wolfdancer are great choices. Falconhead, Avery Ranch and ShadowGlen are some others that I like.

The WGC match play is going to be hosted at Austin country club for the foreseeable future, and if you get the opportunity to play there, jump on it

Tailgater · December 17, 2015

I've heard the University of Texas course is great but it might be private.

colby1 · December 17, 2015

echo the Falconhead recommendation, it's excellent.

Take a look at austingolftrail.com - some buddies and I used it last year to put together a trip and they were really helpful in securing times at the courses we played months in advance rather than taking a chance with the normal 7 days out that most courses take reservations on. BTW - I'm in no way affiliated with that site, just passing along someone that proved helpful to me.

raholland71 · December 17, 2015

So I ended up playing at wolfdancer today answers actually a little disappointed. The greens were almost bare and it was just in ok shape by its usual standard. I'm sure that is because of the season and I doubt January will be any better.

I don't want to deter you from going out there because it's for the most part a fantastic course, just giving you a heads up

larryw · December 17, 2015

There are a large number of good golf courses in the Austin/Central Texas area. You didn't give any details on what prices you are willing to pay or how far you could drive or other details but here are a few options that I would consider.

We have the course that hosted the first Senior tour event - Onion Creek. They played that course for the first few years. It is an old design course with narrow tree-lined fairways, small greens. It now has 27 holes so you want to play the "original 18" to play the course that Arnie and Jimmy Demaret played.

If you can drive 40 miles or so then you definitely should look at Valer Creek in Blanco TX. It is a fantastic course and is well worth the drive to play. I believe they overseed both fairways and greens in the winter so it should be great for January.

Wolfdancer is about 15 miles east of the airport and is a very nice course. They do not overseed the greens so they will be dormant in January. They do roll them and keep them very fast. I played it last week and as the poster above noted - the greens are thin and very fast. Course is in great shape however and the layout is very challenging.

Falconhead and Avery Ranch are semi-private courses and are both nice courses to play and are your typical semi-private courses.

Twin Creeks in Cedar Park (just north of Austin) is a Fred Couples designed private course that is a great course to play. I would think if you call them and tell them you are visiting and would like to play a round that they might accommodate you. Maybe try the same story for Ben Crenshaw's Austin Golf Club (NOT the same as the Austin Country Club). Not sure it would work there but if you can get on that course it would be fantastic.

University of Texas golf club would be another one to try the sell job - it is a great course and might let you on as a guest.

There are three courses at Horseshoe Bay (20 miles or so west of Austin) that are also very nice to play. Don't know about January but it is a resort area so they should be in pretty good shape.

Hope you really enjoy Austin - weather forecast for most of January shows it to be fairly nice. Good luck.

exgolfpro · December 18, 2015

[quote name='raholland71' timestamp='1450397225' post='12733596']
So I ended up playing at wolfdancer today answers actually a little disappointed. The greens were almost bare and it was just in ok shape by its usual standard. I'm sure that is because of the season and I doubt January will be any better.

I don't want to deter you from going out there because it's for the most part a fantastic course, just giving you a heads up
[/quote]

thx. appreciate it.

exgolfpro · December 18, 2015

[quote name='larryw' timestamp='1450404777' post='12734054']
There are a large number of good golf courses in the Austin/Central Texas area. You didn't give any details on what prices you are willing to pay or how far you could drive or other details but here are a few options that I would consider.

We have the course that hosted the first Senior tour event - Onion Creek. They played that course for the first few years. It is an old design course with narrow tree-lined fairways, small greens. It now has 27 holes so you want to play the "original 18" to play the course that Arnie and Jimmy Demaret played.

If you can drive 40 miles or so then you definitely should look at Valer Creek in Blanco TX. It is a fantastic course and is well worth the drive to play. I believe they overseed both fairways and greens in the winter so it should be great for January.

Wolfdancer is about 15 miles east of the airport and is a very nice course. They do not overseed the greens so they will be dormant in January. They do roll them and keep them very fast. I played it last week and as the poster above noted - the greens are thin and very fast. Course is in great shape however and the layout is very challenging.

Falconhead and Avery Ranch are semi-private courses and are both nice courses to play and are your typical semi-private courses.

Twin Creeks in Cedar Park (just north of Austin) is a Fred Couples designed private course that is a great course to play. I would think if you call them and tell them you are visiting and would like to play a round that they might accommodate you. Maybe try the same story for Ben Crenshaw's Austin Golf Club (NOT the same as the Austin Country Club). Not sure it would work there but if you can get on that course it would be fantastic.

University of Texas golf club would be another one to try the sell job - it is a great course and might let you on as a guest.

There are three courses at Horseshoe Bay (20 miles or so west of Austin) that are also very nice to play. Don't know about January but it is a resort area so they should be in pretty good shape.

Hope you really enjoy Austin - weather forecast for most of January shows it to be fairly nice. Good luck.
[/quote]

Thanks for the reply. As for price, I don't think we really have a limit. Not even sure where we are staying yet, so I'm not sure what area of Austin we will be in. I would suspect that a drive up to 45 minutes would be fine. Is it possible to get down to TPC San Antonio in that amount of time? Google maps shows it at about 90 minutes.

farmer · December 18, 2015

Considering the traffic in the Austin area, I might just check in at Barton Creek and never leave.

KK44 · December 18, 2015

[quote name='larryw' timestamp='1450404777' post='12734054']There are a large number of good golf courses in the Austin/Central Texas area. You didn't give any details on what prices you are willing to pay or how far you could drive or other details but here are a few options that I would consider.

We have the course that hosted the first Senior tour event - Onion Creek. They played that course for the first few years. It is an old design course with narrow tree-lined fairways, small greens. It now has 27 holes so you want to play the "original 18" to play the course that Arnie and Jimmy Demaret played.

If you can drive 40 miles or so then you definitely should look at Valer Creek in Blanco TX. It is a fantastic course and is well worth the drive to play. I believe they overseed both fairways and greens in the winter so it should be great for January.

Wolfdancer is about 15 miles east of the airport and is a very nice course. They do not overseed the greens so they will be dormant in January. They do roll them and keep them very fast. I played it last week and as the poster above noted - the greens are thin and very fast. Course is in great shape however and the layout is very challenging.

Falconhead and Avery Ranch are semi-private courses and are both nice courses to play and are your typical semi-private courses.

Twin Creeks in Cedar Park (just north of Austin) is a Fred Couples designed private course that is a great course to play. I would think if you call them and tell them you are visiting and would like to play a round that they might accommodate you. Maybe try the same story for Ben Crenshaw's Austin Golf Club (NOT the same as the Austin Country Club). Not sure it would work there but if you can get on that course it would be fantastic.

University of Texas golf club would be another one to try the sell job - it is a great course and might let you on as a guest.

There are three courses at Horseshoe Bay (20 miles or so west of Austin) that are also very nice to play. Don't know about January but it is a resort area so they should be in pretty good shape.

Hope you really enjoy Austin - weather forecast for most of January shows it to be fairly nice. Good luck.[/quote]

This pretty much nailed it. The next tier below these I would say Grey Rock, Teravista, Shadowglen, Star Ranch. River Place is a private track that you could probably get on. They are on golfnow almost every week at some point.

Definitely look into Omni Barton Creek though.

J_Birdie · December 23, 2015

[quote name='exgolfpro' timestamp='1450454957' post='12735762']
[quote name='larryw' timestamp='1450404777' post='12734054']
There are a large number of good golf courses in the Austin/Central Texas area. You didn't give any details on what prices you are willing to pay or how far you could drive or other details but here are a few options that I would consider.

We have the course that hosted the first Senior tour event - Onion Creek. They played that course for the first few years. It is an old design course with narrow tree-lined fairways, small greens. It now has 27 holes so you want to play the "original 18" to play the course that Arnie and Jimmy Demaret played.

If you can drive 40 miles or so then you definitely should look at Valer Creek in Blanco TX. It is a fantastic course and is well worth the drive to play. I believe they overseed both fairways and greens in the winter so it should be great for January.

Wolfdancer is about 15 miles east of the airport and is a very nice course. They do not overseed the greens so they will be dormant in January. They do roll them and keep them very fast. I played it last week and as the poster above noted - the greens are thin and very fast. Course is in great shape however and the layout is very challenging.

Falconhead and Avery Ranch are semi-private courses and are both nice courses to play and are your typical semi-private courses.

Twin Creeks in Cedar Park (just north of Austin) is a Fred Couples designed private course that is a great course to play. I would think if you call them and tell them you are visiting and would like to play a round that they might accommodate you. Maybe try the same story for Ben Crenshaw's Austin Golf Club (NOT the same as the Austin Country Club). Not sure it would work there but if you can get on that course it would be fantastic.

University of Texas golf club would be another one to try the sell job - it is a great course and might let you on as a guest.

There are three courses at Horseshoe Bay (20 miles or so west of Austin) that are also very nice to play. Don't know about January but it is a resort area so they should be in pretty good shape.

Hope you really enjoy Austin - weather forecast for most of January shows it to be fairly nice. Good luck.
[/quote]

Thanks for the reply. As for price, I don't think we really have a limit. Not even sure where we are staying yet, so I'm not sure what area of Austin we will be in. I would suspect that a drive up to 45 minutes would be fine. Is it possible to get down to TPC San Antonio in that amount of time? Google maps shows it at about 90 minutes.
[/quote]

I live by TPC San Antonio and it depends entirely where you are staying in Austin. For reference, on a normal day, it takes me 55 minutes to Buda, 1 hr to Slaughter, 1hr 40 to UT, 2 hours to North Austin.

The further south in Austin you stay, the more you avoid the insane traffic.

Vaaler creek is a great recommendation. I recently played it and it is in absolutely fantastic shape and is a great course at a great price. TPC SA is $$$ but always in immaculate shape. Oaks course is hard, Canyons is not nearly as difficult. If you make the trip to TPC, try to do both.