San Antonio Courses

[Lobby]

On 9/2/2020 at 2:20 PM, nova6868 said:

 

It's just not a fun hole to play - it forces a layup (boring) and the layup area is so narrow it's ridiculous. Even with a good layup you're still looking at 150 uphill into the green on your 3rd. They should rework that entire hole, probably need to remove some trees around the water and plant more trees elsewhere. 

 

 

Hah!

I played Riverside this weekend.   I got par on both 8 and 16!  

Thing was, I needed perfect drives and approach shots to do this.  

On 16 I cut the right corner on the drive (my bet is that trees are mostly air), then a perfect wedge over the left trees on the corner of the dogleg, followed by a good 9 iron onto the green.   Pretty much how you drew it up.

[J_Birdie]

I would bet dollars to donuts that 16 is blown up when RS gets its Olmos-like renovation next year

[nova6868]

Still laughing about how The Republic decided to close due to declining revenue right before Covid struck. What timing. And a real bummer because that course had some great terrain and holes.

 

Every course is so packed right now, I'm pretty sure we could easily use a couple more around town.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by nova6868

[MerryTex]

Any condition updates on the courses in SA? I'm going up on Friday to spend the day with my wife and I might go out to Brackenridge, Quarry, La Cantera, or drive up to the Bandit. I've played Brack right before Covid hit and loved it. 

[Lobby]

I was at Brack yesterday.   The greens had recent maintenance.   Not good, IMO.

Pretty much "all" of the greens in the muni Alamo Golf Trail have been sanded.  

I have no info on the others

[MerryTex]

7 minutes ago, Lobby said:

I was at Brack yesterday.   The greens had recent maintenance.   Not good, IMO.

Pretty much "all" of the greens in the muni Alamo Golf Trail have been sanded.  

I have no info on the others

Thanks! 

[texasdave]

cedar creeks greens are in decent shape except the "new" #11 which has the usual rough patches on the edges...poa is gone as well

[MerryTex]

I went and played La Cantera Palmer today and loved it. Course was in good condition but I could tell they verticut the greens and sanded maybe a week or two back. They were still quick so it took me a little bit to adjust to them. Missed a lot of putts but it was more on me. Overall, I enjoyed my day out there. 

Edited June 19, 2021 by MerryTex
Course

[MerryTex]

Has anyone played at the Bandit or Vaaler Creek recently? Looking to possibly go out there on Monday of next week after 4.

[snagy2000]

9 minutes ago, MerryTex said:

Has anyone played at the Bandit or Vaaler Creek recently? Looking to possibly go out there on Monday of next week after 4.

Played the Bandit last Friday. It was in decent shape. The greens were a little grainy and slow, but rolled ok. When I first got there, I saw the practice greens and was a little worried, but the course greens are in much better shape. Tee boxes are in mediocre shape, but I've seen worse. 

[MerryTex]

1 minute ago, snagy2000 said:

Played the Bandit last Friday. It was in decent shape. The greens were a little grainy and slow, but rolled ok. When I first got there, I saw the practice greens and was a little worried, but the course greens are in much better shape. Tee boxes are in mediocre shape, but I've seen worse. 

Fairways okay?

[snagy2000]

16 minutes ago, MerryTex said:

Fairways okay?

Plenty of grass, not many dead spots...Outside of the tee boxes, I think they weathered the winter storm pretty good...

[jbwhouston]

Played Silverhorn last Saturday and really enjoyed it.  Really good shape.  If I had to complain, greens were a little slower than expected and really grainy.  But I'm being really picky to complain about that.

Also, played Vaaler Creek about 45 min. north of San Antonio and really enjoyed that too! Nice design, nice scenery, nice topographic changes.  Great price for both Silverhorn and Vaaler Creek.

[J_Birdie]

Silverhorn is in great shape tee through green!

 

Brackenridge was in great shape tee to green but their greens are still recovering from their disease or whatever. Much better than last month though. 

 

Rumor on the street is the rough at MDL is US Open level tall lol 

[nova6868]

So I've played Olmos Basin twice since the refresh, and my conclusion is the greens are just too much. Tons of slope that's borderline ridiculous on some holes. I'm hoping once the greens soften up and grow in a little bit they will calm down. But the way they are now it gets a little old watching everyone 3 and 4 putt. Also takes forever. 

 

It's in great shape and I love the changes they made, greens are just a little too much for a muni course that gets lots of play.

[texasdave]

49 minutes ago, nova6868 said:

So I've played Olmos Basin twice since the refresh, and my conclusion is the greens are just too much. Tons of slope that's borderline ridiculous on some holes. I'm hoping once the greens soften up and grow in a little bit they will calm down. But the way they are now it gets a little old watching everyone 3 and 4 putt. Also takes forever. 

 

It's in great shape and I love the changes they made, greens are just a little too much for a muni course that gets lots of play.

 

Couldn't agree more with this, i like the changes done overall but the greens are too extreme in some places. 

 

I played this last thursday and on #3 they had the pin on the top of a slope in the front right just over a bunker...two players in my group putted from one side of the hole to the other three times because  there was no way to stop the ball around the hole given the slope and thinness of the grass. 

[J_Birdie]

It is growing pains with Olmos. The greens are 100% designed to have designated hole locations, but that is not being communicated to the staff who were used to the old flat greens. I agree that some of the flags are dumb. I played last Thursday as well and know the exact flag Dave refers to. I think with a little education on hole placement, it is wonderful. The intent is to start cutting the greenside grass to fairway length so balls end up in the designated collection areas and the greens are designed to be firm and fast. 

 

With proper hole locations, i think it will be fine. Tournaments are going to be extra awesome there. 

[texasdave]

Let's hope that's the case J...Olmos is the course I "learned to play on" so it's always had a good place for me...

[snagy2000]

Thinking about playing Canyon Springs, anybody care to share their opinion on the course? Thx!

[J_Birdie]

Yeah it’s a fun course you won’t hate it 

[asommers1441]

Played the front 9 at Brack today and boy the course is in rough shape. They say they are going to be finished with the bunkers in two weeks but the greens were prob some of the worst I have played. 

[nova6868]

Yes I agree the greens at Brack are the worst I've ever seen them. 

 

[texasdave]

i played there about 6 weeks ago and they were bad, i'm playing there saturday and was hoping they had improved but sounds like they got worse...

[Lobby]

I drive by Brack on 281 regularly.   The lack of play has been noticeable from the highway.   I was wondering why.

I guess now I know.

[J_Birdie]

Brack is dropping  mad sod on the course to fix it

[texasdave]

6 minutes ago, J_Birdie said:

Brack is dropping  mad sod on the course to fix it

any idea how it got so bad, can't believe it got away from them so fast.

 

played cedar yesterday and the greens were in good shape, they finally got rid of most of the poa.

[J_Birdie]

The POA died in the heat so now the Bermuda isn’t competing for soil resources. 
 

I don’t know how Brack got bad other than they say the weather hasn’t been good. La Cantera greens are even worse than Brack 

[cjblake09]

Hyatt Hill Country over the weekend was Meh.  Greens rolled true but super slow and a bunch of dead spots on the greens.  Tight course for sure and a premium to hit the correct club off the tee. 

[asommers1441]

Just played Canyon Springs for the first time. Enjoyed the course. Greens a little sandy but overall in pretty good condition. 

[texasdave]

Has anyone played Brack in the last week...any improvement on the greens?