Barton Creek

[cary lichtenstein]

Thinking of going to Barton Creek in mid April.

I know nothing about the golf there, can anyone fill me on what courses to play, which to avoid.

How's the weather at that time of year.

Anything else there worth playing besides the courses at Barton Creek?

[SteveC]

Cary,

They are all fine and fun. I find Fazio Canyons to be the best. Check out the "Dellionaires" homes up in the hills above the course....

Austin Golf Club (ben Crenshaw) is private, but awesome.

Weather should be spectacular then. Try the barbeque at The County Line in town, or the Salt Lick 20 minutes away.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Visited last week.
It is the HILL country.
Only played the Crenshaw (& Coore) course.
The Back nine was mountainous, the front had some very nice green complexes.
Several blind shots - I liked both of them on 16.  
Many built up tees - some recently added.
From their site it was opened the same year as Kapalua - their first courses together.
I'd give it a 6 - I had fun.
They have come a long way since.
I didn't play the Fazios - they get more play.

I haven't played elsewhere in Austin - Austin Golf Club will probably be the treehouse recommendation.

The resort was very nice, the food at the bar was excellent - good beers on tap and the reserve zinfandel was super.

Have fun.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Cary, that is a great time to go if the greens on the course have not been overseeded. If so then you might run into some transition issues. I was in San Antonio last weekend and it seems a number of the daily fee/resort courses are overseeding the greens. I like all the courses but feel the palmer course is the weakest of the bunch. There is plenty of good to very good golf in the area. The golf is great, the music better and the girls better yet. Texas has its strong points. The only place better is here in the land of the LSU Tigers

[Mike Hendren]

Try the barbeque at The County Line in town, or the Salt Lick 20 minutes away.

While Quassi doesn't impress me as a Salt Lick kind of guy, Hillbillies know their barbecue and STRONGLY endorse the Salt Lick.

Mike

[Jason Shanks]

Barton Creek is a very nice facility.  I have only played the Crenshaw course, which I thought was wonderful.

If you are staying at Barton Creek, it is not too far to Circle C, which is my favorite public course in the area.  To that same end, almost all of the City of Austin Munies have some interesting history behind them.  So, even if the courses are not outstanding, they are nevertheless interesting.

Weather: will be great.

Course conditions: not sure of the schedule in Austin, but many courses punch the greens in early April.  Accordingly, I would suggest asking before making a tee time.

Food/drink/etc.: For BBQ, Salt Lick and County Line are acceptable.  But, if you want truly transcendent BBQ, make a trip out east of Austin to either Lockhart (Smitty's, Kreuz's, Black's) or Luling (City Market).  Closer in to Austin, I think the mexican food is better than the BBQ.  For a mexican breakfast in an institution, Las Manitas on Congress.  For a mexican lunch or dinner, hit Maudie's or Guerro's (Austinites will tell you to skip Guerro's, but it is a good scene with good - not great - food).  If you go out at night, skip 6th street and go to 4th instead. [P.S. I realize this goes beyond your original inquiry, but I think Austin is the best city in Texas - no I don't live there - so I wanted to give you some suggestions]

Enjoy your trip.

[jg7236]

Great course!  

[Nick Pozaric]

Austin Country Club is nice also.  I liked that more than Barton Creek Fazio course.

[Ken_Cotner]

Food/drink/etc.: For BBQ, Salt Lick and County Line are acceptable.  But, if you want truly transcendent BBQ, make a trip out east of Austin to either Lockhart (Smitty's, Kreuz's, Black's) or Luling (City Market).  Closer in to Austin, I think the mexican food is better than the BBQ.  For a mexican breakfast in an institution, Las Manitas on Congress.  For a mexican lunch or dinner, hit Maudie's or Guerro's (Austinites will tell you to skip Guerro's, but it is a good scene with good - not great - food).  If you go out at night, skip 6th street and go to 4th instead. [P.S. I realize this goes beyond your original inquiry, but I think Austin is the best city in Texas - no I don't live there - so I wanted to give you some suggestions]

Enjoy your trip.

Hurry to Las Manitas -- apparently a new office building is going to be built there.

Ken

[Jim Franklin]

Cary -

the accomodations there are spectacular too so your bride will enjoy that. The golf is excellent and I am sure you will be able to find your way onto Austin CC.

Jim

[ChipRoyce]

Cary;
If you do come to our fair city of Austin, please do look me up for food or golf.

On the golfing front, 3 courses at Barton, but strangely, I like the C&C course the best. Very rough around the edges compared to recent work, but very enjoyable.

As for BBQ, here's my reccomendations:
Rudy's - Best "moist" brisket
County Line - Best beef ribs
Salt Lick - Best pork ribs & sausage

[cary lichtenstein]

Cary;
If you do come to our fair city of Austin, please do look me up for food or golf.

On the golfing front, 3 courses at Barton, but strangely, I like the C&C course the best. Very rough around the edges compared to recent work, but very enjoyable.

As for BBQ, here's my reccomendations:
Rudy's - Best "moist" brisket
County Line - Best beef ribs
Salt Lick - Best pork ribs & sausage

Afraid my wife eating habits may not correspondence with Austin's best . I will look you up.

Funny that most have panned the Coore and Crenshaw course and based on that, I haven't put it in my roatation. Mistake???

Cary

You are welcome to join us, playing BC 22-24, ditto the Quarry in SA, I like almost every quarry type course I've played, they tend to get quirky and I like quirk.

[Sam Morrow]

The Crenshaw Course is wonderful, I will say that the Palmer-Lakeside Course (about 20 or so minutes from main resort) is nothing special. You can find much better in the Austin area.

I am glad there was atleast one mention of Rudy's, that's the best BBQ around. The one in Tyler recently had a fire so I had to deal with that torture.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Funny that most have panned the Coore and Crenshaw course and based on that, I haven't put it in my roatation. Mistake???

Panned?

I gave the Crenshaw a 6 which means very good / worth a game if in town.
Sam gave it a wonderful.
Steve gave them all fine & fun.

Cheers

[Steve Lang]

 

Cary,

When you play the Quarry in SA.., the 9 actually inside the quarry.. do believe the "Beware of Snakes" signs... when/if looking for balls off on some sides..

[Sam Morrow]

Cary,

When you play the Quarry in SA.., the 9 actually inside the quarry.. do believe the "Beware of Snakes" signs... when/if looking for balls off on some sides..

Did you learn the hard way?

[cary lichtenstein]

Cary,

When you play the Quarry in SA.., the 9 actually inside the quarry.. do believe the "Beware of Snakes" signs... when/if looking for balls off on some sides..

Thanks for the advise, but I haven't missed a fairway in years

[Forrest Richardson]

The Coore/Crenshaw course is a lot of fun. I think you should play for its interest — and one other aspect...when you get back to your computer you can enlighten those on GCA that even C&C use catch basins!  

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Yes, your right. But they don't use them like you do.

[Bill Gayne]

I don't have a whole lot to add except that the one time we went was at the end of April and there were severe thunderstorms all three afternoons. So be prepared for the possiblility of stormy weather.

I was commenting on one of the numerous oversize houses over looking the resort. They told me that it cost about $4 million dollars and was 30,000 square feet. Doing the quick math it was pretty reasonably priced on a square foot basis. If I could only figure out what to do with 30,000 square feet.

The resort was better than most. Dinner at Flemmings in Downtown Austin and then out to the bars. Lunch at County Line on the departure day was worthwhile. My buddy had a hole in one on the C&C course and ended up buying the wine at Flemmings.

We didn't make it out to the Palmer course but the three courses at the resort was plenty.

Bill

[cary lichtenstein]

[quote author=Bill Gayne link

I was commenting on one of the numerous oversize houses over looking the resort. They told me that it cost about $4 million dollars and was 30,000 square feet. Doing the quick math it was pretty reasonably priced on a square foot basis. If I could only figure out what to do with 30,000 square feet.



Bill

Ring the guys door bell and greet him  "Dad, I'm so glad to meet you" Then take a hard look at his face

[Bill_McBride]

I was at Barton Creek a couple of weeks ago and had a good time playing couples fourball games.  I prefer the C&C course based on several rounds there - great big sprawling greens just laid over the natural terrain, about half falling away.  Good use of some rolling terrain, and pretty walkable.  The Fazio Canyons course #2 for me, it's on very good terrain, but most of the greens built up in back, lots of apparent shaping. Fazio Foothills #3, its pretty overshaped in a couple of places, crumpled potato chip stuff.  The site gets pretty tight in a couple of places but there are good holes along the western escarpment above Barton Creek.

Palmer course is too big a drive to justify playing, it's #4 without a bullet.

Las Manitas closing?  

A really good side trip is a visit to the LBJ Library at University of Texas.  

County Line BBQ is dry dry dry.  

[Forrest Richardson]

Tommy — Since our designs rarely use catch basins, except to drain a flat site, I am not sure what your reply means.  

[Jeff_Brauer]

Tommy,

So what are you saying, either CC or FR uses catch basins on high spots, rather than in the traditional low areas?  Or that they put them in "grate side down" so they are there, but really don't catch water?

I suspect that they use them just like other gca's - to catch water where it needs to be caught.  As to style, I think it nearly elimnates grass bunkers from the CC repitrore.  IMHO, their style might use that, if they ever decide to emulate classic courses built in the 1920's, but as they existed in the 1930's, after eliminating "unnecessary" sand bunkers to reduce maintenance costs.

It may be just me, having grown up playing a lot of courses with those grass indentions, but I think that's a cool look.

[Trey Kemp]

I lived in the Austin area for about 3.5 years and there are a lot of good courses to play.  I would recommend the following courses:

Barton Creek Canyons  (Fazio)
Spanish Oaks (Weed)
Austin Golf Club (Coore & Crenshaw)
Austin Country Club (Dye)
Cimarron Hills (Nicklaus)

Other courses that are within driving distance

Horseshoe Bay Ramrock (Jones Sr.)  hard!!!
Horseshoe Bay Applerock (Jones Sr.)
Horseshoe Bay Slickrock (Jones Sr.)