Austin Country Club

[Chip Gaskins]

Has anyone played or know much about this place?  Sorry, I meant to say Austin Country Club.

Thanks

[Sam Morrow]

Great spot, it's a wonderful piece of property. I enjoyed the front 9 much more than the back (probably because I went 34-42). The club is very private but has a very comfortable feel to it.

Check your PM's.

[Bart Bradley]

Enjoyed my time there very much...Fast and Firm with lots of C & C features...would love to go see it again now that I have seen other C & C work.

At the time of my visit hitting off the fairway was pretty dead...I wonder if they've thinned the grass or if it is still hay?

Bart

[Sam Morrow]

Enjoyed my time there very much...Fast and Firm with lots of C & C features...would love to go see it again now that I have seen other C & C work.

At the time of my visit hitting off the fairway was pretty dead...I wonder if they've thinned the grass or if it is still hay?

Bart

In March getting off the fairway led to almost certain bogey.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Are we talking about Austin CC OR GC I am confused here?

[Sam Morrow]

Are we talking about Austin CC OR GC I am confused here?

Originally he was asking about AGC but now it looks like Chip is wanting to find out about Austin Country Club.

[Bart Bradley]

Ok Chip...I liked Austin Country Club as well...The property certainly has more elevation changes as it heads down toward the river and back up.  Some aspects of the course made me feel like it was a blend of Pete Dye and Tom Fazio...odd that I felt that way and not exactly sure why.

In my opinion, you will enjoy ACC but it is not nearly as special as Austin Golf Club.

Michael...he changed the subject.

Bart

[ward peyronnin]

I thought Austin CC moved in the 90's to a course i believe was designed by PB Dye? If so i have horrible memories of that design and that was before i even started reading about GCA: waterfalls on top of mounded hills; ridicuous blind shots to unreceptive greens; rotting RR ties; roadcuts in the sides of hills that masqueraded as fairways; Horrible place.

[Sam Morrow]

I thought Austin CC moved in the 90's to a course i believe was designed by PB Dye? If so i have horrible memories of that design and that was before i even started reading about GCA: waterfalls on top of mounded hills; ridicuous blind shots to unreceptive greens; rotting RR ties; roadcuts in the sides of hills that masqueraded as fairways; Horrible place.

I think Austin Country Club moved to it's current location on the river, done by Pete Dye, in the early 80's. I think this is the third ACC, the first was now Lions Municipal and then there was what's now Riverside.

[Bart Bradley]

Ward:

I think you've got it wrong...ACC is not horrible... and is not what you describe.  It has some neat features.

Bart

[Sam Morrow]

Ward:

I think you've got it wrong...ACC is not horrible... and is not what you describe.  It has some neat features.

Bart

Maybe he is talking about Tom Kite's RiverPlace?

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

An intersting course!
about a 5 or 6 on the Doak scale..with some of the hardest par fours on the planet..brutal holes, especially when the wind blows.
Holes that require long carries on your second shots, carry or death..but very challenging.
Certainly worth a visit.
Great putting surfaces and really good par threes.

[ward peyronnin]

Bart

I played this course about 10+ years ago and i am pretty sure Harvey Pennick was either still there or had just passed so that would be ACC wouldn't it? I played the original where Crenshaw grew up 30 years ago and wanted to see how the move had gone
The layout started way up on the hills and the front side wound done along a river and then came back up the hills. There was a par three on the very top with a 40' pile of rocks to the left and a waterfall spilling into a lake all of which was totally out of place: very hard for water to flow uphill and then discharge. The water holes were ringed by sleepers and i had a very hard time gaging anyhting on that front side. There was a hole on the side of that same hill mentioned above where they literally carved a roadcut out of the slope and you played thru this gap that was once again totally forced so forgive me if i have the wrong course or maybe it has been redone but after playing my first C&C course at Barton Creek and the Fazio there this was certainly a let down whatever course it was.

[Sam Morrow]

Bart

I played this course about 10+ years ago and i am pretty sure Harvey Pennick was either still there or had just passed so that would be ACC wouldn't it? I played the original where Crenshaw grew up 30 years ago and wanted to see how the move had gone
The layout started way up on the hills and the front side wound done along a river and then came back up the hills. There was a par three on the very top with a 40' pile of rocks to the left and a waterfall spilling into a lake all of which was totally out of place: very hard for water to flow uphill and then discharge. The water holes were ringed by sleepers and i had a very hard time gaging anyhting on that front side. There was a hole on the side of that same hill mentioned above where they literally carved a roadcut out of the slope and you played thru this gap that was once again totally forced so forgive me if i have the wrong course or maybe it has been redone but after playing my first C&C course at Barton Creek and the Fazio there this was certainly a let down whatever course it was.

Was the course right off the highway with the big bridge overlooking it?

[Matt_Cohn]

Ugh, let's get this all cleared up.

Austin Golf Club is Crenshaw and Coore. Never played it.

Austin Country Club is Pete Dye, along the lake, with the bridge in the background. It's a fantastic golf course with some very cool holes, particularly on the front nine. The two holes that I think have fake waterfalls, #2 and #17, are out of place and not so great, but the rest is top-notch. Crazy finishing hole. I'll look for pictures.



#3


#18

[Sam Morrow]

Ugh, let's get this all cleared up.

Austin Golf Club is Crenshaw and Coore. Never played it.

Austin Country Club is Pete Dye, along the lake, with the bridge in the background. It's a fantastic golf course with some very cool holes, particularly on the front nine. The two holes that I think have fake waterfalls, #2 and #17, are out of place and not so great, but the rest is top-notch. Crazy cool finishing hole. I'll look for pictures.

Damn Matt, that was quick!

[Matt_Cohn]

I'm good at drawing. 

[Sam Morrow]

I'm good at drawing. 

Good for you!!!

[Jeff_Mingay]

ACC was the first Pete Dye project that Rod Whitman looked after, during the early 1980s. Rod's been back to ACC over recent years to do some restorative-based tweaking, based on recommendations made by Mr. Dye. Part of that tweaking involved removal of at least one of the waterfall features mentioned above (maybe both?).

[Eric Pevoto]

I thought Austin CC moved in the 90's to a course i believe was designed by PB Dye? If so i have horrible memories of that design and that was before i even started reading about GCA: waterfalls on top of mounded hills; ridicuous blind shots to unreceptive greens; rotting RR ties; roadcuts in the sides of hills that masqueraded as fairways; Horrible place.

I think Austin Country Club moved to it's current location on the river, done by Pete Dye, in the early 80's. I think this is the third ACC, the first was now Lions Municipal and then there was what's now Riverside.

I believe the little course at Hancock Park was the original Austin CC.

[Bart Bradley]

Ward:

I think you describe some aspects of ACC.  My visit is certainly more recent than yours.  Some of the problems you saw have probably been fixed.  I agree that it is about a Doak 6...Not the greatest, but worth seeing.

Bart

[Ron Farris]

Jeff,
I was at ACC was an interesting project.  Rod was the project manager, having come from working with Bill Coore.  Keith Sparkman, John Reidinger, myself, were at the project as turf graduates and Greg Muirhead as a landscape architect graduate.  This was in 1982-83.  It was quite a project in that there was a bit of learning curve going on and that may well justify the return visits by Rod.  I have some pictures of construction that I might post later.  

I returned to the site once and Harvey Pennick was humbly sitting on a cart at the first tee watching everyone tee off.  Talking to him that day was a real treat.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Ron,

That's right, I remember hearing you were there working with Rod. And, he's mentioned Greg Muirhead's name too.

Rod was admittedly a bit wet behind the ears on that project. He went from helping Bill out on the grounds crew at Waterwood to running the job at Austin, quite early in his golf course construction experience... he says ACC was a BIG job over a difficult site, too.

[Trey Kemp]

I played out there several times when I lived in Austin, here are a few pics:

Hole 1 - Approach


Hole 2


Hole 3


Hole 3 - Approach


Hole 8



Hole 8 - Reverse


Hole 9 - Approach


Hole 11


Hole 11 - Approach



Hole 12 - Approach


Hole 13


Hole 15 - Approach


Hole 16


Hole 17 - Approach


Hole 18 - Approach

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Number 12 that is one of those really tough par 4's.
When I played in the Harvey Pennik there it was into the wind every day and when you are hitting 2 iron into that semi blind green it is so scary...heck the next hole is just as tough.
But again what great par3's as well.
I may even increase my Doak rating now!