Black Jack's Crossing (Lanny Wadkins)

[Paul Jones]

I had a couple of friends make the trip to Black Jack's Crossing Resort in Terlingua, Texas and came back with rave reviews.  The website has Lanny Wadkins as the architect. 


Does anyone know who worked for Lanny?


Has anyone in the tree house made the trip yet?


Dallas Morning News has it as the best public course in the state.


Website - Black Jack's Crossing Golf Course | Lajitas Golf Resort

[Adam Lawrence]

Paul Cowley, late of this parish, initially worked on the course. Then Kurt Bowman, formerly of Nicklaus Design, renovated it. I first met Kurt quite a long time ago, but I got to know him properly when he was rebuilding the Hacienda Alcaidesa course in southern Spain, only a few miles from Gibraltar. Alcaidesa is a remarkable place -- I'm not aware of any other courses in Spain, except perhaps El Saler, which I haven't seen, with anything like so much seafront golf -- and Kurt did a really good job there. He has done a number of projects with Lanny as his signature guy.

He is currently at work on a par three course for Lajitas. He tells me the site is utterly spectacular, and he hopes to build one of the world's better par three courses there.

[Pete_Pittock]

I played it a number of years ago on a trip that included the airshow/costume party at Wolf Point.  I liked it a lot, sort of like Kauri Cliffs if you substitute the Rio Grande for the Southern Ocean.  Quite remote. Traffic clusterf if it is chili-cookoff weekend.

[astavrides]

It was pretty good. Some holes better than others. Wasn't worth the trip really, considering its remoteness, except I was trying to play all the top 100 publics. I like the Rawls Course and Memorial Park a tad better. And now, both Fields Ranch courses.

[Sam Morrow]

Place is very cool, it's paspalum so plays soft which is weak. Greens aren't the most interesting but everything else makes up for it.

[mike_beene]

It is a fun trip. Easy trip on charter and interesting place. The scenery is spectacular. The course has a Kapalua Plantation feel to me. Terlingua for dinner at the starlight. Some of best night sky you will see.
No way to walk course. The course is good enough. The resort used stone walkways that are dangerous for a stenosis patient with some leg drag like me. My group plans to return.

[mike_beene]

One more thing to those worried about the border: this is far from Juarez and the little town across the river is isolated.We did not go across the foot bridge because some in my group have clearances requiring state department notification and permission . Wasn’t worth it. Big Bend National Park is OB left of ninth hole.

[Lou_Duran]

Place is very cool, it's paspalum so plays soft which is weak. Greens aren't the most interesting but everything else makes up for it.

That was my experience from a decade ago.  The combination of slow, plain greens was my main issue.  The scenery and remoteness alone are well-worth the effort.  Big Bend is a great place to visit- vast and often devoid of the crowds encountered at the popular national parks.  I was told by a resort manager that the area at large hosts one of the highest densities of folks in witness protection.

[archie_struthers]

 


Someone mentioned Terlingua ...what a great filly . If Tommy Nacc was still aboard we could have a great discussion on just how good she was!


As to Lanny Wadkins , don't think anyone hit down on the ball harder than the Wake Forest great. Believe he was the very first Arnold Palmer scholarship player for the Demon Deacons ...started a long run as one of the best golf teams in the country




Chile today , hot tamale   

[mike_beene]

I believe half of the people around Terlingua live in those silver Airstream trailers. Now that is classic architecture.

[Simon Barrington]

As to Lanny Wadkins , don't think anyone hit down on the ball harder than the Wake Forest great. Believe he was the very first Arnold Palmer scholarship player for the Demon Deacons ...started a long run as one of the best golf teams in the country

So hard that on one famous wedge shot into the 18th at PGA National in 1983 caused the heavens to threw down a bolt of lightning!

What a way to close out the Ryder Cup Matches, with Europe breathing down USA's neck that year!

See here:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1072213566521126

(P.S. Nice guy too, he kindly with Craig Stadler signed my classic white Titleist Visor while we were all waiting in the queue for a Fish & Chip Supper during the 1984 Open at St Andrews, no surprise Stadler was after seafood given his nickname!)

[Jeff_Brauer]

RE Lanny, some of my best memories include a flight with him up to Minnesota when he was consulting on a project with me. (and generally getting more credit, although I believe he was more involved at LaJitas to get those credits and seems to be involved with Kurt on several local projects here)[size=78%].[/size]

At any rate, he spent that whole flight telling me how he played Riv when he won there.  Basically, if he had his "A Game," which he had that at Riv, he took every aggressive line because of it, so I got a blow by blow account of how a champion was thinking.  The key takeaway, perhaps relevant to any strategy discussion, was that he played completely different when he didn't feel he was playing as well.

That is to say, all the discussions on angles and lines are really only relevant to a top player (in his case, of all time or certainly his generation) when they are playing well.  Otherwise, they revert to the "Angles don't matter" strategy of playing away from potentially hole ending problems.  I always felt that was the problem of trying to describe strategy on a simple line diagram.

And having also worked with Larry Nelson, hearing both of them tell stories about an epic matches with Seve (they lobbied to play against him).  Perhaps the best Ryder Cup duo in history.

[Matt Schoolfield]

I was in Marfa last week, about two hours drive away. Beautiful area, amazingly isolated, wonderful food and drink, friendly people.


If I were making the trip, I would fly to El Paso and drive to Marfa and spend the night, then drive to the course through the state park along the Rio Grande.


The area is so beautiful the lonely highways are one of the nicest parts of the trip.

[Chris Hughes]

RE Lanny, some of my best memories include a flight with him up to Minnesota when he was consulting on a project with me. (and generally getting more credit, although I believe he was more involved at LaJitas to get those credits and seems to be involved with Kurt on several local projects here)[size=78%].[/size]

At any rate, he spent that whole flight telling me how he played Riv when he won there.  Basically, if he had his "A Game," which he had that at Riv, he took every aggressive line because of it, so I got a blow by blow account of how a champion was thinking.  The key takeaway, perhaps relevant to any strategy discussion, was that he played completely different when he didn't feel he was playing as well.

That is to say, all the discussions on angles and lines are really only relevant to a top player (in his case, of all time or certainly his generation) when they are playing well.  Otherwise, they revert to the "Angles don't matter" strategy of playing away from potentially hole ending problems.  I always felt that was the problem of trying to describe strategy on a simple line diagram.

And having also worked with Larry Nelson, hearing both of them tell stories about an epic matches with Seve (they lobbied to play against him).  Perhaps the best Ryder Cup duo in history.

Very very cool, thanks for sharing.

[mike_beene]

Matt, did you see the Marfa lights? Evidently luck plays a role. The UT observatory is spectacular according to those in the know.

[Matt Schoolfield]

Matt, did you see the Marfa lights? Evidently luck plays a role. The UT observatory is spectacular according to those in the know.

Astronomy was my lab science requirement in college, so I was super bummed about missing the McDonald Observatory, but we just didn't have time.

Did we see the Marfa lights? I'll say yes. I am lightly amused by the entire experience. From what I gather, the lights are is two fold. The small flashes of light are what people generally refer to, but there is also a large pillar of light in the distance sometimes. We saw the large pillar.

What the light are isn't important, it's mostly an excuse to get folks far enough away from town to really take in the milky way from a fully dark sky area, and it's just amazingly beautiful. The viewing area is southern facing toward the elliptic, and you can see any planets visible in the nights sky (Jupiter was bright as ever).

We got very close to Black Jack Crossing, driving down to the hoodoos at the state park. The reason why I suggested the drive along the Rio Grande was exactly because this drive is absurdly beautiful.

I also played the muni there. Unfortunately, I would not recommend it to folks in the GCA community. I'm working on an article right now on my complicated feelings about it. It's really heartbreaking to go to such an impressive town, with such a focus on creativity and large, permanent installations, and then visit a golf course that is well loved by the folks in town, but offers little in the way of architectural significance. I'm sure that money is the main issue there, but with the grants the city receives for artistic ventures that can improve tourism, I know that improvements could be made if golf course architecture was embraced by the community as an artistic endeavor.

That said, I would recommend the beautiful isolation of Marfa strongly, and I'll surely go back.