Omni Barton Creek
Austin, the capital city of the state of Texas, is renowned for its live music, its BBQ (no sauce, please), and its laid-back, “let’s-stay-weird” lifestyle.
It has become one of the most popular destinations in the nation, especially among Gen-Xers who are looking for a little bit of everything without the hustle and bustle of other metro areas with populations of 2 million or more people.
It’s also one of America’s great destinations for golf, with three of Texas’ best golf resorts within an hour’s drive of downtown.
One of the great things about Austin and the central Texas region are its verdant hills and plenty of sunny weather, and the climate sets the table for great golf. Travel Caddie is happy to recommend the destinations below, with three resorts in the region offering a total of eight courses designed by the likes of Tom Fazio, Arnold Palmer, Coore/Crenshaw, Robert Trent Jones, and Arthur Hills – basically a who’s-who of golf architects.
Omni Barton Creek
This smashing resort about 30 minutes southwest of the downtown sector features four courses, two by Fazio (Foothills and Canyon) and third by Coore/Crenshaw (Gentle Ben is an Austin-native) called Cliffside that is on site, as well as a fourth facility about a half-hour’s drive into the Hill Country designed by Palmer called Lakeside, as it has views of Lake Travis.
Barton Creek has a sumptuous and recently updated hotel and spa with a little bit of everything. For an in-depth view of the entire experience and specifics about the resort’s four courses, check out our feature here.
Omni Barton Creek
Horseshoe Bay Resort
Set on the banks of massive Lake LBJ about an hour’s journey west of Austin, Horseshoe Bay is an upscale resort with three Trent Jones courses of varying difficulty: Slick Rock, Apple Rock and Ram Rock. All of the courses have been restored and renovated to Jones’ original standard over the past six years, and the high-rise hotel – from which you can see almost the entire constant-level lake from its upper-floor rooms – has also been updated.
Jones’s course here are the real drawing card, with Slick Rock featuring the resort’s famous “million-dollar hole” (get your camaras ready for this one), Apple Rock sporting back-to-back reachable par-5s and a par-3 played over a spit of the lake to start the back nine, and Ram Rock highlighted by an island green and baffling green surrounds throughout.
Take a look at a more detailed review of Horseshoe Bay here.
Horseshoe Bay
Hyatt Lost Pines Resort
This resort is the closest to the Austin airport, about 15 miles east and about 30 minutes from the downtown sector. It is spread over 405 acres along the banks of the Colorado River and features tall “lost” pines, with its centerpiece Wolfdancer Golf Club, a 7,205-yard, par-72 course designed by Hills and associate Steve Forrest.
The track, which opened in June 2006, makes the most of the region’s terrain and natural beauty. On many golf courses, an architect is lucky to have two desirable golf environments in which to create distinct golf holes. At Wolfdancer, Hills and Forrest had three: high prairie, forested ridgeline and a sparsely wooded floodplain along the river bank.
Most of the fairways at Wolfdancer are fairly wide, while much of the challenge comes in the approach shots. There are lots of randomly scattered steep-faced bunkers just waiting for your ball, and No. 8 sports the 15-foot-deep “Big Mouth” that guards the fairway. The greens are large and undulating and kept quick but fair.
No. 12 at Wolfdancer is one of the prettiest and most challenging holes in Lone Star State. The 155-yard, drop-shot par-3 features a green that seems to cling to the side of a mountain and looks like a tabletop from the tee, which sits atop a ridge with a 180-degree view looking down on the remainder of the course, the Colorado River, the entire resort and far into the distant horizon.
Things change, and get a lot harder, when you leave the 12th green and descend to the river valley below. The final six holes run back and forth in the flatlands along the Colorado and cut through the old, broad-canopied oak, cedar and pecan trees.
Away from Wolfdancer, the Texas-themed resort also has plenty of relaxation on the menu. The experience is highlighted by Spa D’jango, the resort’s full-service 20,000-square-foot spa and eight separate dining options.
Recreational amenities include a water park with multiple pools, including a 1,100-foot flowing river pool and water slide; Camp Hyatt children’s program; as well as bike riding, an equestrian program, kayaking, rafting and fly-fishing on the Colorado, and more than 16 miles of hiking trails.
The resort also offers more than 60,000 square feet of indoor function space and 230,000 square feet of outdoor function venues. A combination creates a world of things that recharge one’s battery, and who among us doesn’t need that.
Wolfdancer