Before Austin was even on the radar as a “must-visit” destination that it’s become for lovers of life, song, barbeque and the best of Texas, the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa was a draw for great golf in the verdant Texas Hill Country.
It helps that the resort has four of the Lone Star State’s best courses as designed by Tom Fazio, Arnold Palmer and hometown World Golf Hall of Famer Ben Crenshaw. Recent updates to the opulent Omni resort has added a sheen to the venerable destination, keeping it on the short list of great places to visit with varied golf courses and peerless amenities.
Omni Barton Creek and three of its courses sit in a 4,000-acre envelope in the valleys beneath the hills, with its high vantage points showing off some of the region’s most breathtaking views. The Barton Creek neighborhood, set about a half-hour from the city’s vibrant downtown and about that distance from the area’s airport, has been the community of choice for the well-heeled in the Austin area for nearly four decades.
The resort has been there every step of the way, with one of the courses each day reserved for play by club membership. The quartet of courses at Barton Creek are the Fazio Foothills, Fazio Canyons, Coore Crenshaw Creekside and Palmer Lakeside, and help make the Omni Barton Creek one of the best places to play golf in Texas.
Fazio’s two courses wow and challenge
It was here, in 1986, that Fazio fashioned the Foothills course, the oldest and perhaps most famous of the four tracks at the resort/club. Fazio Foothills, a par-72 course playing at 7,125 yards from the tips, is a design masterpiece, featuring natural limestone caves, dramatic cliff-lined fairways and waterfalls and pristine greens complexes.
There is plenty of elevation change and visual impact, while its undulating aprons and grass bunkers make it a shot-maker’s paradise. The five different sets of tee boxes appeal to a wide variety of skill levels.
Fazio Foothills has the distinction of consistently having several holes listed among the state’s Best or Most Beautiful Holes (Nos. 4, 9, 10, 12, 16 and 18), as recognized by the Dallas Morning News.
Those holes join the tree-lined 460-yard par-4; the short but deadly par-5 eighth. and No. 17 (at 203 yards with a deep and narrow green, the longest par-3 on the course) as a standout on Fazio Foothills. The course is impeccably maintained and plays every bit of its length.
Fazio’s second, and newest, Barton Creek masterpiece is called Fazio Canyons and located about a mile from the main resort. Canyons boasts its own pro shop and extensive practice areas.
The course is renowned for its picturesque views and a routing lined by Red Oaks and Sycamore trees punctuated by limestone cliffsides as it meanders along Short Spring Branch, the creek that snakes through the course.
Canyons can take its toll, especially on its final four holes. The par-5 finisher runs downhill and plays across the creek on the approach to the green.
Other spectacular holes at the par-72 track are the dogleg-left par-5 fifth; the uphill par-4 ninth, which usually plays into the wind and ends at a huge putting surface; the right-bending par-4 10th, where your approach is played over a creek in front of the green; and the sporty par-4 13th, which, at less than 380 yards, has teeth aplenty with two huge fairway bunkers left and a cliff wall on the right that borders an immense green that measures 54 yards from front to back.
A $5 million renovation completed last fall intensified the experience at Canyons, adding length for the big hitter, some shorter tees for those not so long off the tee, redefining corridors, and modernizing irrigation. The new layout is now more than 400 yards longer than before with its added back tees and is carded at some 7,400 yards from the tips.
Canyons is like Foothills on steroids – you get the same quality experience except Canyons is not quite as green and is quite a bit beefier. Foothills entices with its beauty while Canyons demands conviction in every swing as a true players’ course.
Coore/Crenshaw’s Creekside honors traditional game
The natural beauty of Texas Hill Country is the focus of Crenshaw and his architect-partner Coore at the underrated Coore Crenshaw Cliffside. Rolling hills, natural plateaus, soft contours and native vegetation are harmoniously woven into a playable layout that provides a variety of interesting holes.
Crenshaw admits this is an “old-style” philosophy: “We let the land dictate the routing rather than imposing ourselves on the landscape,” said the two-time Masters champion. Indeed, “Gentle Ben’s” course plays across the land quite naturally and most magically. It’s been rated among the “50 Best Courses in Texas” by Dallas Morning News and might be the most popular course at Barton Creek.
The par-71 Coore Crenshaw Cliffside, which after a 2018 renovation plays at 6,630 yards, offers a rare taste of traditional design. The course features broad, rolling fairways and widely varied green sizes. The large, undulating putting surfaces give players their biggest challenge. As a whole the Coore Crenshaw Creekside course is forgiving for the novice, yet still challenging for the seasoned golfer.
There are a slew of great holes at Coore Crenshaw Cliffside, most notably the 464-yard par-4 sixth; the 455-yard par-4 10th (which Crenshaw modeled after the famed 10th at Augusta National); the drivable, downhill 317-yard par-4 14th; the 590-yard uphill par-5 15th, which requires a 240-yard carry over a waste area off the tee; and, perhaps the best of all, the 393-yard par-4 closer, where the approach requires a downhill carry over a creek to a green that looks like it will repel any shot.
Palmer’s Lakeside favors course management
Palmer Lakeside, which is perched on a hilltop overlooking Lake Travis about 45 minutes west of main Barton Creek Resort compound. Opened in 1986 as Hidden Hills, Palmer Lakeside is fun for proficient players and quite manageable for novices, with its handful of excellent holes.
Palmer’s routing plays at just 6,407 yards and occasionally asks for lay-up shots off the tee, such as on the 395-yard par-4 fifth and again at the 403-yard par-4 seventh, both of which require approaches over deep canyons. The dual green on the short par-3 14th is an interesting quirk to a course where the King did his best with a difficult piece of land.
A cascading waterfall and native flora highlight Lakeside’s signature 11th hole, an outstanding par-3 that the Dallas Morning News ranks among the “18 Most Beautiful in Texas.” The par-5 12th and par-4 13th both dogleg left with sloping fairways that reward any player who can turn the ball over and take it deep.
Palmer Lakeside rewards prowess with the driver but just don’t forget to bring your thinking cap. It’s a buddies’ trip favorite and a big hitter’s ballpark that features panoramic lake views and twilight glimpses of whitetail deer.
Over the past five years, Omni Barton Creek has undergone a full-resort renovation project that included new hotel rooms, renovated convention and meeting space, a re-designed spa and eight casual and upscale dining options throughout the world-class resort.