Texas Trip 2023

I last visited the Dallas area four years ago.  It was a brief visit as I flew into Dallas but spent most of my time in Houston.  This visit would be different as I would be spending pretty much all of my time enjoying the courses in the Dallas area, with one side trip to Oklahoma to see a Perry Maxwell gem.  The motivation for the trip was a course I had been trying to play for fifteen years, and which I now consider the best course in Texas. More on that later.

Brook Hollow Golf Club, the best course in Texas IMO.

The trip began at the well known TPC Las Colinas, former host of the Byron Nelson Classic on the PGA Tour.  I had watched the tournament on tv for many years and it was fun to finally play the holes I had watched the pros play.  The course was designed by Jay Morrish in the early 80's with a renovation by PGA Tour player D.A. Weibring in 2008.

TPC Las Colinas, Par three 5th hole

Day one continued at Lakewood Country Club, which is one of the oldest courses in Dallas, and very close to the city center.  Lakewood was originally designed by Tom Bendelow in 1912, and saw subsequent changes by Texas architect Ralph Plummer in the 1940's, and Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw in 2014.  The course is a lot of things that I love about golf architecture; short by modern standards, quirky, fun, lots of use of angles and demands for shot making and creativity.

Lakewood Country Club, Par five 18th hole

Day two of the trip began in the town of Grapevine at Cowboys Golf Club.  The course is the only one in existence officially associated with an NFL team.  Jeff Brauer designed the course in the early 2000's and I was very impressed with the overall product given the limitations of the site.  The course is sandwiched into a very tight property at times, yet it feels expansive and has quality architecture.  As a lifelong die-hard Washington Redskins(Commanders) fan, I will spare you the requisite picture of me giving the middle finger to the Cowboys logo.

Cowboys Golf Club, Par five 18th hole

I headed north to Gordonsville, Texas for my next round on day two.  My destination was Rock Creek Resort, which sits very close to the Texas/Oklahoma border.  The resort was designed by Nicklaus Designs.  The course was clearly layed out with a resort customer in mind, as it is more playable than your typical Nicklaus product.  It navigates the elevation changes quite well, and is a great way to get away from Dallas for the day.

Rock Creek Resort, Par four 12th hole

The last course I played on Day two was a major highlight of the trip.  Dornick Hills Golf & Country Club in Ardmore, Oklahoma was Perry Maxwell's first design.  Perry lived in Ardmore and is actually buried in a small cemetery that overlooks the course.  

Maxwell's grave is located in a small cemetery that overlooks his first design.

The course was changed over the years and was begging for a proper restoration.  Tom Doak was so impressed by the potential to restore the course that he offered to do the work for free if the course ever decided to pursue a restoration.  

Dornick Hills, par three 17th hole

The work finally happened in the past two years and it re-opened last year.  The result is spectacular.  Some greens were moved back to their original locations, others were expanded and restored to their original contours.  

Dornick Hills Golf & Country Club, the famous cliff hole, Par five 16th hole

Day three of the trip was a Monday, therefore it was public course day as all private courses in Dallas are closed on Mondays.  The day began at the City of Dallas owned Stevens Park Municipal golf course.  The course was designed in the 1920's and had a renovation in 2011 by Colligan Golf Design.  Conditions are a bit challenging, but the course has very good architecture.  It is a shotmakers course that requires accurate driving and lots of strategy off the tee.  Luckily, I was driving the ball pretty straight that morning and shot my lowest score of the trip, 66, which I was very proud of, as this course really demands execution and planning off the tee.

Stevens Park Golf Course, Par four 15th hole

I had some time to kill in between scheduled rounds so I found a course to walk nine holes.  That course was Riverside Golf Club in Grand Prairie.  True to it's name, the course was layed out next to the Trinity River and features two out and back nines.

Riverside Golf Club, Par three 8th hole

The last course I played on day three was Texas Star Golf Club in Euless.  The course was designed by Keith Foster in 1997.

Texas Star Golf Club, Par three 3rd hole

I began day four of the trip with a former host of the PGA championship.  Dallas Athletic Club has two courses.  The Blue course hosted the PGA Championship in 1963.  Jack Nicklaus won his first PGA Championship that year, and returned in the 80's to redesign the Ralph Plummer course.

Dallas Athletic Club(Blue), Par four 5th hole

I was lucky to be the first off on the Blue course and of course, I finished pretty quickly, so I had time to play the other course at Dallas Athletic Club, the Gold course.  Like the Blue, the Gold was originally designed by Ralph Plummer, and subsequently redesigned by Jack Nicklaus.  

Dallas Athletic Club(Gold), Par three 2nd hole

The last course I played on day four was the reason for the trip.  Brook Hollow Golf Club was designed by A.W. Tillinghast in the 1920's.  Subsequent renovations by Coore & Crenshaw and Tripp Davis took the course further away from it's roots.  

Brook Hollow Golf Club, Par four 9th hole

Luckily, the club hired Keith Foster in 2020 to do a restoration that brought back the Tillinghast design and removed hundreds of trees to restore the luster to this amazing course.  With the work by Foster, I believe the course is now the best in Texas.

Brook Hollow Golf Club, Par three 10th hole

On the final day of my trip I headed north to Prosper, Texas.  Gentle Creek Country Club was my destination.  The course was designed by D.A. Weibring in 2002.  An obvious housing development course, it does a very good job of providing variety and taking you away from the houses to get the most out of the gently undulating property.

Gentle Creek Country Club, Par three 11th hole

The last course I played on the trip was chosen based on it's proximity to DFW airport.  Bear Creek Golf Club has two courses, the East and West, both designed by Ted Robinson in the early 1980's.  I played the West course which goes up and down a large hill on the front nine.  This leads to huge pace of play problems which I don't think the architect thought about when he was routing the course!

Bear Creek Golf Club(West), Par four 3rd hole

I really enjoyed my brief trip to Dallas and am anxious to return to check out the new PGA Frisco courses.  I missed the opening of these course by a month.  I would also like to check out Preston Trail, which I have heard great things about from friends in the area.

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