Dallas golf trip?

[titleist#2]

Played tour 18 a couple of years ago and it was nice. Don't know what the condition is like now. Playing their version of Amen Corner was pretty cool.

[SeanPMcD]

Tour 18 is ok. They try their best to recreate the famous holes but most are not recognizable except for amen corner and the island green.

Look at Bridlewood and Trails of Frisco too.

[titleist#2]

Saw you mentioned Pine Dunes. I've never played there before but have heard great things. Also heard great things about Twin Lakes outside of Canton which would be closer to Pine Dunes if you stayed out in the Tyler area.

[Greasegun]

We wanted to play pine dunes but decided it was too far. Wound up choosing Iron Horse and Texas Star for our last day there. We could change if we choose to.

[wldchld22]

So many great places to eat. I can't recommend any courses but make sure to check out twisted root or maple and motor for burgers!

[Greasegun]

Anyone played sky creek ranch?

[blev2]

Havent played Sky Creek in a couple years but it was always in good shape. Decent layout. It would be on par with Texas Star as far as conditions go. Not as good of a layout though. Still a good track.

[GoStars]

I played Sky Creek last fall. I felt like the layout was a little tricked up, but it's a pretty nice course.

Texas Star is way better than Indian Creek.

[blev2]

Tour 18 isnt anything special. For sure not worth the money. I would pick Texas Star over Tour 18 or Indian Creek any day of the week. In my opinion, Texas Star is arguably the best public course in DFW. I would take it over Cowboys and most of the higher priced courses as well.

[mctrees02]

For a good guide on DFW courses, Avid Golfer's annual ranks are pretty spot on for public courses. I believe they published that one in November 2014 so it's pretty up to date.

 

http://myavidgolfer....ublic-2014.aspx

 

Tour 18 - The layout is fun but conditions are always a mess. I usually go there once a year because it's fun to run through all of the hole. It's cool seeing how much they've changed 11 at Augusta from when Tour 18 opened in the late 90's. Augusta took away half of the fairway during 2002/04 renovations.

I've learned to accept that you may find half of the bunkers are a wreck or 6 or 7 greens are beat to hell. They switched to a new Bermuda in 2012 or 2013 because so many players weren't fixing divots that they lost the greens. Before then, they were giving out quality metal divot tools w/ ball markers on the first tee box to try and entice people to fix pitch marks. It may also be the longest golf course I've ever played because of the transfers between holes which makes for a 5 hour round even if you don't get slowed up. If I remember correctly, it checks in at about 7.5 to 8 miles if you tried to walk it (I did once but hopped in a cart for some of the transfers so they weren't waiting 3-5 minutes for me to reach the next tee. My understanding from others is they are close to losing some of their greens again and that late 2014 was really bad on them. I would give them a pass until they are through the dormant winter.

 

Old American - Enjoy the hell out of this course and make sure to get one of the yardage books that Justin Leonard drew up if they still sell them in the pro shop. If you go to the course tour on their website it shows all of his drawings and comments on the holes which is what was in their original yardage book. Now that their carts have a good GPS (I believe it's the Visage system with 3d hole renderings with voice-over tips) they may not sell that book. The 2 tips I give anybody playing there are: 1) the bunkers are played as waste bunkers have different types of sand, rocks, and raking to them so take advantage of practice swings and grounding your club. 2) Have a lot of patience because this is a big golf course with many big, undulating greens. There are multiple routes to play most of the holes so don't get frustrated when you get off line. Take your medicine and look for the lowest possible shot you can hit to recover as every hole but 9 and the par 3's will take a run up approach shot.

 

Texas Star - It's the class of the DFW municipal courses. The move to bermuda greens last year was a smart one even though they had to close for the summer. Their bent greens had finally thrown in the towel after a few exceptionally hot and dry summers combined with years of being one of the most trafficked courses in DFW The course came back better than ever and we can only hope the bermuda greens can take the punishment.

 

Sky Creek Ranch - Though I've only played it a few times because it's just about the furthest of the good public courses from my house, it's one I've enjoyed. If you like RTJ & RTJ Jr style courses, then you'll like Sky Creek Ranch. To me their course style is "holes with few bunkers, greens around 30 yards deep that aren't too severe, lined with tall trees and a creek that wanders the property" is a great fit for DFW terrain.

 

Grapevine Municipal - I always like playing here and it's near where you'll be staying. 27 holes and each 9 has it's own subtle style differences. I'm not partial to any particular 2 as they're all enjoyable. Would be a good candidate to replace Iron Horse for your 36 hole day alongside Texas Star.

 

Indian Creek - If you're gonna play there, the Creek course is the only one worth your time. It's a course with a lot of regulars, of which I'm not one, and so I look elsewhere simply because I've never felt all that welcome.

 

Coyote Ridge - Great amenities, great service, good course conditions...and the stupidest golf hole I've ever seen. The 10th hole is such a bad hole that I avoid playing Coyote Ridge just so I can avoid it. This picture from the website doesn't do the awful design justice:

 

[siola]

ive played all of these courses in the last year. my person DFW golf rankings:
1. old american- played yesterday. in fantastic shape. very fun design, great clubhouse.
2. texas star- great track, cant beat the value. played when they reopened a month ago after 6 months of closing for renovations.
3. the tribute- obviously simiiar to old american, but not as interesting of a design. basically tour 18 for links golf. note: tour 18 isn't worth more than $30. course conditions are awful and have been for years.
4. sky creek ranch- played 4 months ago. loved the design, clubhouse is awesome, conditions were fantastic.
5. stevens park/tenison highlands. both dallas municipal courses, both really affordable and hidden gems in the area.

[Greasegun]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone. We had a great trip to DFW. We played 36 at Old American. The greens kicked our asses. We were going to do 36 at the Tribute, but got rained out after 9. We were really bummed because we moved our trip from Bama to DFW to avaoid the monsoon. Fortunately we went to Top Golf after we got rained out and had an absolute blast! 6 hours later we were all sore from hitting so many shots. The last day we found a great last minute deal at Cowboys. We played Bridlewood that morning before Cowboys, just because it was close by. Cowboys was awesome, it was great to find some hilly terrain.

Thanks again for all of the input.