Dallas/Ft Worth Area Courses

[callawayjay]

Dallas county extending stay at home until May 20.

[cjblake09]

Yep just saw that. Looks like i will still be heading West to Ft Worth or Colin county for golf. No way these courses that are closed will be able to make it being closed for 2 months.

[callawayjay]

I’ve been driving to pine dunes and it’s been awesome

[phil75070]

Westridge has remained open. Funny thing about all of these shelter in place, stay at home orders is that they allow for outdoor exercise and use the words "like" or "for example". They never mention all allowable exercise and golf specifically is not mentioned, at least by Collin County nor the City, but it is considered "exercise" especially for retired people. Westridge has completely closed the pro shop and clubhouse including rest rooms. Check in is outside. Carts are wiped down overnight (I still bring my own wipes) and one person to a cart for the most part (two can share but only one in a cart at the same time, goes the same even for family members). Pool noodles in cups, no rakes, no sand bottles, no scorecards and more push/pull carts are available for walkers. Social distancing is enforced. Notice is posted that if any cart out on the course is found with two riders they will immediately be escorted off the course, no rain check, refund, etc. Anyone puts up a beef they have been instructed to call the McKinney Police. They want to stay open and are taking these precautions seriously!

[hardpan1]

"Judge Jenkins revised Dallas County’s shelter in place order Sunday to include golf among “Essential Activities.” How local golf courses are staying open while taking extra precautions to prevent spread of coronavirusBut, City of Dallas courses will stay closed.

[dfwgolf123]

That leaves Denton County as the only one who still has a ban on golf. All golf courses in Denton County shall close as approved by Denton County Commissioners Court

Email Denton County Judge Eads here - https://dentoncounty.gov/Business/EmailForm.aspx?qs=Andy+Eads

[cjblake09]

done

[RichardsonTX]

I visited Pine Dunes Thursday on my way back from a trip. Nice course but they wouldn't let me use the driving range (they pulled the whole "oh well the driving range is included in the green fee").

I told him I only had an hour to kill so I couldn't play a full 18 and he just gave me a blank ass look and didn't say anything. Kinda weird that a place that advertises themselves as highend resort and best public course in the state wasn't very accommodating, especially since it was slow when I went

[callawayjay]

That is weird. The reason it gets accolades is because if it’s remoteness. You have to know where they are going. You honestly didn’t miss much on the range as it was soaked on Wednesday. Also the range balls are old and don’t fly properly. I’m going again on Monday

[TexasTurf]

I think they pride themselves much more on best public course in the state than on being a high end resort. The people there are great, and so is the course, but if you're looking for resort or private club service you won't find it there. Better to take care of yourself while on property.

[North Texas]

Yea, I don't know of anyone who classify Pine Dunes as a high end resort and I've never seen them promote themselves as such. Ditto, with the private club service.

[cjblake09]

Made it up the The Bridges today for the fist time. Pretty fun course and for $30 twilight it is a good deal. Only got in 9 b/c i had the wife and kid with me but we played in under 1:30 with people on every hole. From the back tees it is 7600 and rated 77.5/141 so it has all you want if you want to play it all the way back.

 

 

[North Texas]

Not a member there but get to play The Bridges 3-4 times a year. While I wouldn't put it in the great category, it is a fun course definitely worth playing. It does have some "interesting" holes and I mean that in a good way actually. Don't know which 9 you play but hopefully you'll be able to get back up there sometime soon to play the full 18.

Talking about the back tees, several years ago I played there with my son and a friend of his both of whom are young limber guys and hit the ball a long way. So, just for the hell of it, I played the back tees with them. Keep in mind that, when I absolutely bomb a drive, I get it out there in the 240-250 range, lol. That's was an experience! Actually I had fun doing although it kicked my butt!

[PuttLeftHitRight]

Can someone explain why people think Pine Dunes is nice? I found it to be no better than an average muni. Lots of sandy waste areas and tree roots everywhere. I'll never drive out there again.

[North Texas]

I don't think Pine Dunes is anything special. But I do think it's better than an average muni. For my money, The Tempest over in Gladewater is much better than Pine Dunes and well worth the trip.

[callawayjay]

Waterchase packed today.

[RichardsonTX]

I don't think Pine Dunes is the holy grail but it is way nicer than the mid tier public courses in my area (Firewheel bridges, sherrill park, pecan hollow).

It's 100% nicer than most of the entry level country clubs for sure (canyon creek and Brookhaven are signficantly inferior). Even a recently renovated tier 1 club like Gleneagles is in worst condition right now than Pine Dunes.

DFW has some nice public courses that probably rival Pine Dunes (Old American, the Tribute, Cowboys Club) but those are anywhere from 2-4x more expensive. Texas Star is probably the only course in DFW that can rival Pine Dunes dollar for dollar

 

[Jungleland]

I tend to agree with you, when I lived in the Dallas area I played it several times, always on my way back from AL or LA. It’s a good course with some fun holes but nothing about it would have been worth the day trip down. Old American, Cowboys and Texas Star are all better IMO.

[cjblake09]

What kind of shape was Waterchase in?

[callawayjay]

Perfect. As always love that course

[callawayjay]

Pine dunes is awesome because it’s way out of the way. The greens are perfect. There’s elements that DFW just doesn’t have. The par 3s all require a different shot. It has 2 great risk reward par 5s. It has 2 others that require more power. The par 4s all are different. It requires precision and thought and the layout is Superb. Not a lot of earth moving to make Pine Dunes. The Tempest is nice but it’s more manufactured to me.

 

and it’s My opinion that rural golf in this difficult time is worth the drive.

[cjblake09]

Looks like The Bridges might have shut down as no tee times are open on their website for the next week.

[dfwgolf123]

I got an email late last night from them sent through GolfNow. They had to close for Corona.

[Lefty_3Jack]

The pandemic has me potentially looking for a new job for next year and I'm opening up my search to Florida, SW and the south. I go to Fort Worth for work a decent amount and have always loved DFW. I think if I had an ideal landing spot it would be here since we're familiar with it, it's a lot like home (but nicer), has all four major sports, etc. With that said, I don't know where to even begin looking at where to live since there are so many great areas. Frisco catches my eye when I search for houses and it looks like north of Frisco you can find really nice places with more land. With that being said we love downtown Fort Worth which is no where near Frisco! A lot will depend on if I have an office to go to everyday, but assuming I work from home a lot we could live anywhere in DFW.

Now getting to the golf questions. The club we are currently at we pay $575/mo for dues and the initiation was only $4K for a junior member. I'd like to be near a private club and maybe even in a golf course development. Are there any "mid-level" or nice "low level" clubs/developments that come to mind? I have a friend who is a member at Mira Vista which is a really nice place, but I think he's paying a good amount more than what I'm already paying here at home.

[RichardsonTX]

Don't know much about Fort Worth but i'm fairly familiar with North Frisco. That's not a bad area at all. If you lived there you wouldn't even need a country club membership since there's so many good public courses. Nearby public courses like the Bridges, ridgeview, and Frisco Lakes are nice. Old American and the Tribute (both public as well) will rival if not beat most entry level country clubs. You then also have the PGA Headquarters which is currently being built on the Frisco/Prosper border, I would imagine it's going to beat most if not all the country clubs in your price range.

 

 

 

[PuttLeftHitRight]

Glad it's not just me! I mean I guess it has some interesting looks holes, but I didn't really enjoy any part of it.

[North Texas]

I'm not so sure that The Bridges isn't trying to get clarification on State mandates. The Governor announced yesterday that all state parks would be closed until further notice. For some reason the City of Alice reported that that included all golf courses which was not true. It only included golf courses within state parks. However, golf courses can still be closed by more restrictive local orders. That may be the case here as I think The Bridges may be in Denton County. But I am not certain of that. https://thegolfnewsnet.com/golfnewsnetteam/2020/04/08/texas-governor-abbott-clarifies-if-golf-courses-can-remain-open-or-must-close-april-7-118812/

 

[cjblake09]

The Bridges is in Grayson County.

[North Texas]

Thanks. That makes think more than ever that they got confused somehow with the Governor's order to close all state parks as of 5:00 April 7. Seems to coincide with the timing of no longer taking tee times.

[cjblake09]

I am seeing that all courses need to close as of a report on 4/8 at 11:40. and the City of Alice was the first one to report it on their municipal website. But golfnow still has tee times listed for the next couple of days for the courses that were still open.