Pine Dunes | Best of Texas Public Golf, GOLF WRX Courses & Travel

[kennedyapeter]

Recently made the trip to play Pine Dunes just South of Frankston, Texas and was inspired to start a thread about how unique it is. Easily one of my favorite Public Golf Courses in Texas.

 

Rankings:

Golf Digest - 4.5 Star Rating

Golf Digest - #6 on America's Best New Upscale Public Courses, 2002

Golf Digest - Best value in America, 2004

GolfWeek - #1 Resort Golf Course in Texas, #46 in the US, 2018

GolfWeek - #1 Golf Course to Play in Texas, 2018, "Best Courses You Can Play"

Golf Magazine - Honorable Mention as "One of the Top Courses You Can Play"

Golfweek - #1 course in Texas (2010-2012 & 2014-2018)

 

A few holes seem to be worth highlighting:

 

Hole 2 - 348 Yard Par 4

 

The Par 4 Second Hole presents an early birdie opportunity with a reachable Par 4. The green has significant sloping, like many others on the course, to give the hole some teeth. 

 

Hole 5 - 501 Yard Par 5

 

The Par 5 Fifth Hole offers an option for golfers to take their tee shot left with 249 yards of carry over a natural sand dune waste area, enabling players to reach the green in two shots whereas if they elect to go right of the split fairway it will be a guaranteed three shot hole. 

 

Hole 6 - 254 Yard Par 3

 

The Par 3 Sixth Hole has the most elevation change as it was was carved into a natural hill. At least 50 feet of drop, by my estimation. The green naturally slopes from right to left towards the water hazard left of the green, which seems to be well out of play except the entirety of the hole slopes towards that hazard. A Par here is an excellent score.

 

Hole 11 - 605 Yard Par 5

 

The Par 5 Eleventh Hole is every bit of 605 yards as the fairway ends at 307 yards out where natural sand dunes separate the split fairway. Many elect for something less than driver as it will be a three shot hole regardless of how far you can hit your tee shot. Only the absolute longest hitters out there can reach this one in two from the championship tees. Another hole at Pine Dunes where Par is a great score.

 

Hole 15 - 344 Yard Par 4

 

The Par 4 Fifteenth Hole is another reachable Par 4 as it plays shorter than 344, doglegging around Pines. One can lay up here if they have a particularly good round going and want to protect their low number, but I otherwise encourage players to go for it here. It plays even shorter in length than the reachable Par 4 on the front if you can carry the Pines on the left.

 

Hole 18 - 512 Yard Par 5

 

The Par 5 Eighteenth Hole is a masterful finish. Sharp dogleg right around a sizeable water hazard. One can have 160 yards or less into the Par 5 with their approach, but this requires a tee shot with more than 272 yards of carry to clear the hazard. A long drive is not necessary to reach the green in two as it would be advisable to play this tee shot left of the hazard unless you are confident in carrying your drive 280+. That is all carry, not roll.

 

As a final note I would like to add that a part of the charm of Pine Dunes is its absolute isolation. It is worth the journey to arrive at such a unique piece of golf property. A real Texas Golfer's dream.

 

Peter Kennedy on Hole 5 at Pine Dunes July 2022:

 

 

 

[callawayjay]

He’s not wrong….

[ShowtimeJ13]

Please keep quiet. No one who doesn’t know needs to know! 😂

[North Texas]

Indeed a very good golf course and very fun to play. I have played it a dozen times or so but have yet to post a decent score. But would still go back.  

[cjblake09]

How do you not mention the 4th hole.  I hate that freaking hole and i play a draw and still can't score well on it. 

[kennedyapeter]

@cjblake09 very challenging hole agreed its an interesting one, forces the player to either 1. hit something well short of driver OR 2. hit a hook, not a draw around/over the left tree line.

[golfwb]

Hole 11 is a bad hole IMO.

The biggest sin in golf architecture is taking driver out of a players hand on a par 5.

If they had extended the fairway on the right and made it 20 yards wide that would be a different story 

[callawayjay]

On 7/27/2022 at 11:06 AM, cjblake09 said:

How do you not mention the 4th hole.  I hate that freaking hole and i play a draw and still can't score well on it. 

As a shortish hitter I agree. It’s stout. Guarded by bunkers and im usually cuttting a heavenwood trying to use the tiny gap. 

[CougarRed]

Never played it, but visited the clubhouse on the way back to Houston from Dallas once.  Looks awesome.

 

Might plan a weekend trip this fall.  Stay at the Redlands in Palestine...

Edited August 11, 2022 by CougarRed
added link to the historic Redlands Hotel

[nitram]

I've had the good fortune to play Pine Dunes dozens of times, and it never fails to please. One of the things Peter did not mention is how well the greens roll at Pine Dunes. Yeah, there's a few days a year where they have to punch and service the greens but other than that, they are rolling between 10 and 11, and are as pure as you'll find.

[kennedyapeter]

confirming greens are excellent and should have included that critical fact in my original post

[Austincountyag]

I have family in the area, and get to play the course usually once or twice a year. While it's a good layout and usually never crowded I do not feel like it is a top 5 public course in the state and worth what they charge on the weekend. YMMV

[Adam B]

It sucks they don't have a course rating set up!  I like to log every round on GHIN so it's a bummer. 

[golfwb]

 

22 hours ago, Adam B said:

It sucks they don't have a course rating set up!  I like to log every round on GHIN so it's a bummer. 

Thats weird and a new thing, you can find the scorecard online to see the ratings, but I have always been able to find the course/tees and enter it in via GHIN 

[Adam B]

42 minutes ago, golfwb said:

 

Thats weird and a new thing, you can find the scorecard online to see the ratings, but I have always been able to find the course/tees and enter it in via GHIN 

I assume it’s for $$ reasons, but I emailed the Pro recently and this was the response I got. 
 

“We are working on that right now Adam.  When we did away with our membership 2 years ago we ditched GHIN for a while.”

Edited September 13, 2022 by Adam B

[North Texas]

4 minutes ago, Adam B said:

I assume it’s for $$ reasons, but I emailed the Pro recently and this was the response I got. 
 

“We are working on that right now Adam.  When we did away with our membership 2 years ago we ditched GHIN for a while.”

 

How much does it cost for a club to be on the GHIN system? I honestly no clue but I can't imagine that it's really a money issue for Pine Dunes. 

[cjblake09]

Took a day trip to Pine Dunes today and it is in great shape right now.  Greens are perfect and everything is nice and lush.  Left Dallas at 7 and was back by 2:30.

[TP10]

One of the not so hidden gems. Still an incredible place. Going back this fall for a few days. 

[cjblake09]

They are punching this week so hold off making a trip this week.

[nitram]

Played yesterday and the place is PERFECT right now. It was overcast and had briefly rained about an hour before I arrived. I teed off @11:00 and there was 3 other carts on the course. It really doesn't get any better than that.

[jrelurker7]

Played on Saturday. It’s in great shape greens are fast and true. Love this place