Waco or College Station?

[Chief Illiniwek]

Few buddies and I are thinking of driving down to this area at the end of February and staying at an Airbnb. Any recommendations on golf courses in either of these towns or a nearby location we’d enjoy more? Not too interested in the bigger cities. Thanks!

[cjblake09]

9 hours ago, Chief Illiniwek said:

Few buddies and I are thinking of driving down to this area at the end of February and staying at an Airbnb. Any recommendations on golf courses in either of these towns or a nearby location we’d enjoy more? Not too interested in the bigger cities. Thanks!

Where are you driving from?

 

[Chief Illiniwek]

1 hour ago, cjblake09 said:

Where are you driving from?

 

Central Illinois

[cjblake09]

19 minutes ago, Chief Illiniwek said:

Central Illinois

Any reason you picked those areas?  Not really the best golfing around there.  Are you looking to do other stuff as well or just come down for golf?  

[Chief Illiniwek]

Yes we’ve been doing a trip like this for over ten years now. Our main goal is to break up the Midwest weather and get some golf in. And we’ve found we don’t enjoy the traffic or congestion of more metropolitan areas. We look to keep costs under $1600 for a 6 day trip that includes 2 travel days. And we’ve also found playing top end courses kind of wears us out. We are a group of mostly guys who shoot 70’s on our home courses mid summer. We’ve found it hurts our enjoyment to show up with no swings in for months, pay $200/round, and look for balls all day while shooting 86. We’d rather play nicer courses in smallish towns that are more gettable with rusty swings. That said we are looking at stopping at Pine Dunes for one or two of the days.

[Abh159]

If you're willing to drive that far, why not just go down to the MS/AL/FL gulf coast area? 

 

It's probably about the same distance, just as affordable, and you'll get better golf (including more courses) and better weather. Plus, you'll at least have more options when it comes to stuff like food, accommodations, and etc...

[Chief Illiniwek]

We’ve done Alabama a lot. Found it to be saturated every single year in February. It’s our understanding there’s a chance of more dry conditions in Texas.

[Is Golf Fun or Work]

You'd be going through DFW, there are tons of quality tracks to play there.

Only place publicly accessible in College Station I know of is TX A&M university.

Does Waco have a 'real' golf course?

[golfwb]

If you looking at pine dunes you should look at tempest too. 

I don't know much about college station but they have incredible recruiters to get people to come and play at Baylor and live in Waco. (no offense)

[Chief Illiniwek]

2 minutes ago, Is Golf Fun or Work said:

You'd be going through DFW, there are tons of quality tracks to play there.

Only place publicly accessible in College Station I know of is TX A&M university.

Does Waco have a 'real' golf course?

Well that’s kind of why we are asking haha. We don’t need anything fancy. We assumed a college town would have some good pizza places and being in Texas we oughta find some good steaks or bbq. We assumed both Baylor and A&M would have a decent golf course. So if we also played Pine Dunes on the way there or back, the golf could be decent? We don’t need Augusta but for sure we’d like to find a decent track in good conditions as we are a little tired of the mud lies in Bama (not trying to talk it down, we’ve loved our trips to the RTJ trail).

[kenoli22]

The course on campus at A&M is fun and was recently redone.  Nothing to write home about though.  The team course is private.  Not sure about Baylor, but I've never seen anything in Waco worth playing that is open to the public.  Wolfdancer in Bastrop is nice and available for public play.  Close to Austin but far enough away to not feel like you're in a city.  TBH not a great area for public golf.

[Is Golf Fun or Work]

highest rated one in Waco, https://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/tx/waco/cottonwood-creek-golf-course

[Chief Illiniwek]

Your guys input has been GREATLY appreciated! 

[jah7838]

As someone who went to Texas A&M, I would say avoid Waco at all costs 😂

 

The campus course is fun at A&M is fun and you're not too far away from the Cypress area in Houston to play some golf as well.  Huntsville is right up the road from College Station, and it's home to what used to be called Raven's Nest golf club.  It's now the Bear Kat Course, and I've heard it's a fun course.  

 

http://bearkatcourse.com/course.html

[cjblake09]

3 hours ago, Chief Illiniwek said:

Your guys input has been GREATLY appreciated! 

If you are doing Pine Dunes why not just stay in that area. 

Tempest

Garden Valley

Links at Lands End

Texarkana Golf Ranch-never played it but looks cool and review are good. 

 

Plus heard it is not that hard to get onto Cascades CC and Hollytree CC if yall are members elsewhere.

 

[Chief Illiniwek]

4 hours ago, cjblake09 said:

If you are doing Pine Dunes why not just stay in that area. 

Tempest

Garden Valley

Links at Lands End

Texarkana Golf Ranch-never played it but looks cool and review are good. 

 

Plus heard it is not that hard to get onto Cascades CC and Hollytree CC if yall are members elsewhere.

 

That’s our latest thought. Looks like Tyler TX has some nice Airbnb’s.

[North Texas]

17 hours ago, cjblake09 said:

If you are doing Pine Dunes why not just stay in that area. 

Tempest

Garden Valley

Links at Lands End

Texarkana Golf Ranch-never played it but looks cool and review are good. 

 

Plus heard it is not that hard to get onto Cascades CC and Hollytree CC if yall are members elsewhere.

 

 

CJ, what's the latest on Garden Valley conditions? I know it can be hit or miss there and mostly on the miss side 😉

[cjblake09]

9 hours ago, North Texas said:

 

CJ, what's the latest on Garden Valley conditions? I know it can be hit or miss there and mostly on the miss side 😉

Not sure currenlt but it was getting better from what i heard.  Not sure it is still back to how it was in the late 90's.

[snagy2000]

On 10/14/2022 at 1:45 PM, jah7838 said:

As someone who went to Texas A&M, I would say avoid Waco at all costs 😂

 

The campus course is fun at A&M is fun and you're not too far away from the Cypress area in Houston to play some golf as well.  Huntsville is right up the road from College Station, and it's home to what used to be called Raven's Nest golf club.  It's now the Bear Kat Course, and I've heard it's a fun course.  

 

http://bearkatcourse.com/course.html

There's nothing in the Cypress area worth traveling from CS to play on a trip like yours. You can get to High Meadow Ranch in Magnolia from the CS area, but it's an hour both ways, and would be the only one worth an effort IMO. 

[dugue4]

On 10/17/2022 at 4:03 PM, snagy2000 said:

There's nothing in the Cypress area worth traveling from CS to play on a trip like yours. You can get to High Meadow Ranch in Magnolia from the CS area, but it's an hour both ways, and would be the only one worth an effort IMO. 

High meadow ranch is great. Now, if they’d stop raising prices…

[Austincountyag]

I second staying around Athens, TX area and doing Pine Dunes/ Links at Lands End/ also Pinnacle is a good course in that area. I live near college station, but have family in that area. The golf around Athens/Tyler is much better than around CS.

 

Sounds like a fun trip. Won't be that crowded either. Most TX golfers shut it down by December because of the "cold" 50 degree weather. ha

 

Plenty of lakes in that area to find an airbnb on. good place to light a fire and drink beer in the evening. 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Austincountyag

[Golferpaul]

On 10/14/2022 at 10:38 AM, Chief Illiniwek said:

Well that’s kind of why we are asking haha. We don’t need anything fancy. We assumed a college town would have some good pizza places and being in Texas we oughta find some good steaks or bbq. We assumed both Baylor and A&M would have a decent golf course. So if we also played Pine Dunes on the way there or back, the golf could be decent? We don’t need Augusta but for sure we’d like to find a decent track in good conditions as we are a little tired of the mud lies in Bama (not trying to talk it down, we’ve loved our trips to the RTJ trail).

You might want to consider Horseshoe Bay.  Good golf and not too expensive.  Plus, lots of good BBQ in that area.

[biglou11]

I'd pick Waco over College Station.   In College Station the premier courses are Traditions, Miramont and Pebble Creek but they are all private so you'd have to play with a member unless you can get reciprocity from your home course.  There is a nice course on the Texas A&M campus, and Bryan Municipal if you choose Bryan/College Station.

 

Also, Pine Dunes is closer to Waco since you're considering playing there.  In Waco, I'd recommend Cottonwood and Bear Ridge. Both are public courses.  Waco is also on I-35, so you could easily go north to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and play Tour 18 and The Tribute, or Cowboys Golf Club (look up their websites--they are definitely worth it if you're traveling that far)

[asommers1441]

On 1/2/2023 at 10:19 PM, biglou11 said:

I'd pick Waco over College Station.   In College Station the premier courses are Traditions, Miramont and Pebble Creek but they are all private so you'd have to play with a member unless you can get reciprocity from your home course.  There is a nice course on the Texas A&M campus, and Bryan Municipal if you choose Bryan/College Station.

 

Also, Pine Dunes is closer to Waco since you're considering playing there.  In Waco, I'd recommend Cottonwood and Bear Ridge. Both are public courses.  Waco is also on I-35, so you could easily go north to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and play Tour 18 and The Tribute, or Cowboys Golf Club (look up their websites--they are definitely worth it if you're traveling that far)

Is The Traditions course public access in CS? Or is there a way to get on? 

[heisenberg]

I know I’m a bit late, but I live in Waco. As someone said above, Cottonwood and Bear Ridge are your best options here but I would definitely not consider driving down here to play either of them. You’d be much better off doing Pine Dunes (as others have suggested) or staying in DFW and playing Cowboys, Texas Star, the Tribute, etc.