Golf in Pharr/McAllen area

[golfortennis]

My parents have retired and decided to do the snowbird thing down to the very south of Texas(is there where you say deepinthehearta ??). Pharr, to be specific. I know the place they stay is attached to a small 9 hole course, which would be ok to jump out with my dad(who has never reallyplayed before), but I would also want to play some good courses if possible.

 

Are there any that are somewhat worthy of playing in that region? I saw that Houston is something like a 4 hour drive from there, so I know they may be significantly away from anything, but I figured I would ask. We'll no doubt have to visit this winter or next, so I thought I would start researching.

 

Thanks.

[tftimm]

I'm originally from Harlingen which is about 30 minutes from Pharr. I play regularly at Treasure Hills Golf Club which is a Rober Trent Jones course (Don't remember if it's Jr. or Sr.). The course plays about 7,000 yards from the tips with hills which is unlike any other course in the Rio Grande Valley (The Valley as most people is Texas call it). Green fees are between $30-40 and that includes a cart. THGC is a public/private course. Skip and Joe are the pro's/GM's and are both nice folks. If you see Arlie (greenskeeper) be sure to say hi. He's built courses for Nicklaus, Palmer, etc. and keeps the course in good shape. He's retired in Harlingen but helps Joe and Skip run the course as well as is the Head Greenskeeper. It's really a good deal and is much different than any other courses in the Valley.

There are many nice private courses in McAllen like Cimmeron, McAllen Country Club, etc., but I would recommend THGC to anyone looking to play golf down in South Texas.

Another good course is the course is South Padre Golf Club. I haven't played Tierra Santa in Welsaco in about 10 years, but that was a fairly nice course.

When you plan on being down in that area?

[golfortennis]

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure exactly when I will be down. It could be this winter, it could be next winter. I just know at some point my wife and I will have to make (at least part of) a winter trip down to that area to visit my folks. My sister and also a cousin of mine are both getting married next spring and so they aren't staying down this winter nearly as long as they would like, so it may not be until next year.

Sounds like I can figure on bringing the clubs though!!

[tftimm]

Definitely, I play golf 12 months a year. If you have any other questions about the Brownsville, Harlingen, McAllen area, let me know. I will let you know in advance, normal wind is 15-25mph although you can often wear shorts in Nov.-Feb. It rarely gets in the thirties at night.