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Texas Golf Resort Reviews | |
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Texas Golf Resort Reviews Texas is loaded with some magnificant golf resorts, from the Plains of West Texas to the Hill Country to the Gulf Coast. You can find a golf resort that will exceed your expectations and fit within your budget constraints. This page will feature the current month's golf resort review and an easy way to find some of the previous months reviews. Starting in late 2006, we started reviewing golf resorts and plan to add at least 6 to 8 new resorts in 2007, so keep checking back. If you know of some good golf resorts that we should consider adding, please contact us.
Golf Resort Review of the Month Crown Colony Country Club Lufkin, Texas Crown Colony County Club in Lufkin is a semi-private country club that is available for public play on a course that is consistently rated as one of the top courses in Texas. Not only does Crown Colony have an excellent golf course, but they also have a fantastic Stay & Play Package as well as resort type amenities for you to enjoy when you stay at their Villas. Golf Course Every year, Crown Colony is ranked as one of the best golf courses in Texas. The Dallas Morning News has listed Crown Colony as the #1 course in Texas numerous years, including 2007 when it was rated #1 in the "Top 15 Most Expensive" and #2 as "Dallas Area Best Private Courses." In 2005, Crown Colony was listed in Golf Digest’s Best Golf Courses in Texas - Top Ten Statewide. Golfweek Magazine’s ratings of America’s Best, puts Crown Colony as the 72nd best course in the nation in 2005. We loved the course and have it rated as #4 on our list of Texas Outside's Top Twenty Texas Golf Courses. Crown Colony was also recognized for having two of the toughest holes in Texas - a 183-yard, par 3, which requires a tee shot over water a 582-yard, par 5, with a tree-lined fairway and well-protected green. From our perspective, Crown Colony Country Club offers you some of the best of everything - scenic beauty, near perfect greens and fairways, fun yet challenging holes, lots of variety, great amenities, and a somewhat fairly reasonable price based on the quality of the course. "It is simply a magnificent monument to the game of golf."
Bruce Devlin and Robert Von Hagge designed and opened the course in 1978 and the like to design challenging and fun courses that "turn natures contours into dazzling golf landscapes.". According to Bruce, "Our goal is to build great golf courses within the contours of the natural surroundings which challenge the best golfers and yet can be equally enjoyed by the novice." And they have exceeded that goal at Crown Colony. Crown Colony is a little short at 6692 from the tips and on most holes you can leave the driver in the bag. Trees and water and some fairway bunkers can cause a problem, but course management, club selection, and a fairly straight shot should position you ok for the approach. Devlin and Von Hagge seem to design their courses with a premium on accuracy on the approach shots. The greens are smaller than most and very well protected by a narrow approach, trees, water, or bunkers. Plus the designers seem to love turtle top greens - meaning if you don't nail your approach shot, stop the ball on the green near the pin, or land on a non-sloping portion of the green, there is a high probability that you're going to roll back onto the fairway. Once on the green, they are in excellent condition, somewhat fast, have both slope and undulation, and very true. So make sure you spend a lot of time before your round on the putting green and practicing your chip and bunker shots.
The course is challenging but fair and you need to employ good course management to avoid trees or the water hazards which come into play on 13 holes. Crown Colony is known for keeping the greens and fairways in excellent condition. You'll also find that all of the grounds are meticulously well maintained. This is also the first golf course that we have played where all of the par 3s are beautiful and challenging and some of the best that we have found in Texas.
The pro shop is very well stocked and the staff is friendly and attentive. There is a driving range, putting green, and bunker area for practice. The Club House has an excellent locker room and restaurant. You can learn more about the golf course by reading our review. To see a few more pictures of the outstanding course Click here - keep in mind, the pictures don't do it justice.
Golf Villas To really enjoy this course, you need to spend a weekend or longer and play it a number of times - like old age, the more you play Crown Colony, the better you'll like it! Which means you should book one of the Crown Colony Villas which are less than 200 yards from the pro shop and range. The Villas were completely renovated in 2005 and are comfortable, very clean, nicely appointed and furnished. Each villas has one bedroom with two queen beds, a living room with soft leather furniture, and a fully equipped kitchen. To learn more about the Villas and Crown Colony's Stay & Play package, you can read our review of when we stayed there in 2007. Amenities Guests staying at the Villas are given a temporary membership which entitles you to full use of all the amenities. Technically, Crown Colony is a Country Club and not a resort, but it has resort type amenities which you can enjoy when you Stay & Play at Crown Colony Country Club. Some of the amenities include:
Crown Colony is minutes away from downtown Lufkin which offers plenty of shopping, good restaurants, and some ok nightlife. You are very close to some excellent fishing and boating at nearby Sam Rayburn Reservoir and the area is well known for hunting. Bottom Line Crown Colony should be added to your must play list. The course is fantastic, the Stay & Play is very reasonable, and the amenities are great. What are you waiting for - call them today to book a room and couple rounds of golf.
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