Texas Outside review of The Woods At Jacksonville

The Woods At Jacksonville

Texas Outside Rating: 7.5

18 Holes - Golf - Public
Jacksonville
903 589-1706
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Date Played: October 31, 2009
Front Nine Rating: 7.5 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 8.0 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $59.00 to $59.00
Brief Description:
The Woods At Jacksonville, formally Cherokee Country Club was built in 1936, making it one of the oldest courses in Texas. Over the years it has gone through several owners, one of which recently declared bankruptcy, and as such the conditions have suffered over the past couple years. On top of that, when we played the last weekend in October, the course had suffered some damage from all the heavy October record rains. The good news is that in October 2009 the Challenge Golf Group purchased the golf course and has already started to make some needed improvements.

At 6239 yards, The Woods At Jacksonville is a tad short but plays a little longer and is still somewhat challenging with a slope of 119 to 125. Matt Dye redesigned the course in 2008 and made the course a little more challenging and fun by adding bunkers and redoing some of the greens. Typical of most older courses, The Woods is pretty traditional with straight forgiving fairways, small greens, and no tricks or hidden hazards - typically, what you see is what you get. Which means, keep it straight and putt well and you should have a fun, relaxing, and good scoring round.

The front nine will keep you on your game by throwing a little bit of something at you including elevated tee boxes and greens, rolling fairways, minor doglegs, creek or water carries, and some tight spots. On this nine, the fairways seem wide and the rough is playable if you miss the fairway. On a lot of holes, the approach shot to protected small greens can add extra strokes to your score. The front nine has 3 par 3s and 3 par 5s. #4 is a fun hole - the drive off the elevated tee box to the sharp 90 degree dog leg left needs to be precise and then you have to carry a lake and stuff it on a postage stamp sized green protected by the creek and pond.

We liked the back nine and specifically the last five holes which are scenic, more challenging, and exciting to play. #14 for example is a fun 404 yard number one handicap dog leg left requiring a precise drive, then a couple shots down a contoured and mounded downhill fairway and across a creek to a very small oval green. And the 186 par 3 #15 gives you a good risk reward shot - can you carry the lake all the way to the green or should you be conservative and play up the left side of the lake. #18 is a great finishing hole which ends a fun round of golf.

The fairways were a little rough and spotty and in need of some TLC and lots of seed and fertilizer - which the new owners seemed committed to. The roughs along and under the trees are playable but mostly dirt and spotty grass patches. The greens are very small, about average speed, and in pretty good shape with some slope.

This is a fun and playable country course and we hope management continues to make the needed improvements. The plan is to take The Woods At Jacksonville private around the first of 2010, so play it now or plan on becoming a member.

Here's How Texas Outside Determines the Scorecard Rating

The Texas Outside rating scale ranges from 1 to 10 – a perfect 10 course would be something like this: links along a cliff overlooking the Pacific ocean and bordered by tall trees; lush fairways on rolling hills with lots of natural hazards; water (which is crystal clear) on most of the holes; immaculate greens (but they are undulating and tough); lots of variety and character (each hole is completely different and includes blind shots, elevation changes, doglegs, and significant challenges); perfectly manicured traps with the whitest and prettiest sand you’ve ever seen; a nice club house with great food and a 19th hole; a GPS; plenty of beverage carts or your own cooler and ice; and it only costs $40 bucks! What this means is that you probably won’t find any 10s in Texas – try Cabo San Lucas, Pebble Beach, or some of the Hawaii courses!
Texas Outside rates courses on the following:

Beauty – tall trees, rolling hills, beautiful houses, waterfalls, and similar stuff would score high; a 1 would be flat, bushes or cactus instead of trees, and some grass but mostly weeds

Difficulty – a straight, 300 yard par 4 with no traps or hazards, no out of bounds or water would probably get a 1; if it is a 460 yard par 4 over two ravines, with water along one side, natural hazards on the other, strategically placed traps or that dreaded tree right in the middle of the fairway, we are talking a 10.

Variety – what would you give a course where all the holes looked and played exactly the same (“I thought we just played that hole!”); were side-by-side, which is good for finding or dodging other people’s balls, but not much fun; and you can see the flag from every tee box? That’s right, it gets a 1.

Fun Scale – a 10 is where you walk off the course and say “now that was fun” and you can’t wait to get back, or you immediately turn around and play another 18 holes

Value – a 5 is $50 to $60, a 10 is $20 to $30, and 1 is $200 or so – of course all of this is dependent upon how you liked the course. For example, if a run down, boring municipal course, with six players on each hole was only $10; it would still get a value rating of 1.

Condition – this one’s pretty easy – what condition are the fairways. A 10 commands very lush perfectly manicured fairways, compared to a 1, which has fire ants, weeds, and more dirt than grass!

Condition of Greens and Difficulty – very hard to read greens with lots of undulation and tough pin placement, rate very high on the difficulty scale. Condition is self-explanatory.

All of the above determines the overall score for the golf course. In other words, we like courses that are pretty, fun, very challenging with a lot of variety, and fairways and greens in excellent condition – all for $40. We also tend to play the courses that are affordable for the masses, which means in the $30 to $80 range. We rate hard and we haven’t found a 10 in Texas yet – don’t worry we haven’t given up and we’re still looking.