Date Played: March 05, 2009
Front Nine Rating: 8.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 8.5 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $45.00 to $59.00
Brief Description:

As The Links at Land's End website says, "Great golf begins where the land ends, world class golf on a world class bass fishing lake". One hole literally ends on a peninsula jutting out into the waters of Lake Fork and half of the holes are along the shore of Lake Fork - play close attention and you may spot one of the many boats fishing landing a new world's record as you are looking for your ball and watch out for flying lures! The other half of the holes meander through the trees and among some nice homes.

The Links at Land's End is well deserving of the following awards: the Dallas Morning News rated Land's End as the #5 "Top 25 High-Priced Courses in the State of Texas" and #19 in the "Top 50 Courses You Can Play"; Avid Golfer rated it "#1 Hidden Gem"; and County Line Magazine rate it "Best Golf Course.">

The course is well deserving of all the awards. The Links At Land's End is somewhat challenging with some narrow tree and water lined holes; there are a number of dog legs to add variety; it's in very good condition and the rather large rolling greens are in good shape; the PGA member staff is very knowledgeable and friendly; and the course is very scenic. All of this makes for a wonderful round of golf.

The first five holes are flat, pretty straight, and easy as they meander through the trees and some huge beautiful homes. You're scoring well, saying where is the challenge and where's the lake. Then you hit six and seven to prepare you for the next four holes known as "Amen Corner." You're going to need your "A" for 8 through 11.

Number 8 is short at 380 yards but it's the #1 handicap. The drive needs to be accurate to avoid the water on the right, trees on the left, and nail the landing zone to make the sharp 90 degree dog. Or take a risk reward shot and fly the reeds and lake to cut off the yardage and the dog. Then you approach needs to be perfect to hold the narrow oblong green and avoid the lake on the right and back and the trap on the left. Survive that with par and the rest of Amen Corner might be easy for you.

Amen Corner and the back nine are much more scenic as the play along the lake (try to ignore all the fisherman who just waiting for you to drive your ball where they are fishing) as well as more challenging. Number 16 is fun 412 yard dog leg left par 4 that literally ends on a peninsula jutting into Lake Fork. And 18 is an excellent finishing hole to a fantastic round of golf.

Each time we have played, conditions have been well above average. Links at Land's End has a Lodge and an affordable Stay & Play Package - read our review of the Land's End Stay & Play.Bring your boat or hire a fishing guide and go fishing after your round. Make sure you call ahead and get directions to Links At Land's End because the back roads leading to the course can be a little confusing.

Texas Outside Scorecard for Links At Land's End
Beauty:
Difficulty:
Variety:
Fun Scale:
Value:
Condition:

Other Good Information:

Designer/Architect: Williams Gill & Associates
Beware of water on 13 holes and the 50 sand traps.
Service is good. The pro shop has an adequate supply of gear.
Condition of the greens is 7.0 and the green difficulty is 7.0 out of 10.
Walkable: Yes
GPS: No

Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box	Yardage	Rating	Slope	Par
Gold	6,664	72.6	130	72
Blue	6,100	70.2	129	72
White	5,678	67.6	122	72
Red	5,068	68.7	114	72

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.

Review of Links At Land's End

Here's How Texas Outside Determines the Scorecard Rating