Texas Outside Golf Course Review
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Galveston Island Minicipal Golf Course
Texas Outside Rating: 6.6
18 Holes - Golf - Public
Galveston, TX
409 741-4626
Website

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Date Played: November 25, 2006
Front Nine Rating: 5.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 7.5 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $22.00 to $54.00
Brief Description:
In 2007, the golf course started a new renovation in conjunction with Moody Gardens and will not be open until 2008.

Galveston Island Golf Course is a city owned course that borders Syonor Bayou. The terrain is flat but the course takes advantage of the natural landscape. Sand traps, native grass, palm trees, and water come into play on every hole of this somewhat challenging 18 hole course.

The front nine is straight and lacks variety and character. The back nine is much better with more variety and some challenging and fun holes. The fairways were not in very good condition had a lot of weeds, brown spots, and clover. The greens were in above average condition and had minor undulation and slope. For a beach community course, you would think that the bunkers would be in good condition since there isn't a shortage of sand around, but they could use a lot of work. Overall, this is a fun course to play when you visit Galveston. Rumor has it that in 2007 the course will be managed by the Moody Gardens Management Group, which may help improve the course condition.

 
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Texas Outside Scorecard for Galveston Island Minicipal Golf Course
Beauty:  
Difficulty:  
Variety:  
Fun Scale:  
Value:  
Condition:  
Other Good Information:

Beware of water on 16 holes and the 25 sand traps.
Condition of the greens is 6.0 and the green difficulty is 6.0 out of 10.
The 19th hole is ok and the clubhouse food is ok.
The pro shop is weak
Walkable: Vert
GPS: No
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Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope Par
Gold 6,969 73.0 131 72
Blue 6,739 72.5 125 72
White 6,244 70.0 119 72
Red 5,536 71.4 121 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. 

 

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