Review of The Bandit

The Bandit
Texas Outside Rating: 9.0
18 Holes - Golf - Public
New Braunfels
888-923-7846
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Date Played: September 25, 2010
Front Nine Rating: 8.7 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 9.2 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $49.00 to $61.00
Brief Description:

Voted "8th Best Golf Course in Texas" by Golf Week Magazine, The Bandit isa fun, challenging and scenic course at a reasonable price.

The course winds along the banks of Lake McQueeney and Long Creek either of which can come into play on 13 of 18 holes creating some challenges, risk reward opportunities, and giving the course a lot of character and personality. Each hole has a unique name, most of which describe what you are up against. For example,

Blind Date - a 421 yard par 4 with ample fairway but a blind shot to a downhill green
Too Much To Soon - a long 241 yard par 3 requiring an accurate shot off the tee box to avoid the bunker on the left front of the green
Lake Breeze - a beautiful 185 par 3 that requires a carry across the lake - a breeze behind you helps but if you're driving into the breeze, you best club up if you don't want to go swimming
Long Creek - a fantastic 552 yard par 5 finishing hole where Long Creek splits the fairway and forces you to make a tough decision - risk a long carry across the creek to a tight landing zone and easy approach shot or take a safer but longer approach with a shorter carry to the green - a memorable hole
R.I.P. - a great downhill shot on a 417 yard dog leg left with a lot going on once you get off the elevated tee box - fairway and greenside bunkers, a sloping fairway with a creek cutting across it, and a tough putting surface

The front nine is very pretty and most holes require good club selection and course management. Water on 5 holes, natural hazards, and rolling hills add challenge and make this a very fun nine. The Bandit's back nine is outstanding and includes: rolling hills, dramatic elevation changes, some very challenging holes, blind shots, water on 8 holes, and doglegs - they just don't get much better than this nine.

The Bandit is a course that you will want to play again because the second time you play it you've learned a lot about how to manage the course to lower your score.

We have played The Bandit several times and it has always been in near perfect condition. The fairways are lush and ample with a rough that is playable. The bunkers have some deep and soft sand with manageable lips.

The greens are medium sized and flat to gently sloping with some tiers and undulation. They have always been in very good condition, held the ball well, run true, and can be a little fast.

This is a great course and well deserving of its ranking as one of the best in Texas. The Bandit lives up to it's motto of "Exceptional Golf" and a "Remarkable Value."

Texas Outside Scorecard for The Bandit
Beauty:
Difficulty:
Variety:
Fun Scale:
Value:
Condition:

Other Good Information:

Beware of water on 13 holes and the 64 sand traps.
Service is very good and friendly, the pro shop is limited but has the basics, and from what we hear, the food is good. The practice facility is ok.
Condition of the greens is 9.0 and the green difficulty is 8.0 out of 10.
Walkable: Hard walk
GPS: No
Course Map
Scorecard

Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box	Yardage	Rating	Slope	Par
Black	6,928	72.7	130	72
Gold	6,405	70.3	124	72
Blue	5,938	67.6	114	72
White	5,289	64.9	101	72
Red	4,468	70.7	122	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.