Texas Outside review of Lions Municipal Golf Course

Date Played: May 09, 2008
Front Nine Rating: 6.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 7.5 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $24.00 to $32.00
Brief Description:
The City of Austin acquired the golf course from the Lions Club in 1938 and it remains one of the best muni courses in Austin. The course is a traditional older course on fairly flat terrain that is heavily treed. The course is short at 6001 yards from the tips and if you can keep the ball in the fairway, you're likely to have a very good round. There are only nine traps and 5 holes with water and no real hazards to content with.

The front nine isn't real exciting - fairly straight, not much variety, and no real trouble to content with. The nine traps are on this nine and eight of them are protecting the green. The back nine is a lot more fun and offers more variety and a little more challenge. There are a couple risk reward holes that make it fun. Again, not a lot of trouble that you can get into.

The greens were in surprisingly good condition and were soft, so the ball would hold on good chips shots. Most of the greens are large and a number have some slope and undulation, but aren't that hard to read. The fairways are typical of a lot of munis and not in the best of condition.

The clubhouse is dated but the carts are in good condition. This is one of those courses where you can get out, enjoy 18 holes of golf, score well, and not spend a fortune.

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.