Review of La Cantera - Resort Course

La Cantera - Resort Course
Texas Outside Rating: 9.4
18 Holes - Golf - Resort Public
San Antonio
210 558-4653
Website
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Online Tee Times Stay & Play

Date Played: December 28, 2009
Front Nine Rating: 10.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 9.0 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $49.00 to $140.00
Brief Description:

La Cantera Resort has two outstanding golf courses - the Resort Course and the Palmer Course. Both are daily fee courses and don't require a stay at the Resort - but you should make it a goal to stay at the Resort, enjoy the amenities, great food, outstanding service, and play both courses. The 7021 yard Resort Course was home to the 2006 and 2007 PGA Tour's Valero Texas Open and is about 5 or 6 strokes harder than the Palmer Course. To learn more, read our review of the Palmer Course. Both courses and the La Cantera Resort have won a number of accolades ranging from "Best Resort Courses" (Golfweek, 2007) to "Top 100 Golf Resorts" (Conde Nast Traveler, 2007) - and it is one of Texas Outside's favorite courses.

The Resort course has been carved out of the rolling hills north of San Antonio and offers some of the most magnificent scenery in Texas - breathtaking panoramic views of San Antonio, the surrounding rolling hills, and Fiesta Texas; more color than you'll see on any course in Texas (reminds us of California and Hawaii courses!); limestone rock outcroppings; live oaks and lush greens/fairways; and running streams. You'll also find rolling fairways, doglegs, elevation changes, and some fun and memorable holes. For example, on number #7, the tee boxes sit upon a tall limestone bluff overlooking the hills and Fiesta Texas and a 316 yard beautiful dogleg left hole with several strategically placed huge white sand bunkers, a small lake, and a small well protected green - they don't get much better or more fun than that!

Each time that we have played the greens and fairways were in excellent condition. Most of the fairways are wide and forgiving - so bring out the big dog and let 'er rip, particularly on the first hole which is a 665 yard confidence builder! The greens seemed larger than normal, a lot were oblong, and all were in very good condition. The are relatively flat but subtle breaks make them hard to read, so make sure you spend some time putting before you head out. The GPS is excellent with some tips and information on the greens.

Both nines take advantage of the rolling scenic terrain and all are tree lined with no out of bounds and no houses. The back nine is not quite as scenic, is easier with fewer hazards and open and forgiving fairways. You'll enjoy both nines and want to come back again. La Cantera offers specials and has an excellent Stay & Play package. Twilight rates are fantastic and make playing this course a real bargain!

Bottom line, you need to add the Resort Course to your list of must plays. From our perspective, the front nine is the best in Texas and has some of everything that we enjoy when playing golf: beautiful scenery, excellent conditions, great service, challenging but fair layout with water hazards, huge elevation changes, dog legs, blind shots, risk reward opportunities, waterfalls, panoramic views, forced carries, wide forgiving fairways, great greens, soft sand bunkers, and a great value at twilight. La Cantera has an excellent stay and play offering and is well worth the money - read our review of La Cantera Resort to learn more.

Texas Outside Scorecard for La Cantera - Resort Course
Beauty:
Difficulty:
Variety:
Fun Scale:
Value:
Condition:

Other Good Information:

Designer/Architect: Tom Weiskoph/Jay Morrish
Beware of water on 5 holes and the 60 sand traps.
The Resort course has an excellent pro shop, a good grill, and an excellent practice range. The staff is very experienced and provides some of the best service you'll every find.
Condition of the greens is 10.0 and the green difficulty is 7.0 out of 10.
Walkable: No
GPS: Yes
Scorecard

Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box	Yardage	Rating	Slope	Par
Black	7,021	72.5	134	72
Gold	6,406	69.6	127	72
Blue	6,026	68.2	119	72
White	5,581	66.1	113	72
Red	4,940	67.1	108	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.