Texas Outside golf course review of Olympia Hills in Universal City

Date Played: January 01, 2010
Front Nine Rating: 9.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 8.5 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $32.00 to $49.00
Where To Get Coupons: Senior & Miliatry discount

Brief Description:

Owned and operated by the City of Universal City, Olympia Hills is a fantastic course offering a little bit of everything that makes golf fun as well as challenging - dramatic elevation changes, lots of variety, beautiful scenery, roller coaster fairways, water, blind shots, elevated greens, bunkers, and a reasonable price. In fact, Golf Digest named Olympia Hills the "Best New Affordable Public Golf Course in Texas" and #4 in America.

Each nine has it's own unique personality. The front plays up and down the rolling hills and has dramatic elevation changes on five of nine holes and lots of variety. On this nine you'll encounter blind shots, dog legs, forced carries, uphill greens, steep and deep bunkers, narrow to open contoured tree lined fairways, and more - making this a fantastic golf experience. #6 for example is a 551 yard par 5 that horseshoes around a creek and ravine on the right side and crosses back under the fairway and curves around in front of a downhill small and well protected green with significant slope back toward the creek.

The back nine is more open and forgiving off the tee box but has some tight approaches, more water, some side by side holes, and much harder and smaller greens. #10 is a fun 437 yard dog leg right with an uphill drive and a risk reward opportunity to shorten the hole (if you want to risk flying the trees) to the downhill green surrounded by a a limestone wall.

The par 3's at Olympia Hills can bite you, most of the greens are challenging, and the conditions are very good. The fairways and bunkers were in above average condition. The greens vary in size and shape, were in very good condition with lots of slope and some undulation, and were a tad slow and bumpy when we played in December 2009. We found the greens tough to read with subtle breaks making two and three putts common for us.

Bottom line, Olympia Hills is a must play - great variety, fun and challenging, in very good condition, and one of the best bargains in Texas.

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.