Review of The Golf Club at McKinney

The Golf Club at McKinney
Texas Outside Rating: 8.3
18 Holes - Golf - Semi Private
McKinney
972 540-6880
Website
Locate This Course

Date Played: October 23, 2011
Front Nine Rating: 8.7 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 8.5 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $45.00 to $70.00
Brief Description:

The Golf Club At McKinney is a semi-private club located within The Fairways at Wilson Creek which is an exclusive gated apartment home community. With five sets of tee boxes, the course varies from 4492 to 6807 yards and as such, it caters to all levels of play. The layout is somewhat traditional with mostly straight and fairly flat "what you see is what you get" holes. However, there are a few exceptions like a hidden creek crossing the fairway, some blind shots, and couple sharp dog legs.

The designer, Lyndy Lindsey, did an excellent job of taking advantage of the local terrain which includes some elevation changes, ravines, and ups and downs. In addition, he must have moved a lot of dirt to create some fairway slope and contour, numerous berms, water, and raised greens. If you've played Augusta National you might recognize holes 12 and 16 which are replicas of those holes at Augusta National. All of that makes for a fun and challenging round.

Each hole is a little different than the others and each one throws something at you to keep you on your games, for example:

#1 is a 540 yard par five with a carry over a ravine to a narrow dog left fairway with a ridge on the left and trees along the right
#3 has an elevated tee box with a shot through a narrow tree lined slot toward an uphill green
several holes have challenging approaches to raised greens of varying shapes that are well guarded by some huge bunkers
two of the par threes require you to avoid the water and some treacherous bunkers if you're looking for par or better
#15 offers a good risk reward shot to try and fly the trees to shorten the dog leg left and the more conservative shot down the fairway needs to be accurate to avoid the only fairway bunker and not overrun the fairway

The fairways were in very good condition compared to most other courses that were suffering from a very harsh winter, a drought, and a record number of days over 100 during the miserable summer of 2011. The fairways are all fairly tight but the rough was playable. If you spray it and miss the rough you'll be in the trees and lost, wet, or in another fairway which offers a pretty recovery opportunity. Some of the holes are lined by trees, others by side by side fairways, and some play along side a very busy road or by homes set up on a ridge.

The greens are what define The Golf Club at McKinney and make your round very challenging. They typically run fast, between a 11 to 12, and have plenty of slope, undulation, tiers, and ridges - pin placement can be a killer. Most are raised and all but one is protected by water or some big bunkers. When we played they ran fast and true, were challenging to read, and held the ball well. The good and bad news is that they are all different shapes from oval to light bulb to a small "L" shaped and most are huge requiring you to accurately read and putt through several breaks. Practice putting before you head out.

All but one of the bunkers are protecting the green and most are large with a half to a foot or so lip. It rained just before we played so the bunkers were full of water and not playable. On a previous round, the bunkers were in very good condition with thick and fluffy sand.

Bottom line - a fun track with good conditions, a fair value, some fun holes, and challenging green complexes.

Head Pro's Corner

Patrick Nolin, the Head Golf Professional, would like you to know that The Golf Club at McKinney has two former touring pros that teach at the course and that club memberships are all inclusive including all cart fees. Memberships start as low as $185 a month.

Texas Outside Scorecard for The Golf Club at McKinney
Beauty:
Difficulty:
Variety:
Fun Scale:
Value:
Condition:

Other Good Information:

Designer/Architect: Lyndy Lindsey
Beware of water on 8 holes and the 22 sand traps.
Service was great and the cart seemed to appear about every three holes with cold beer and a smiling face. The pro shop is well stocked, the club house is upscale, and the practice facilities are adequate. The Wilson Creek Grill has a fantastic cheeseburger, chili, sandwiches, fries, and more.
Condition of the greens is 9.0 and the green difficulty is 9.0 out of 10.
Condition of the fairways is 8.0. Condition of the bunkers is 8.5. Type of Greens: TIF Eagle
Walkable: Very
GPS: Yes

Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box	Yardage	Rating	Slope	Par
Black	6,807	73.7	140	72
Gold	6,510	72.7	134	72
Blue	5,964	69.3	124	72
White	5,208	65.7	118	72
Red	4,492			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.