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River Place Country Club
Texas Outside Rating: 8.8
18 Holes - Golf - Private
Austin, TX
512 346-1114
Website
Online Tee Times

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Date Played: May 09, 2005
Front Nine Rating: 9.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 9.0 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $50.00 to $85.00
Brief Description:
River Place is a Texas Outside Favorite and an excellent course - it's very beautiful (up and down a valley in the hills of west Austin with scenic views of the hill country, and some very nice houses along the cliffs). River Place takes advantage of the landscape which means you will experience a lot of ups and downs, big elevation changes, cliffs, and ravines. The front nine goes along a creek that cuts across 6 holes which adds to the course difficulty. There is a lot of variety with no two holes same, lots of dog legs, and blind shots. The first time you play River Place be prepared to be surprised and loose some balls. If you can hit it straight and have played River Place before will find it much more fun. If you have trouble keeping the ball in the fairway, the creeks, ravines, narrow fairways, and blind shots are going to cause you some trouble - so forget about your score and enjoy the golf course and scenic beauty. Traps are well placed but not a lot of trouble to avoid. The greens are in very good condition and not that tough (some are two tiered, most are medium size and it's a little hard to read some of the breaks). The clubhouse has a full menu and a great 19th hole.
 
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Texas Outside Scorecard for River Place Country Club
Beauty:  
Difficulty:  
Variety:  
Fun Scale:  
Value:  
Condition:  
Other Good Information:

Beware of water on 11 holes and the 61 sand traps.
Condition of the greens is 7.0 and the green difficulty is 6.0 out of 10.
The 19th hole is great and the clubhouse food is great.
The pro shop is good
Walkable: No
GPS: No

Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope Par
Gold 6,611 72.0 128 72
Blue 6,128 69.5 127 72
White 5,964 67.5 121 72
Red 4,720 67.1 122 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. 

 

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