Review of Cottonwood Creek

Cottonwood Creek
Texas Outside Rating: 5.8
18 Holes - Golf - Public
Waco
254-745-6009
Website
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Date Played: March 18, 2007
Front Nine Rating: 5.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 6.5 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $28.00 to $38.00
Brief Description: Cottonwood Creek's front nine is open, with a few trees, no real trouble and not a whole lot of variety. On the back nine there are a couple of pretty holes, more variety, some big dogs that require some course managment, and two fun and challenging holes. Most of the fairways are pretty open, some are side by side, and with fair course management, you should score well. The greens were true, slow, gently sloping, and easy to read.

On this round in March 2007 the front nine greens and fairways were not in the best of shape - they were being aerated and the drought has been tough on all courses in 2007. The back nine was in better, but not great condition. The majority of the bunkers are around the green and aren't that difficult to avoid. Water comes into play on 6 holes and can be a major challenge on a couple of the holes.

Cottonwood Creek is a good family course and you can have an enjoyable round here at a good value.

Texas Outside Scorecard for Cottonwood Creek
Beauty:
Difficulty:
Variety:
Fun Scale:
Value:
Condition:

Other Good Information:

Beware of water on 7 holes and the 28 sand traps.
Condition of the greens is 7.0 and the green difficulty is 5.0 out of 10.
Walkable: Yes
GPS: No

Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box	Yardage	Rating	Slope	Par
Gold	7,140	74.2	125	72
Blue	6,606	71.7	123	72
White	6,304	70.0	121	72
Red	5,716	73.4	123	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.