Review of Chickasaw Pointe Golf Resort

Chickasaw Pointe Golf Resort
Texas Outside Rating: 8.9
18 Holes - Golf - Public
Kingston, OK
580-564-2581
Website
Online Tee Times

Date Played: June 27, 2010
Front Nine Rating: 9.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 9.0 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $45.00 to $63.00
Brief Description:

If you like rolling terrain, dramatic elevation changes, good conditions, peace and quiet, lots of variety, and panoramic views of Lake Texoma, then you need to play Chickasaw Pointe Golf Course. This is a very fun, but challenging, 18 holes of golf that is well worth the escape across the border to play.

Designed by Randy Heckenkemper and opened for play in October 1999, Chickasaw Pointe has been ranked #16 in the "50 Best Golf Courses in America for under a $50 Green Fee" by GOLF Magazine, ranked in the top two public courses in Oklahoma, and rated #4 by Golf Week as "Best Places to Play."

Chickasaw Pointe starts you off with an easy dog leg left 550 yard par 5 and then a 180 yard par 3 - then it goes downhill from there. Literally, this is a fun roller coaster ride up and down the rolling tree lined fairways with majestic views of the hills and beautiful Lake Texoma. Each hole is unique and different and offers some type of challenge including dramatic elevation changes, sloping fairways, uphill greens, dog legs, blind shots, risk reward opportunities, water, swales, bunkers and more. But don't let this discourage you from playing this fantastic course - its very fair, the fairways are ample, the rough is playable, the traps have soft sand, and the greens are good sized. Keep the ball in play and you'll have a very enjoyable and low scoring round.

Along the way you'll encounter some very fun holes, like:

#4 which is a 430 yard par 4 roller coaster ride to a dog leg left green that requires a precise drive and approach shot
#6 is a big uphill shot and then back down a narrow fairway to a small protected green
#10 with an dramatic elevated tee box with an unbelievable view and a green 355 yards straight down and very driveable - you'll want to hit two off this tee box just to watch it soar toward the green from the tee box
#12 a 520 yard dog leg left par 5 with huge swales and a roller coaster fairway with a risk reward opportunity if you want to try to hit the green in 2

The fairways are all tree lined (no homes), in very good condition, and with plenty of uneven lies. Most are wide enough that you can let it rip off the tee box, but if you spray it you're lost and par will be tough. Along the way to the green there are plenty of ups and downs, slopes to manage, and a few bunkers and some huge swales (ridges/depressions/valleys) that you need to avoid. If you study and manage the slope, roll, and elevation changes before each shot, par is very achievable.

The greens are about average size, in very good shape, roll well, and hold ok. You'll find minor slope and undulation, but nothing severe. Three putts were rare for us.

Chickasaw Pointe Golf Course and a large portion of Texoma State Park (just across the highway) was purchased from the State of Oklahoma by Pointe Vista Development. They are working on creating a new 1850 acre development on Lake Texoma featuring a premier master planned residential lake community, hotel, two new golf courses, a convention center, and a luxury resort boasting breathtaking views of Lake Texoma, and an array of amenities most resorts and communities only dream about. We can't wait to get back and play the course again and check out all the new development.

Texas Outside Scorecard for Chickasaw Pointe Golf Resort
Beauty:
Difficulty:
Variety:
Fun Scale:
Value:
Condition:

Other Good Information:

Designer/Architect: Randy Heckenkemper
Beware of water on 3 holes and the 38 sand traps.
Service is very friendly, the pro shop is well stocked, the food is good, and the practice facilities are adequate.
Condition of the greens is 8.0 and the green difficulty is 8.0 out of 10.
Walkable: no
GPS: No
Scorecard

Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box	Yardage	Rating	Slope	Par
Gold	7,085	74.5	125	72
Blue	6,390	70.8	122	72
White	5,780	67.8	122	72
Red	5,285	72.2	126	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.