Texas Outside review of Lakecliff Country Club

Lakecliff Country Club

Texas Outside Rating: 8.6

18 Holes - Golf - Private
Spicewood, TX
888 798-0695
Website
Stay & Play

Date Played: January 19, 2008
Front Nine Rating: 9.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 8.5 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $95.00 to $95.00
Brief Description:
Lakecliff Country Club is a private country club which opened in 2003 on the south side of Lake Travis in Spicewood and well away from the hustle and bustle of the city. If you are not a member, you can play this fantastic Arnold Palmer designed course if you take advantage of the Stay & Play package available through Lake Travis Golf Vacations. To learn more about this outstanding Stay & Play deal read our review.

Lakecliff CC is in a low density exclusive community with some beautiful homes on big lots on a bluff above Lake Travis. Looking out at the course from the club house you have a majestic panoramic view of the Texas Hill Country and a number of the Lakecliff holes. The course meanders through the rolling terrain which is maintained at a very high level and landscaped with twelve man made ponds, stone bridges crossing cascading streams, sheer cliffs, and waterfalls tumbling down deep ravines on the way to Lake Travis. The Bermuda grass fairways were in excellent condition, have a limited number of trees and hazards to contend with, and are wide enough that even if you spray your shot, you're not severely penalized.

The bent grass greens are some of the best in Texas - near perfect condition, fast and true with minor undulation and slope. The majority of the greens seem a little smaller than normal and are very well protected with bunkers (redone in early 2008) surrounding at least half to three quarters of the green, putting a premium on your approach shot if you want to score well.

So spend some time at the putting green and practice area before heading out. The practice area has three lines at opposite ends of the range, an area of uneven lies, a wedge system target area, two huge putting and short game greens, and three bunkers to work on a vast array of shots.

We really enjoyed Lakecliff because it has beauty, challenge, and variety; is in near perfect condition with unbelievable greens; temps you with some risk reward shots; has some of the best par threes in Texas; and the Stay and Play accommodations are comfortable and a short walk to the pro shop. There are a limited number of memberships still available - visit the Lakecliff Country Club website for more information. To see more pictures of Lakecliff golf course, click here.

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.