Texas Outside Golf Course Review
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Pedernales Golf Club
Texas Outside Rating: 7.2
9 Holes - Golf - Public
Spicewood
512-264-1489
Website

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Date Played: January 21, 2008
Front Nine Rating: Stars
Back Nine Rating: Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $25.00 to $35.00
Brief Description:
Willie Nelson's Pedernales "Cut-N-Putt was formally the The Briarcliff Yacht and Golf Club. The course was designed and built by Frank Howard in 1968 and purchased by Willie in 1979. The course has gone through a number of ups and downs and in 2007 a management team was brought in and a number of improvements were made. The previous club house is now Willie’s operating recording studio and no telling what famous artists you'll see going in and out of the studio or on the course.

The current Pro Shop is small and features lots of Willie pictures and posters. You'll also get to golf with some good country music playing in the background. And "We don’t need no stinkin’ rules" is one of the bylines.

We visited the course but didn't have time to play, so our rating and comments are a guess based on what we say and heard. This nine should be a fun roller coaster ride due to dramatic elevation changes and rolling terrain. The course is well treed and provides magnificent views of the hill country. From what we hear, condition varies but the greens are usually in pretty good shape. Price is right and it looks like it would be a fun course to play.

They are open for tournament play, in fact here are some comments from their website about scheduling a tournament - "Imagine about 10-40 of your best friends and co-workers swinging bent sticks, chasing after little white balls, and riding the hilly terrain in gas powered four wheelers. You gotta do this! Bring your own caddies, beer, etc. Coolers are allowed. Sorry, we don’t yet have beer carts driven by sweet young college girls, but hey, we’ve got everything else!" You should have a fun and a memorable experience playing Pedernales Golf Club.

 
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Texas Outside Scorecard for Pedernales Golf Club
Beauty:  
Difficulty:  
Variety:  
Fun Scale:  
Value:  
Condition:  
Other Good Information:

Designer/Architect: Frank Howard
Beware of water on 2 holes and the 22 sand traps.
The 19th hole is none and the clubhouse food is none.
The pro shop is limited
GPS: No
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Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope Par

 

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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