Texas Outside Golf Course Review
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WinStar Golf Course
Texas Outside Rating: 8.1
18 Holes - Golf - Resort
Thackerville, OK
866 466-1482
Website

Winstarclubhouse 100_5858 100_5848
 
Date Played: March 23, 2008
Front Nine Rating: 8.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 8.5 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $39.00 to $60.00
Brief Description:
Carved out of an old peanut farm in Thackerville, Oklahoma is a fun "Golfer Friendly" new (2006) golf course close to the WinStar Casio and just across the Texas border - WinStar Golf Course. The course was nominated for Golf Digest’s Best New Public Golf Course Award and Avid Golfer rated it Best New Course in 2006. According to Mike Hammond, the Director of Golf, the goal for the course was to create a course that was user-friendly for those who need it to be, yet challenging enough for high-level championship competitions. You have to work hard to loose a ball and since there are no hidden shots or forced carries, you can see where the ball lands.

The greens are huge, very fast (8.5 to 9.5) and have a lot of subtle breaks making it easy to two or three putt. A lot of the greens are turtle back and if you can't hold the green, you'll roll a ways from the pin. All of the greens were in near perfect condition and have at least one bunker waiting for you.

The Tifsport fairways are wide and straight and very friendly. From the tee box you'll be able to see what you're up against and you'll see the traps, some of them are huge, that are well left and right of the fairway, but waiting to catch any ball you spray out of the fairway. For you scratch players, at 7340 yards the course is challenging and fairway positioning is critical.

We played in March when everything was still dormant, but from all I hear, WinStar is always well manicured, very lush and green, and the greens are near perfect. The course is still maturing and when the natural areas fill in, this course will be beautiful.

WinStar has an excellent Stay & Play deal with rooms at the Microtel WinStar Hotel which is next door to the Casino. In early 2008 the Stay & Play price was $76 - and that includes the room and golf!!!!! WinStar will start construction in 2008 on an RV park and 400 room tower hotel.

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

Designer/Architect: D A Weibring
Beware of water on 6 holes and the 44 sand traps.
Service was very friendly and you'll find an expansive practice facility, beautiful clubhouse with locker rooms, oak paneled Bar & Grill, banquet facilities, and large patio with a remarkable panoramic view.
Condition of the greens is 10.0 and the green difficulty is 8.0 out of 10.
Type of Greens: Bent Grass
The 19th hole is good and the clubhouse food is good.
The pro shop is good
Walkable: Very
GPS: Yes
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Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope Par
Black 7,340 75.1 124 72
Gold 6,838 72.3 122 72
Blue 6,405 70.1 116 72
White 5,969 68.4 112 72
Red 4,993 69.6 117 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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