Texas Outside Golf Course Review
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Cliffs at Possum Kingdom
Texas Outside Rating: 8.8
18 Holes - Golf - Public
Graford, TX
888 843-2543
Website

Hole-11 Hole-_8-03 Hole-_8
 
Date Played: March 11, 2006
Front Nine Rating: 8.5 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 9.0 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $65.00 to $85.00
Where To Get Coupons: Special Stay & Play Deals

Brief Description:
The Cliffs Golf Course is a Texas Outside favorite because of the scenic beauty, the challenge, and the variety that you can find on this course. The Cliffs sits high above Possum Kingdom Lake and several holes offer magnificent views of the lake - there is no way you can resist hitting a range ball from the 9th hole out into the lake which is a good 500 yards below!.

Bring plenty of balls or your "A"? game to play this course because it is extremely challenging due to bunkers, natural landscape hazards, sloping fairways, ravines and valleys, burms, blind holes, water, and other hazards - it has them all! The secret of this course is to forget about scores and the number of balls you've lost and just relax, enjoy the scenery, and have a good time - if you want to score well go to your local muni course.

The Inn at the Cliffs, which is across the street from the pro shop, has some great stay and play packages and a magnificent view of the lake. There is a campground on the property and across the parking lot from the clubhouse are some nice condos for rent. You'll find some additional information on Mineral Wells and the Cliffs by reading the Texas Outside Thank God for Weekends review.

 
Hole-_15 Cliffs1 Cliffs7
Texas Outside Scorecard for Cliffs at Possum Kingdom
Beauty:  
Difficulty:  
Variety:  
Fun Scale:  
Value:  
Condition:  
Other Good Information:

Beware of water on 4 holes and the 38 sand traps.
Condition of the greens is 5.0 and the green difficulty is 7.0 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: No
GPS: No
Innroomview

Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope Par
Gold 6,808 73.9 143 72
Blue 6,469 72.1 138 72
White 5,924 67.6 124 72
Red 4,876 68.4 124 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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