Review of The Club At La Torretta

The Club At La Torretta
Texas Outside Rating: 8.3
18 Holes - Golf - Public
Montgomery
877 286-9590
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Golf_course_with_resort_tower_in_background

Date Played: May 30, 2010
Front Nine Rating: 8.5 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 8.2 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $45.00 to $75.00
Brief Description:

La Torretta Resort Golf Course is one of the outstanding amenities of the La Torretta Resort & Spa which sits on the edge of Lake Conroe about an hour north of Houston. This course was previously Del Lago Resort Golf Course and the conditions had deteriorated significantly prior to La Torretta purchasing the resort. As a part of a $130,000 million dollar resort renovation, Jeffery Blume was hired to redo and improve the golf course. Some of the improvements included: changing a brutal par 4 into a more enjoyable par 5 with a great risk reward opportunity, adding 150 yards to the total yardage, repositioning some of the greens, and in general bringing the course up to modern standards plus improving the visual presentation, maintainability, and playability.

La Torretta Golf Course meanders through the hardwoods, beside some of the La Torretta Golf Villas, and past some residential homes. The fairways are lined on both sides with tall pines and most of the fairways are fairly tight requiring accuracy off the tee box unless you enjoy playing in the shade of the pines (not a bad idea on a hot summer Texas day) and the pine straw beds in the rough. If you do find the trees, the good news is that in most cases you'll find your ball and be able to run it back out to the fairway. In addition to being a little narrow, the fairways are gently rolling with some contour and slope, have strategically placed fairway bunkers, and enough water to gain your attention.

The front nine is very fun and a little tougher than the back thanks to some huge bunkers, dog legs, water, well guarded greens, fairway mounds, and grass hollows. For example, #3 requires accuracy off the tee box to make the dog leg left and to avoid the fairway bunker and hardwood trees and position you for a very tough and tight approach to the green with water on the left, trees along the backside, and a long sandy beach leading to the green. The 489 yard par 5 #9 is another great hole with a sharp dog leg right (accomplished players may be able to fade around the dog or even risk flying the trees to go for an eagle) leading to a very tricky approach along a narrow fairway bordered by water all the way to a green with dramatic undulation which is protected by the water and two bunkers.

The back nine is more scenic, not quite as tight, and has three fun par 3's and a fantastic signature hole with a cascading waterfall. On this nine you'll also find some forced carries, dog legs, and elevated greens and tee boxes. #18 is a memorable finishing hole - a downhill dog leg right, with a risk reward tee shot, and a very tough approach shot to an elevated green with a huge bunker and water on the right side.

Texas had a rough winter with record snowfalls, bitter cold, and more, all of which had a significant impact on all of the Texas golf courses including La Torretta's course. As such, the fairways and greens had some rough spots that still hadn't recovered - but in general the conditions were very good. The greens are huge with subtle breaks thanks to both slope and undulation. They were fast (10 to 11 on the Stint meter) and very hard to hold - bump and run is the best strategy to land close to the pin. The bunkers have soft thick white sand and range in size from small pot bunkers to huge long beaches! The tee boxes were very dry making it difficult to get your tee positioned correctly - you might want to add a small hammer to your bag to help you pound in the tees. Speaking of dry, cart service is only available on the weekends, but coolers are available.

Bottom line, this is a fun track with a good layout that will test your skills - make sure you warm up on the putting green and the range and pick the right set of tee boxes the first time you play. La Torretta Resort & Spa is fantastic and they have some very attractive stay and play packages one of which includes a two bedroom golf Villa along the fairway, unlimited golf, a fishing excursion or 2 hour jet ski rental, a six pack of beer, and some other good stuff. To learn more about the resort read our Review of La Torretta Resort & Spa.

Texas Outside Scorecard for The Club At La Torretta
Beauty:
Difficulty:
Variety:
Fun Scale:
Value:
Condition:

Other Good Information:

Designer/Architect: Jeffrey D. Blume
Beware of water on 12 holes and the 44 sand traps.
Service was friendly but slow when we played over Memorial Day weekend, which is one of the busiest weekends for them. Pace of play is excellent, the pro shop has all the basics, the range and putting green are adequate, and the food is good but limited.
Condition of the greens is 8.0 and the green difficulty is 8.5 out of 10.
Type of Greens: Tifdwarf Bermudagrass
Walkable: Yes
GPS: No
Course Map

Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box	Yardage	Rating	Slope	Par
Gold	6,921	73.3	132	71
Blue	6,550	71.2	129	71
White	5,969	68.4	125	71
Red	4,992	68.8	116	71

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.