Texas Outside review of Lakeway -- Yaupon Golf Course

Lakeway -- Yaupon Golf Course

Texas Outside Rating: 8.7

18 Holes - Golf - Semi Private
Austin, TX
512-261-7172
Website
Online Tee Times

Date Played: April 23, 2006
Front Nine Rating: 9.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 9.0 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $65.00 to $90.00
Brief Description:
Lakeway has 2 semi private 18-hole golf courses - Yaupon and Live Oak. The Yaupon course is a Texas Outside favorite. Yaupon is a fun challenge starting with the first hole which is the number 1 handicap with a dogleg right up a hill then a blind dogleg left and a narrow approach to the green. Now that's fun! Each hole is different, has its own character with doglegs, blind shots and multiple elevation changes.

Lakeway's Yaupon offers some panoramic views of the Austin hill country and beautiful rolling terrain. The course meanders through some very nice Lakeway homes and has a lot of trees on both sides of the fairway including quite a few trees strategically placed making club selection and course management key to scoring well.

The fairways are lush, the roughs are not that tough, and the numerous traps are not that hard to avoid. Water comes into play on 5 holes but you probably won't have much trouble keeping your ball from taking a quick dip. The greens are medium sized, in very good condition and the sloping pin placement takes careful study to be able to eagle or birdie.

Not only do you start with the hardest hole, you end with one of the prettiest and fairly difficult holes - a par 5 with a blind shot down a hill with 2 tiers and a pond to cross, then back up a big hill to land on the green. Great course! Lakeway's Yaupon is a great track and well worth the $75-$80 if you can afford to part with it.

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.