Texas Outside Golf Course Review
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Firewheel -- Lakes course
Texas Outside Rating: 7.6
18 Holes - Golf - Public
Garland, TX
972-205-2797
Website

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Date Played: August 18, 2007
Front Nine Rating: 8.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 7.5 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $29.00 to $48.00
Where To Get Coupons: GolfQ.com

Brief Description:
Firewheel at Garland has 63 holes of very good golf. The Bridges is the newest course and has 27 holes that are consistently rated very high. In 2006 the Dallas Morning News rated Firewheel's Bridges course as #25 in their Top 25 best daily fee courses. The Bridges is also a little more expensive than the Old Course and the Lakes Course. The Old Course hasn't changed much but the Lakes Course was substantially redesigned in 2001.

The front nine of the Firewheel Lakes Course is an excellent and very challenging nine holes with some tight spots, plenty of water (8 out of nine holes), and a fair amount of variety. Course management and club selection are key to scoring well on the front nine of the Lakes.

The back nine is more open then the front nine and as such you may find it a little more relaxing and fun. There is more variety including five dog legs and some very pretty holes. Water on 8 of nine holes, traps, and some narrow approaches will challenge your course management and club selection skills.

Overall, the Lakes course fairways and greens were in very good condition. The greens don't have a lot of undulation and they are large, true, and fairly easy to read so you should putt well on this course. The GPS system is excellent and if you use your head to manage the course and choose you irons correctly will have a very enjoyable and fun round of golf at a very good price.

 
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Texas Outside Scorecard for Firewheel -- Lakes course
Beauty:  
Difficulty:  
Variety:  
Fun Scale:  
Value:  
Condition:  
Other Good Information:

Beware of water on 16 holes and the 51 sand traps.
Condition of the greens is 8.0 and the green difficulty is 5.0 out of 10.
The 19th hole is ok and the clubhouse food is good.
The pro shop is good
Walkable: Yes
GPS: No
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Course Yardage, Slope, and Rating:

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope Par
Gold 7,134 75.5 139 72
Blue 6,680 73.6 134 72
White 6,141 70.7 125 72
Red 5,502 73.6 126 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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