Bluebonnet Hill Golf Club Review

Texas Outside Rating: 8.3

Golf - Public Course · 18 Holes · Par 72
Austin
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Bluebonnet Hill Golf Club Review

Review and Rating of Bluebonnet Hill Golf Club in Austin

We understand that Bluebonnet Hill Golf Course closed in January 2020 due to a water contract issue - what a shame!

I'd driven by Bluebonnnet Hill Golf Club a number of times in the past and never had a real desire to play it because from the road it looked wide open with side by side holes!  Turns out I was looking at the driving range and the course is a pleasant surprise with some fun holes, unexpected elevation changes and scenic vistas, excellent service, a great pace of play, and a real bargain.  Can't wait to play it again.

Bluebonnet Hill Golf Club was designed by Jeff Bauer and opened for play in 1991.  The course is short by today's standards (5241 yards to 6590 with three tee boxes), somewhat traditional and straightforward, and has wide forgiving fairways - making the course suitable for all skill levels and an opportunity to have a relaxing and low scoring round.  However if spray the ball, miss the fairways, or don't deploy some good course managment skills you're going to be disappointed with your score. 

Like most Jeff Bauer designed courses, Bluebonnet Hill Golf Club features many old-style design characteristics like square cornered tees, lots of smaller steep banked grass bunkers, greens with plenty of contour and some that are protected by sharp banks and mounds rather than the traditional sand bunkers.  Another thing we liked about Bluebonnet Hill Golf Club is that it's out in the Austin countryside with no homes along the fairways which means no barking dogs, no loud sierens, and no chance of breaking a window!  Plus the course focuses on a strict no fivesome rule and they push hard to maintain a 4 hour pace of play. 

The front nine is very traditional and straightforward and on a lot of holes you can see the pin and what you're up against - some of which includes water on 3 holes, 18 bunkers, a couple dog legs, some minor ups and downs, plenty of grass swales/grass bunkers, some mounding, and raised greens. 

We loved the back nine - a lot more character, several surprising elevation changes, lots of uphill as well as downhill shots requiring good club selection, some great holes, several dog legs, 29 bunkers, and water on 8 holes. Wind on both nines forces you to focus on club selection and how to play the shot.

Some of the holes we really liked included:

  • #5 is a 358 yard par that's straight ahead and easy if you can miss the small mounding with a steep face, a long natural bunker with several mounds with grass along the entire length of the bunker, and the nasty big bunker guarding the front of the green
  • #12 is a fun 504 yard par 5 with an elevated tee shot that needs to avoid a pond and bunker on the left and 5 small pot bunkers on the right that pinch your landing zone - survive that and you've got an uphill shot to a raised green with a left side bunker
  • #15 is a 345 yard 90 degree dog leg left that offers a great risk reward shot if you think you can carry the small trees and brush and fly between two large bunkers for a short chip to the green - or take the safer shot up the right side of the fairway where you need to stop short before you land in 2 bunkers where the fairway takes a sharp left turn
  • #17 is a beautiful but intimidating 195 yard par 3 that's all carry over the lake to the green with little room for error left, right, or long

Bluebonnet Hill Golf Club prides itself on their greens and has earned a reputation of consistently having some of the best greens in Austin - and we would agree.   Most of the greens are raised (making a bump a run a little harder) and all are guarded by some combination of a sand bunker as well as mounding, swales, and grass bunkers.  The greens are huge and a variety of shapes.  Slope and contour requires you to study the putt before hitting it.  All of which is going to impact your score. 

The fairways at Bluebonnet Hill Golf Club are wide and forgiving and firm providing lots of extra roll.  Some are like roller coasters with some ups and downs while others are flat.  Mounding, waste sand bunkers, grass bunkers, and small to long nasty bunkers can cause problems.  The fairways were in fair condition with some weeds and bare spots and the rough was pretty rough - rocks and dirt.  Miss the rough and you probably won't find your ball. 

The 47 sand bunkers and all the grass bunkers can cost you some strokes.  Some are steep and others are flat, some are small pot bunkers and others are long and sweeping, and all should be avoided.  We found it easy to stay out of most of them.  The sand varied from light and fluffy and thick (a joy to hit out of) to a little firm and thin. 

Bottom line - a must play course with some great holes, good conditions, friendly service, an excellent pace of play, and a very affordable rate.

Head Pro's Corner

We left a GPS in our cart and when we called, we expected the typical answer - "haven't seen it!" Not the case at Bluebonnet Hill Golf Club - they had it and were holding it in the office.  Our note of thanks was quickly responded to by Dylan Lemke the GM - "We try our very best to keep the greens in good shape seeing as how we know that over 75% of the game is played around the greens. I also appreciate the compliment on the staff. I try my very best to hire people that would be honest and have the integrity that the game of golf was built upon. I will keep your wife's GPS in my office for your pick up."

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Course Slope & Ratings

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope
Blue 6,590 70.7 114
White 6,033 68.1 112
Red 5,241 66.0 107

Course Information

Course Architect:
Jeff Bauer
Greens Type:
328 Bermuda
Greens Condition
9.7
Greens Difficulty
8.8
Fairway Condition
7.5
Bunker Condition
8.0
GPS:
No
Walkable:
Yes
Scorecard
Beware of water on 8 holes and the 47 sand traps.

Texas Outside Rating

Overall Rating:
8.3 out of 10
Beauty:
8.3
Difficulty:
7.5
Variety:
8.0
Fun to Play:
8.5
Value:
9.5
Condition:
7.5
Front Nine Rating:
7.8
Back Nine Rating:
8.6
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FEES & AMENITIES

Approximate Weekend
Rates: $16.00 to $42.00

Service is friendly and courteous, the practice facilities are good (the view of Walter E Long Lake is pretty), and the pro shop has the basics. The grill has dogs, sandwiches, and snacks.

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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.