Tascosa Golf Club - La Paloma Course Review

Texas Outside Rating: 9.0

Golf - Private Course · 18 Holes · Par 72
Amarillo
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Tascosa Golf Club - La Paloma Course Review

Review of Tascosa Golf Club La Paloma Course

Tascosa Golf Club in northwestern Amarillo is the premier residential and golf community in the Panhandle and its home to some huge beautiful homes, a resort style clubhouse, pool complex, tennis center, and two outstanding private 18 hole golf courses - La Paloma and Tascosa. Each of two courses are a little different and each has it's own unique personality and characteristics:

  • La Paloma was redesigned by Jeff Blume has a links style feel to it and is the longer of the two courses with lots of mounding and contoured fairways - it's rated a little tougher than Tascosa and provides a better opportunity to turn in a higher score and loose more golf balls
  • Tascosa is short by todays standards at 6538 yards and is a more traditional Parkland style course with tree lined fairways

La Paloma opened as a 9 hole course in 1999 and was originally designed by Robert von Hagge and redesigned by Jeff Blume who also designed the second nine.  We would characterize this course as similar to a link style course with rolling, sloping, and heavily contoured fairways, lots of berms and swales, and plenty of large bunkers. 

The first hole of La Paloma sets the stage for what to expect on this par 35 nine - it's a 431 yard par 4 with an elevated tee shot down a multi-terraced roller coaster fairway lined with mounds plus a huge sprawling bunker, a deep grassy ravine about 150 yards short of the green, and an uphill shot to the green guarded by 3 more big bunkers!  During the rest of this nine you'll find a great risk reward shot, plenty of rolling contoured fairways with big berms and some deep swales, a challenging two tiered dog bone shapped green,  natural areas if you miss the fairways, big bunkers, and some uphill and down hill shots.  Plus a fun 186 yard par 3 that's all carry over a lake to the green.  On this nine you're likely to spot a bobcat or a fox!

We liked the back nine of Tascosa's La Paloma course a little better than the front. It's not in quite as good of condition because the terrain and soil are very different than the front.  Although it's a par 36 its a little shorter than the front, it requires more strategic shot making, has some huge beautiful homes overlooking the fairways, and has some outstanding holes like:

  • #11 a 512 yard #2 handicap hole with a slight uphill shot off the tee, sharp dog left, then down and right with a very challenging approach shot to the green thanks to mounding, a huge bunker, and a steep drop off on the right side
  • #14 is a short 332 yard par 4 but challenging thanks to a forced carry off the tee box over a marshy area, a big fairway bunker, water along the right side that then crosses the fairway about 80 yards out, and a tough shot over a big facing bunker to the green with little room for error
  • #17 will throw a little bit of everything at you to test your game - an uphill blind shot past rock outcroppings, deep grass swales/bunkers, tall mounds, a somewhat tight fairway. and a tough approach to a smallish green with a bunker on the back left and water on the right

When we played in August 2013, the front nine fairways and rough were in very good condition while the back was in good but not great condition.  All of the fairways have some combination of mounding, swales, contour, slope, or ups and downs.  The back nine is lined with huge beautiful homes that could come into play if your really spray the ball.  Portions of some of the roughs are a mixture of bare dirt spots and a variety of grasses. 

The bent greens at Tascosa's La Paloma course were in near perfect condition.  The seem a little smaller than normal, are a wide variety of shapes, and most have some contour, tiers, and slope.  They held the ball well, ran true if you could read them, and ran at a great speed of 10 to 11.  Three putts were not uncommon for us.

The bunkers were also near perfect with great sand.  Most had small lips making it possible, if you came in low, to hit in and roll out.  We weren't playing well but for some reason, we avoided all of the bunkers excluding the three we hit in and rolled out!

Bottom line - La Paloma is an excellent private course with good conditions, a great layout, and some demanding but fair holes.

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Course Slope & Ratings

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope
Blue 6,239 71.3 128
White 5,644 68.4 119
Gold 6,805 73.5 130
Red 4,833 71.1 128

Course Information

Course Architect:
Jeff Blume
Greens Type:
Bent
Greens Condition
10.0
Greens Difficulty
9.0
Fairway Condition
8.0
Bunker Condition
9.0
GPS:
No
Walkable:
Yes
Scorecard
Beware of water on 5 holes and the 40 sand traps.

Texas Outside Rating

Overall Rating:
9.0 out of 10
Beauty:
8.0
Difficulty:
8.5
Variety:
9.3
Fun to Play:
9.5
Value:
10.0
Condition:
8.8
Front Nine Rating:
8.8
Back Nine Rating:
9.3
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FEES & AMENITIES

Initiation Fees: Under $10,000
Monthly Dues: $201 to $400

Service is very good, the pro shop has a very good supply of everything, the practice faciities are good, the club house has men and women's lockers, and the restaurant has some very good food - loved the green chili cheesburger!

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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.