ColoVista Country Club Golf Stay & Play

Just a few minutes from downtown Bastrop is ColoVista Country Club and in addition to a great 18 holes of golf they have a golf stay and play package that golfers will enjoy - the course is a blast to play, the rates are reasonable, and the stay and play rooms are comfortable.

ColoVista Country Club Stay & Play Accommodations

The Cottages at ColoVista consist of 8 different buildings with three rooms each - all of which line the second hole of the front nine. The Cottages have either a single or double bed, coffee maker, bathroom with a tub and shower, a small desk and chair, dresser, TV, ceiling fan, upholstered club chair, and a patio with a table and couple chairs.

We enjoyed our one night stay in one of the rooms with a king bed - the room was clean, well maintained, and the bed was comfy. And it was hard to beat sitting on the patio with a drink after our round and again on a cool morning with a cup of coffee watching fellow golfers try to par the 423 yard par 4 second hole.

ColoVista Country Club Golf Course

ColoVista originally opened in 1997 under the ownership of Houston real estate mogul Les Appelt and quickly became one of the most highly rated and popular courses in the Austin area. After the death of Les, the course conditions steadily declined and it struggled to make money until it closed in 2009. On top of that the course suffered through the drought and then the massive Bastrop fire in 2011 that destroyed one-third of the golf course, as well as many ColoVista residents’ homes.

In 2013 the ColoVista Homeowners Association was awarded ownership of course and hired Billy Casper Golf Management Company to manage it. The Homeowners made a significant investment to bring the course back to it's original excellent condition. And in a short period of time they have done a remarkable job in making the course very playable - most of the bunkers have been redone, the greens are coming back nicely, and the fairways are now very playable. In fact in late 2013, Austin American Statesman called ColoVista Country Club the "Crown Jewel of Central Texas." A remarkable achievement - in 2012 the fairway and greens were covered by dead timber and 8 feet tall weeds!

What makes playing ColoVista a blast is that it has two very different nines. The front nine plays in the valley and is a traditional links style course with wide open fairways, some water, several bunkers, and wind to contend with. The back nine is very different with tight tree lined fairways, huge elevation changes, rolling fairways with ups and downs and sharp dog legs, and beautiful scenery. Both nines have some fun and challenging holes and if you don't play strategically you're going to have to buy the drinks after your round. The signature 15th hole is one of the prettiest in Texas and it's a hole you'll want to play again, and again.

There are five sets of tee boxes with yardages from 4803 to 7021 yards making the course playable for low and high handicappers. The greens are coming back nicely and when we played they were fast, firm, and challenging thanks to subtle breaks.

Bottom line - a great layout, very reasonable rates, beautiful scenery, and conditions that are getting better all the time. Read our review of ColoVista Country Club to learn more. ColoVista made our list of the Best Courses in the Austin Area and I would anticipate that over the next year as the conditions continue to improve, it will climb farther up the list.

Things To Do In Bastrop

After your round or rounds of golf at ColoVista, it's a short drive into Bastrop for fun, food, and a variety of activities. Let's start with golf, with 15 minutes of ColoVista is:

• Lost Pines - a course run by Bastrop State Park with a few fun holes, low rates, a great back nine, and below average conditions
• Pine Forest - a fun and unique course that has holes running along the Colorado River and up into the hills with lots of ups and downs and some very interesting holes - all at a very reasonable rate
• Wolfdancer at the Hyatt Lost Pines - wow, this is an excellent course with lots of variety, unique and fun holes, beautiful vistas, and excellent conditions, but it's pricey

Use this Bastrop Golf Map to find each of the above courses and link to our review of each one.

Bastrop has a variety of restaurants and you should be able to find something to satisfy your taste buds. Some of the restaurants we enjoyed include: Baxters on Main (more upscale), Maxines (funky, small, music, great breakfast), Roadhouse (the place for burgers), Nancy's Steak House (all the down home basics), Viejos (taco bar, great patio, and live music), and La Hacienda (great Mexican food and outstanding margaritas).

We found it hard to find some live music on our last trip, but on a previous visit we had a good time at Cindy's Gone Hog Wild - fun, lively crowd, and a live band. Some other fun things to see and do include: kayaking the Colorado River, biking around the city, a visit to the pool and lazy river at the Hyatt, or fishing or boating on Lake Bastrop. See Texas Outside's Bastrop Map and Fun Things To Do In Bastrop Page to learn more.