Played Boulder Creek for the first time. It's about half an hour outside Vegas. There's an airfield nearby where people jump out of planes from, but other than that, it's pretty remote. The course was in great shape, and no one was on. We played Coyote Run/Desert Hawk, and no one was in front of us the whole way. 3 hours and change later, we'd finished the best round of my life. Fairways were in great shape. Greens had a few spots where ball marks hadn't been fixed. Only downside was the bunkers weren't raked, and I landed in a couple footprints. It's honestly not that hard, guys. But it was a minor annoyance. My dad and I got rates of $36 off of golfnow, with an 11am tee time. Great experience overall.

Considering the Texas summer heat, the sheer amount of water it must take to keep Cottonwood as green as it was when I went out is mind-blowing. This is the Waco muni, and is one of two non-cow pasture courses in Waco that will let the riffraff like yours truly in for a small fee. The fairways and greens were in excellent condition, better than Twin Rivers. Most of the holes have some level of elevation and few are straight, but the doglegs either come into play at the end of driver distance, or the corners are easy to cut with little penalty. The lack of trees and wild brush means there is not a lot of risk when hitting shots, as any wayward balls can easily be found.

The range is grass, and there's even a 9-hole par 3 practice course for kids that "costs" $5 for adults and $2 for kids, although no one has ever actually paid that fee. The practice course is an excellent place to work on your short game, and people have been known to hit twenty balls per hole to improve their wedges.

The only downside with the course currently is that the greens are temporary, as the course is putting in brand new greens. The pro told me the new greens should be up by mid-September, so until then the course plays 30 yards shorter per hole. That being said, it's still in great shape, and for $20 after 3:00 with a cart, it's a good deal for the summer.

Cottonwood Creek Golf Course Review
Waco Texas Golf Course Reviews

Twin Rivers is the course home of the Baylor University Golf team. The course is 7478 yards from the tips, but there are six tee boxes for the varying degrees of skill. Driver tends to stay in the bag (I used it on eight holes) as many of the holes, including the first, are blind dog leg tee shots to an uphill pin placement. Creek beds, tight tree lined fairways, and a lake cause you to hit almost every club in your bag. The signature hole, #14, is a 216 yard par 3 from the tips with an 80 foot drop to the green.

I played last week twice. It was in the mid 90s both days, and we got the twilight rate at around 3:30-4:00 to try and compensate for the Texas summer heat. The course was in good condition, especially considering the heat and how much water it takes to maintain the course. The greens were pretty fast and hard (I have never made a pitch mark on a green here). Unfortunately, the bunkers were not in great shape. The sand was gritty and packed, and I've seen it fluffy and soft here before. Pace of play was good, we got done both days in about 4 hours-4:15. And for the twilight rate of $25 with a cart, it's a good place to play. Just bring lots of water, and fill it at all the jugs. There are no cart girls.

Twin Rivers Golf Club Review
Waco Texas Golf Course Reviews

Played twilight on Saturday. Had a 12:50 tee time, didn't get out till probably 1:10. Sandwiched between fivesomes, thank you American Golf. Played the first two holes in about an hour, waited about 10 minutes for the fivesome in front, who was playing blues, to hack their way forward. After a 3+ hour front 9, with about 45 min. to an hour of daylight left, we ditched the back 9. Played #1 again, then after seeing the gate was locked, drove backwards through the front 9 to about #5 and finished. All in all had fun, more for the second half of the day when we "stuck it to the man" than the first half when we were waiting forever and the group behind us hit into us twice.

Oh, and both carts died. We ended up pushing them up the hill on #9 and swapping for new ones, but still, capped a not so fun experience at the Knollwood. Probably will never ever come back.

Played 5/23/10 with Paisano and tonybarrett. Wind was blowing crazy amounts. Course was a lot of fun and in good condition. It's in much better shape than the courses I normally have been playing (Brookside), and the price is comparable. $30 to walk, $43 to ride. Greens were not too fast. Never tested out any of the bunkers, so an't comment on those. Seemed like it should have been easier than what I ended up shooting. Of course, everything will probably look easy compared to PGA West for a while.

Played the GK event like everyone else. When I got there, used the awesome practice facilities, the staff was helpful and really nice. And when I looked at the course Jack had built, it was so pretty it called to me like a Siren. Unfortunately, like a Siren, it also killed me. If you miss a fairway, you got punished. The fairway was lined with valleys that would eat your ball, lakes that would eat your balls, and giant beaches. Not bunkers. Beaches. From my round I can say that the grass in the rough and the hills was great, the bunkers, all 1800 that I ended up in, were in great condition, and the greens were really fast. Lost a lot of balls to the lake monsters. Final thoughts: if you're going to build a house by a golf course, it might get hit. And Jack is a b*st%rd . Had a great time.

Played Sunday, 7/26. Course was in decent condition. We had to wait on a few holes, but it wasn't super bad. It got a lot faster once it started getting darker. We ended up finishing in under 5 hours, which is apparently good for Rancho Park. A few par 3 tee boxes were rough, but overall the course was in good shape. Never entered the sand, so I can't comment on them.

And got to see the Plaque on 18 up close for the first time. Very cool.

Played the Whites 7/15 Super Twilight for $6.75. It's a good deal after a crappy work day. Didn't finish, mainly because it's summer so lots of people were out and also b/c the group in front of me insisted on playing the blues despite not being able to hit the ball. They basically walked the edge of the trees on every hole, slicing their ball like crazy. I mean, seriously? Play the whites at least. It's not a huge difference, but it'll help speed things up a bit. Anyway, I digress.

Course was in it's normal decent condition. I play here because it's cheap but the course is in decent condition. If you compare it to more expensive courses, or places that don't have $13 twilight and $7 super twilight rates, it's not a fair fight. But dollar for hole value, it's good.

Only thing of note, the sprinklers were running on #2, so we had to drop the bag on the side, then run in, dodge the water jets, and hit our approaches. Wasn't a problem, the sprinklers turn slowly, and it forced you to play a little quicker, but it threw me off a bit.

Had a coupon for the Mother's Day Special, $20 including a cart after 2:00. Me and a buddy went, seeing as our mothers live in different states. First experience was not so good. Walked in and had the biggest d^^che at the pro shop. Just had an air of arrogance about him. When I asked him if there was a particular cart we should take, he kind of sniffed and said, "preferably one that's not occupied", in that "you're an idiot" sort of tone, not in the "I'm making a lame joke" tone. I'd have laughed with him at the lame joke.

Anyway, aside from the guy in the shop, it was awesome. Me and my buddy had a single added on, cool guy in his 60's who was about as bad as we were. Liked the carts, although the GPS yardage was off (chuck's cart said he was 20 yards further from the pin when we were parked behind him at the tee box. Stuff like that happened on multiple occasions.)

But the course was in great condition. Some of the par 5s required some thinking around the doglegs, not just straight long bombers, decent par 3 distances. We had to wait on each hole. Despite every par 3 telling you to wave up the next group both on the GPS screen and at the tee box, no one was. Happily, the groups would spread out again on the par 5s.

Overall it was a great experience. Loved the greens, which were fast. I got a really good look at multiple sand traps, and they were good and smooth, everyone had raked the pits ahead of us. All in all I want to go back, but probably won't get a deal like we had.

Played twilight sunday, 4/5, for $14. Awesome 9 hole course, greens have break, and course has character and hills. Walked it and finished in a little under 3 hours, which is typical of the slow pace of a public course. Play here a lot and probably will play much more considering Brookside just upped their greens fees again. Can't justify paying that much to play that course. Love the Eaton Canyon, though.