I played Falconhead (at) 9:30am Sat morning, 2 days ago and was quite impressed. We could not get a tee time for Barton Creek b/c of a tournament there, so we decided to go to Falconhead. At $80 for... Continue »

I played Falconhead (at) 9:30am Sat morning, 2 days ago and was quite impressed. We could not get a tee time for Barton Creek b/c of a tournament there, so we decided to go to Falconhead. At $80 for the weekend, it's half the price of Barton but the enjoyment was just as good IMHO.

For $5, you get a token for ~50 range balls where you get to hit off grass (nice turf, too, not the scraggly junk I normally see at public driving ranges). There's a pitching/chipping green and big practice putting green thru a tunnel on the other side of the road from the club house. Very impressive practice facility.

It was 50-60* but quite windy (20-30mph) that day. Wintery conditions means lots of roll on the fairways and the rough is a nice amber brown, easy to hit out of. For example, the 1st hole is par 4 380yd downhill tee shot downwind. My 3W left 63yds to the hole. talk about roll! Against the wind, I had to club up 3-4 clubs, but if I kept the ball low, I could roll it down the fairway w/ my teeshot quite a long distance, due to the dormant grass. The fairways were in good shape.

Greens were in great shape, 10-12 on the stimpmeter, I would guess, and quite smooth. There are some nice undulations from hole to hole, tighter on the front 9, more open on the back 9. Falconhead's biggest defense is their small, fast greens. They are indeed hard to hit, esp w/ long irons, but the breaks are not very severe. Many of my putts were straight or nearly so.

Bunkers were nicely raked throughout the course, very consistent in fact, w/ fluffy top layer and packed wet sand below.

Pace of play was good. A courteous marshall made sure we were keeping pace.

Food was surprisingly good. In the clubhouse, they grill their burger patties in the morning to get a slight char and smoke flavor, then when you order it, they microwave it b/f putting it together for you. May sound strange but it's fast and quite flavorful. The hotdogs were big and the drinks were quite stout. Both cart girls were cute as well.

As for the layout, most of the course is self evident, but there are a few blind shots, so it helps to play it more than once. Their signature par 3 17th hole is indeed beautiful. You hit onto a green that is built out like a giant shelf, w/ water in front and directly below the hole. It's a short iron slightly uphill to the green, so the shot is semi blind, but very picturesque.

All in all, we had a great experience and saved quite a bit of money by not playing Barton Creek. Falconhead has to be one of the best values in town if you are looking for an upscale golf experience.