jndtexas

My wife and I played this course and came away wishing that we had not made to drive to do so.

The course has no driving range inspite of being in the middle of nowhere. It also doesn't have a real practice green or sand trap. It is a "hit it in the nets" to loosen up course. If I had realized that, we never would have made the drive.

This course is in an amazingly beautiful valley . . . but the fairways and tee boxes are not well maintained.

The Greens are great, but it is clear that this club is struggling finacially.

The course needs watering and T.L.C.

For example, it was almost impossible to stick a golf tee into the ground on many of the tee boxes becuase they were as hard as rock.

Far too many of the fairways were bone dry fast go cart tracks. With water, they could be so great. Speaking of water, there are no water jugs on the course and many of the ball washers are broken.

If you live in the area and want to save money, this is the course for you.

If you take your golf seriously, spend more and go to a course that is better maintained and has proper warmup and practice facilities.

I want to fall in love with this course. It has so much darn potential. I hope that someone will pump money into this course and spruce it up.

It could be such an amazing course . . .

We first played this course when it was privately owned after the Highland Lakes Resort went bankrupt. The course was pretty and challenging, but not well maintained. It was eerie going through the abandoned country club building to find bathrooms.

Since then, the City of Lago Vista has taken it over. Returned for the first time in three years on Sunday and the course was in better shape, except for the sand traps, which were mostly dirt.

The country club building has not been renovated. It is boarded up, but still in use because the cart shed is below it, but at least you don't have to go in it for the bathroom.

If you want to play a pretty course that is challenging and not have to worry about crowds, this is the place and the price definitely is right.

One of our playing partners at Troon North - Monument recommended this course. When we arrived, we were not sure why. This course is a sleeper. It is part of an old Hilton Hotel that is in great need of a facelift. The course and hotel are separated from each other by the Sheriff’s horse stables. The driving range is short with a chain link fence at 250 yards. The first hole parallels a highway and trailer homes flank the second hole.

If you can get by this rough start, the course quickly becomes more interesting and very challenging. All of the greens are tricky. Many are set up so you have side hill or down hill putts. Several doglegs flare to the right and the left.

However, what makes this course really worth playing are the elevation changes. There are several holes when the drop from the tee box to the fairway is more than 100 feet. Their signature hole has a drop of at least 300 feet.

We played Troon North - Monument and Superstition Mountain. Both are immaculately maintained courses. We found Lookout Mountain to be more challenging than Superstition and almost as challenging as Troon North. And it costs much less that the other courses.

In my book, that says it all.

Bayonet is an exceptionally well maintained course. The sand traps are all in the right places to challenge you, and a number of holes require you to hit up a slope. We found that to be an exciting challenge. It is long enough to test you, but because of the way it is designed, you have to work hard to lose balls. The greens are tricky and if you are there when the fog rolls in, you might not be able to find your ball. The staff is great and it is one of the best deals in the Monterey area for sure.

This is a wonderful course. It is very well maintained, the houses are far away from the fairway and it has interesting challenges. It is a golfer's course and the carts have very comfortable seats with full back support. Even the driving range has built in yardage markers on the ground for every level of the range. The downside is that the course is in the middle of a retirement community and plays very, very slow.

This is a low-cost public course that has done a great job of improving the quality of its greens. It used to be the site of the Austin Country Club, and while its fairways are not well maintained, if you hit it straight, it is a really decent track for practice. If you hook or slice, you won't be able to find your ball.

A lot of us go out by ourselves to work on our game. It is much better than a driving range (which, by the way, it doesn't have) and it will test you.

Because of its cost, it is very popular with newer golfers, so don't be in a rush.

It is well worth the money if you get it at a discount on golfnow.com.

This is a short Muni course that people play because the back nine was designed by the designer of Pebble Beach. It is an OK experience if you want a warm up, but the back nine is short and not very challenging. The front nine is more interesting even if the view is not as amazing.

If you want to get your money's worth, play Bayonet instead. Now that is a great golf course.