John Houck Texas Courses

[grodney]

I was trying to get a feel for what the Trey courses are like, so I put together a little list of Texas Houck courses.

From the first list below, it appears length/par of Texas Twist is pretty similar to Selah Lakeside, while Trey Deuce is similar to Circ Hill (Wimberley). (OBVIOUSLY the land/vegetation/water is different.)

Length	Par	Course
9176	67	Selah Creekside
8976	67	Meandering Greenbelt
8854	69	Selah Lakeside
8853	68	Texas Twist
8100	61	Moody's
7859	64	Trey Deuce
7851	63	Circ Hill
7102	64	Strawbale Field
7066	63	Rolling Meadow
6776	62	Colorado River

One of the great things about Houck's courses is that there's little debate about "par" for any hole, so we can do things like subtract 36 putts from the par, and divide the length to get a Length-Per-Shot. As expected, Moody's is the ruler here.

Also, Circ Hill ends up being 10 feet per shot longer than Trey Deuce, while the 2 Trey courses end up pretty similar even though they are 1000 feet different.

Shot	Length	Par	Course
324	8100	61	Moody's
296	9176	67	Selah Creekside
291	7851	63	Circ Hill
290	8976	67	Meandering Greenbelt
281	7859	64	Trey Deuce
277	8853	68	Texas Twist
268	8854	69	Selah Lakeside
262	7066	63	Rolling Meadow
261	6776	62	Colorado River
254	7102	64	Strawbale Field

Not really any surprises I guess -- just sharing, and welcoming your comments.

RIP San Saba and Wimberley.


Edit:
p.s. Mr. Houck please feel free to comment on any surprises, design insights, or anything that seems out of place.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Not so much a debate about par but there are blue and gold courses in that mix and his par is set for that skill level.

 

[Steve West]

we can do things like subtract 36 putts from the par, and divide the length to get a Length-Per-Shot.

Or you could say that the length of the drive is always 300 feet and rank the courses by number of putts. That would be equally arbitrary.

 

[grodney]

Or you could say that the length of the drive is always 300 feet and rank the courses by number of putts. That would be equally arbitrary.

I don't get it. There's nothing arbitrary about what I wrote.

Houck's courses are specifically designed to reach the pin in X number of shots, plus 2 to hole out.

And what you said (drive 300 then rank by # of putts) doesn't make any sense.

 

[grodney]

Not so much a debate about par but there are blue and gold courses in that mix and his par is set for that skill level.

Sort of, maybe, I guess? I don't think there's much of a mix. Moody's is on the upper end, but the rest are all prettymuch the same. In my opinion.

 

[Cgkdisc]

But not in John's design definitions. Pretty sure that one maybe both Selah courses are blue level. You can look up the courses in DGCR and see under what color the hole lengths are listed.

 

[grodney]

I think they're all what you call "blue" level -- with the possible exception of Moody's which is at the upper end distance-wise, if not obstacle-wise.

 

[dreadlock86]

what is the Meandering Greenbelt course?

 

[grodney]

It was one of three at San Saba.

 

[OJnBasquits]

Land vegetation/ obstacle wise I would consider Trey like a Meadow and Twist more like the long Creekside w/o all those damm disc eating ponds and add then add some of that deep woods lake side.

+1 trey