Texas Road Trip Suggestions

[Shimmer]

Hey all,

The original road trip to Highbridge looks like it is going to be rained out, and some friends and I are trying to plan a last minute road trip. We have 5 1/2 days and are located in Illinois. We are looking to hit Talco, TX and play the courses at Selah. After that we have no clue which area would be the best to drive to next. We were thinking maybe the Dallas area since it is only about 2 hours away and it looks like it has some solid courses. Any and all suggestions of must-plays or a city with a concentration of great courses would be much appreciated. We've only got 2 days to plan, so time is ticking! :doh:

As a side note, the other backup plan to Texas that we are considering involved driving down through Missouri to hit Waterworks and then staying in the Emporia area. Accepting thoughts on this too

 

[OB Four]

The greater DFW has a bunch of solid courses to play. Unfortunately, that covers a lot of land...here's a few of my favorites that I think are definitely worth checking out.

Crossroads of Life
Lester Lorch Beaver/Coyote. This might be the best place to go, as you can play two courses.
Z-Boaz
Harry Meyers

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

I haven't played it, but it seems that Trey Texas should always be paired with Selah.

Plan on hitting the Lodge in Pawhuska OK either on the way down or way back, I never miss the opportunity to play the Lodge if I'm within like 500 miles.

DFW is good, though nothing that sticks out as incredible - could be worth your time if you'll likely never be that close again.

 

[Qikly]

I haven't played it, but it seems that Trey Texas should always be paired with Selah.

Yessir. The Trey Texas courses are around 20 min from Selah, and are well worth a visit. The only downside at this point is the lack of regular maintenance: I played there last April, a month after they held a tourney, and it probably hadn't been mowed in the month between. Knee high grass was an issue on most of the course, especially considering all of the distance driver shots that are invited, especially on Trey Deuce. Still, if you can get past that or possibly catch them after a mow, they are great courses that will develop a similar following to Selah if they're ever maintained as well. Lots of variety to the courses in terms of shots, hole types, and topography, probably more overall than the two Selah courses when taken as a whole: some water shots, long bombs, a stretch through a group of pines, a few rolling hills, and some hella wooded holes. My favorite stretch was Trey Texas 7-16, which is an awesome stretch of holes that play through the woods and are as good a group of holes as I've ever played. I'd make Trey Texas the priority after Selah, and it's so convenient that it's stupid not to. We stayed at a hotel in between the two right off the highway (a Super 8, I believe) and it was cheap, clean, and convenient.

What we did after TT was head south ~1.5 hours to Lindsey Park, which I found a bit disappointing personally: Lindsey Gold is repetitive in that it's tight and straight, and Lindsey Red is a true beginner course; Lindsey Blue is solid and nicely varied with some great elevation, but it's nothing special. But, it's convenient if you're heading south from Selah/TT, and still probably the best option in the immediate area.

Afterwards we stayed in Huntsville and visited Shawshank. Also definitely worth a visit, as much for the unique environment as for the golf (which is also great). It's an old school par 3-centric course, so it pales in comparison to the golf at Selah in my personal opinion, but that's just my preference: there are a lot of great holes at Shawshank, it's a fun environment with groups playing pick up doubles etc if you hit it on a weekend, and more likely than not you'll come away with at least one memorable Steve Dufrain (the owner) story. I can think of three off the top of my head from my round and a half of playing. So I'd also earmark Shawshank; between it and TT/Selah, you're seeing some of the best Texas has to offer.

 

[atxdisc512]

The Austin area has couple hand fulls of courses to play.

 

[CStout]

Tyler Tx has 5 courses, 3 of which are in the same complex (lindsey park). Multiple concrete tees and pin placements. Only about 1 1/2 hours from selah.

 

[MoonT4]

Yessir. The Trey Texas courses are around 20 min from Selah, and are well worth a visit. The only downside at this point is the lack of regular maintenance: I played there last April, a month after they held a tourney, and it probably hadn't been mowed in the month between. Knee high grass was an issue on most of the course, especially considering all of the distance driver shots that are invited, especially on Trey Deuce. Still, if you can get past that or possibly catch them after a mow, they are great courses that will develop a similar following to Selah if they're ever maintained as well. Lots of variety to the courses in terms of shots, hole types, and topography, probably more overall than the two Selah courses when taken as a whole: some water shots, long bombs, a stretch through a group of pines, a few rolling hills, and some hella wooded holes. My favorite stretch was Trey Texas 7-16, which is an awesome stretch of holes that play through the woods and are as good a group of holes as I've ever played. I'd make Trey Texas the priority after Selah, and it's so convenient that it's stupid not to. We stayed at a hotel in between the two right off the highway (a Super 8, I believe) and it was cheap, clean, and convenient.

What we did after TT was head south ~1.5 hours to Lindsey Park, which I found a bit disappointing personally: Lindsey Gold is repetitive in that it's tight and straight, and Lindsey Red is a true beginner course; Lindsey Blue is solid and nicely varied with some great elevation, but it's nothing special. But, it's convenient if you're heading south from Selah/TT, and still probably the best option in the immediate area.

Afterwards we stayed in Huntsville and visited Shawshank. Also definitely worth a visit, as much for the unique environment as for the golf (which is also great). It's an old school par 3-centric course, so it pales in comparison to the golf at Selah in my personal opinion, but that's just my preference: there are a lot of great holes at Shawshank, it's a fun environment with groups playing pick up doubles etc if you hit it on a weekend, and more likely than not you'll come away with at least one memorable Steve Dufrain (the owner) story. I can think of three off the top of my head from my round and a half of playing. So I'd also earmark Shawshank; between it and TT/Selah, you're seeing some of the best Texas has to offer.

Definately can't go wrong with SHAWSHANK, but remember, call ahead, as Steve don't like it when you show up unannounced.

 

[CTRobuck]

Nacogdoches has 3 great courses, and we just had another put in here in Lufkin. East Texas coming up!!!

 

[CTRobuck]

The greater DFW has a bunch of solid courses to play. Unfortunately, that covers a lot of land...here's a few of my favorites that I think are definitely worth checking out.

Crossroads of Life
Lester Lorch Beaver/Coyote. This might be the best place to go, as you can play two courses.
Z-Boaz
Harry Meyers

Turner in GP is also a great course!

 

[jsc430]

Great advice so far. If you can I would try to play horseshoe canyon ranch in Arkansas on the way back home. Its an epic course that few will ever play.

 

[Martin Dewgarita]

HCR is pretty awesome - the first course I ever played while on a climbing trip, haven't hardly picked up my climbing gear again since then...

But, if something hasn't been done recently with the upkeep, it could be fairly miserable to follow and play (some missing holes, directional arrows, overgrown tees, etc) If you're looking for an adventure, it could be right up your alley.

 

[RUSSELL]

The Austin area has couple hand fulls of courses to play.

austin ridge
circle c
wilco
east metro
roy g
just to name a few...

 

[Shimmer]

How is the weather down that way Texas folks? Pretty sad to see a bunch of rain back in the forecast.

 

[JeremyKShort]

The greater DFW has a bunch of solid courses to play. Unfortunately, that covers a lot of land...here's a few of my favorites that I think are definitely worth checking out.

Crossroads of Life
Lester Lorch Beaver/Coyote. This might be the best place to go, as you can play two courses.
Z-Boaz
Harry Meyers

I could recommend any of those. Beaver and Coyote are a good combination, both at the same park. Crossroads of Life is very close to them, it would be possible to hit it as a third course. I can also recommend Trophy Club Park, recently redone and has a good chance to become the best rated course in the area, it's really that good.

And not to keep you out of DFW, but Lindsey Park in Tyler has three great courses, and it's much closer to Selah/Trey. May be worth looking at.

 

[JeremyKShort]

How is the weather down that way Texas folks? Pretty sad to see a bunch of rain back in the forecast.

I don't know about the Talco area, right now it looks like the rain has been taken off the forecast for the DFW area. It looks like mid-upper 90s. Still haven't broken 100 yet, it's a little odd to be this far into June and not seen 100 yet.

 

[Money_Shot]

Highbridge vs Selah

Not sure, but it sounded as if you had been to highbridge before as have I. I have been looking at top 10 course list and see that Selah is always up there, but when i look at the course have a hard time seeing why in the pictures. I mean it looks decent in pictures and all. Would really like your opinion or anyone's opinion who has played in both places to compare the two. Everyone describes the landscape at Selah as beautiful but the pictures just arent capturing that for me. Looks flat and dirty with sparse trees. Please help revive some faith in me planning a trip to texas to play Selah in the future. Thanks

 

[chalos13]

I'm gonna bump Tyler as well, I live here and we have 5 18 hole courses and one 9. Everything ranging from beginner pitch and putt (Noble) to hard heavily wooded long holes (Lindsey Gold). If you're looking for a relaxing round try the ROC on hwy 69, and UT Tyler is a decent low difficulty front 9 followed by a way more wooded back nine.

 

[chalos13]

well just read you had two days to plan so now I feel kinda dumb, hope the trip was good

 

[Curtis_Valk]

Don't feel dumb, others can benefit from your suggestions. I'm close enough to make it out your way some time. I love East Texas (anything east of Canton is E.T. to me).