THIS IS AUSTIN

Area's courses suit any approach to golf

By Kevin Robbins
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, July 27, 2008

Austin is serious golf country — steeped in tradition, vivid in history, populated by personalities and dappled by golf courses of every shape, size and character.

The range of public golf courses continues to expand, from the evolving high-end experience at Grey Rock Golf Club (formerly the Golf Club at Circle C) to the roster of municipal courses that cater to every type of player.

And the resort courses in Central Texas rival those in Arizona, North and South Carolina, California and Hawaii.

A Jay Morrish design, Grey Rock has undergone millions of dollars in renovations under general manager Chip Gist. New back tees have lengthened the course to nearly 7,000 yards, and the annual Austin Open tournament has given Grey Rock elevated status among the region's better players.

Perry Maxwell routed Riverside Golf Course on Riverside Drive as the second incarnation of Austin Country Club. Now a modest daily-fee course bearing only a passing resemblance to Maxwell's design, Riverside is where Harvey Penick taught Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite and hundreds of other enthusiasts to take dead aim and swing the bucket.

Avery Ranch, Bluebonnet Hill, Forest Creek, Teravista, Plum Creek, ShadowGlen, Star Ranch and the incomparable Delaware Springs in nearby Burnet round out the roster of daily-fee courses in a city where walkups often can play for $50 or less – and without a tee time.

The city's five municipal courses include something for every caliber of golfer.

Lions and Hancock (the original Austin Country Club) are short on yardage but long on charm. Morris Williams, which once was home to the University of Texas men's golf tournament, offers variety for shotmakers and typically boasts some of the best greens in the city.

Roy Kizer, the 14-year-old crown jewel of Austin municipal golf, borrows from the treeless Scottish links style, with bunkers scattered here and there like windblown leaves. And its sister course, Jimmy Clay, underwent a major redesign in 2007 that created the only island-green par-4 hole in city limits.

Golf connoisseurs have long recognized this region as a haven for world-class resort courses.

The three sturdy Robert Trent Jones Sr. designs at Horseshoe Bay (45 minutes west of town) set the tone three decades ago. Barton Creek has two exhilarating Tom Fazio courses, a Ben Crenshaw-Bill Coore collaboration whose enormous greens test the putter more than any club, and an Arnold Palmer course that teases the egos of long drivers. On the east side of Austin, the magnificent Wolfdancer (an instant Arthur Hills classic) continues to draw praise from golf magazines and raters.

Like Crenshaw and Kite, thousands of youths have learned to play in Austin.

The First Tee of Greater Austin is approaching its 10th birthday. It's served more than 8,500 youths and has spun off into after-school programs, golf camps and a tour series for kids. Its golf home, the Harvey Penick Golf Campus, has a practice facility and nine-hole course open to the public in East Austin.

North of downtown lies the University of Texas, where Kite and Crenshaw won NCAA titles as Longhorns in the early 1970s. The Longhorn men's and women's golf teams had no course of their own until earlier this decade, when the rugged University of Texas Golf Club opened in Northwest Austin. Now more than 7,400 yards long, the club has been the host site of an NCAA women's regional and next year will be one of the NCAA men's regional sites.

Kite and Crenshaw continue to live in Austin. They serve, along with Champions Tour player Tom Jenkins, as informal co-hosts of the annual FedEx Kinko's Classic.

The $1.6-million Champions Tour event has been played the past six springs at the Hills County Club. Now in need of a new title sponsor, the tournament has produced winners such as Jay Haas, Scott Hoch, Hale Irwin and Larry Nelson.