Moe's Texas Golf Trip 2005

My last living relative on my Mom’s side is my 93 year old Aunt Jan. She used to live in California and we visited her there a few times. Finally her younger brother Tom (76) decided that she shouldn’t be living alone on a mountain out there, so he moved her just up the street from him in Abilene, Texas. That’s when I vowed I’d never see California again! Of course I wish Tom lived in the mountains in Colorado, or up in northern Michigan, but Texas does have music I like, and there are golf courses everywhere.

One important thing you should get from this story is that if you have and old relative or friend who you like; visit them every chance you get. You can’t enjoy their company and interesting stories anymore when you’re at their funeral. We visit Jan every year now, and of course we golf down and back.

Our first day out we got rained out before we got started at Ross Creek Landing on the Bear Trace in Tennessee. That does not stop me from recommending, once again, any of the five Nicklaus designed Bear Trace courses. They are all well designed, well maintained, and reasonably priced.

We shared Escargot since I remembered them fondly from years ago, but sometimes memories are best left alone. After all, they are just snails, so how good could they be? We shared a filet that came with some great baby vegetables and preordered the Blueberry Marzipan cobbler w/ honey ice cream – WOW! They brought us palette cleansers between each course, and after desert they brought some neat cookies that we couldn’t eat, so they put them in a little to-go box and we had them the next day. Erling Jensen, by the way, is the chef, and a fine one at that. You just can’t beat a French chef living in the southern USA.

Diamante C. C. is a private course in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. It is a 1995 Tom Clark design, and rated 4th best in the state by Golf Digest.

THE 17TH AT DIAMANTE

It was a nice design, but like every course I’ve ever played in Arkansas, they had significant drainage problems in the fairways and bunkers. It’s pretty easy to get on the private course in the Hot Springs area, and they are all better than the public ones. You need to call ahead.

Our favorite restaurant in Hot Springs is called Pompeii and it is right up Central Avenue from Oaklawn Park. It’s Italian and classy. You can also call the Bohemia restaurant a day ahead and they will prepare Haasenpfeffer (marinated rabbit) or quail for the next evening. It’s well worth planning ahead! Also in Hot Springs you should not miss a two or three hour visit to Garvan Woodlands Botanical Gardens. We’re talking about 210 acres of piney woods full of nice hiking trails, hundreds of flowering bushes and thousands of daffodils, tulips, and other flowers. It is truly world Class!

Moe’s fifty-fourth (54) Art Hills course played was The Ranch Country Club in McKinney, Texas. It’s an upscale subdivision course. Six outstanding holes, six good holes, and six just ok. If you’re not trying to play all of Art’s designs, you don’t need to take the trouble to get on this private course. I also don’t recommend you go to Abilene, Texas to golf or fine dine. If you are going to be down however, contact me and I can set you up for some exciting rummy tile games with my aunt. At ninety-three she’ll still kick your ass.

On the way home, during a very rainy April, we dodged every rain drop and got in four rounds of golf. Squaw Valley is southwest of Fort Worth and has two well rated 18 hole courses. We played the newer Comanche Lakes course which was mostly open with many bunkers, and several water hazards in the form of large lakes. The wind however is usually the biggest factor in west Texas golf. I believe west Texas is the birthplace of the wind!

After successfully sneaking through Dallas for the second time we golfed at what was supposed to be a “hidden gem” in the mountains of southeast Oklahoma. The course is called Cedar Creek and it is one of those Golf Digest mistakes. They give it 4 ½ stars, but I’ve been there now, and I give it two (2). The course is cut out of the piney woods which is nice, but we need some grass in the fairways to play golf. For fun you can find Broken Bow, Oklahoma on your map, but don’t go down there to play Cedar Creek.

After that disappointment, we struggled up through the northern Arkansas mountains, and got to play the best course on the trip. Branson Creek is a Tom Fazio 2000 design located just south of Branson, Missouri. The development has not taken off yet, and in fact, they are just now building the clubhouse; but that just means that now is the time to go.

BRANSON CREEK'S 15TH

We played this great course for $80, and it will be over $100 in just a few years. Fazio don’t build um cheap, and you can’t play many of his designs for under $100.

Moe gave Branson Creek 12 outstanding holes, and 6 good ones. If you think of the Beltera course with more elevation changes you will be pretty close.

On our last day out we played Stonewolf, which is a 1997 Jack Nicklaus design team course in southern Illinois, just east of St. Louis. It was a typical well maintained Nicklaus design with wide fairways and many sand bunkers.

THE 16TH AT STONEWOLF

It was fairly open country and the impending thunderstorms began pushing in some of that west Texas wind as the round progressed. We had just loaded up the car when it began to sprinkle. We raced away to the east ahead of the thunderstorms with dime size hail and high winds that swept across southern Illinois and Indiana. The storm never caught us, but it wore itself out in the chase, so some of you Hoosiers need to be thanking us for our efforts.

To review this trip, Branson Creek, in Branson, Missouri, is one of the best courses you can play. Erling Jensen The Restaurant, in Memphis, Tennessee, will be one of the best restaurants you will ever dine in. I hope you’re taking notes!