Central Texas Golf Course Scene

Built with the recreational golfer in mind … designed to Challenge, Excite and Improve your golf game.

COMPETITION TO CHALLENGE YOU

• FootWedge Tour organizes 5-15 weekly events at six golf courses givng you the ability to compete in a tour format on your schedule.

• We monitor handicapping to insure competitive fairness. 

Here we are with another course review about another course that has changed owners and names in the recent months. And once again, verything they have done at The Hawk has been for you, the golfer.

Tucked away in Spring Branch, The Hawk has been a favorite of many area golfers for many years – as Rebecca Creeks Golf Course and as Rayner Ranch Golf Club. Well, within the past year or so, there wasn’t much talk about the course, and people started wondering.

Now there is The Hawk Golf Club, and though there weren’t many big changes necessary for this Hill Country tract, there are some being worked now, and more to come. Some holes have been swapped (2 and 18) for better flow of the play. There is the Hawk’s Nest Beer House when you make the turn for a cold beverage and food to go. There is a new outdoor wedding area with the picturesque Hill Country in the background.

The Hawk Golf Club is quickly making a name for itself on the local scene as the most relaxed and enjoyable golf experience in the Texas Hill Country. The Hawk prides itself in providing not only a great golf experience, but also unmatched entertainment options. All of this is combined with inspiring scenery and traditional aesthetics.

A new smokehouse at the turn makes it quick and easy to grab a bite to eat, pick up a cold towel, or fill the cooler with ice. The open-air venue is perfectly located at the intersection of four different holes, and is equipped with high-definition television so players can check out the leaderboard, or catch the score of the big game while they enjoy their round. 

The relaxed dining atmosphere at the Hawk features plenty of authentic Hill Country dishes like sausage wraps and brisket tacos, plus an assortment of ice-cold beers. Golfers who tee it up at The Hawk Golf Club can take comfort in knowing that fast and friendly beverage service is a top priority. The Hawk’s beverage cart now runs every day, all day long, making sure your cooler won’t run dry as you drive further away from the clubhouse.

The four-man scramble is one of the most enjoyable formats for team competition in golf. After all, finding one decent shot out of four is a welcome proposition to many golfers. Beginning this spring, golf clubs across the country will be able to compete in The Great American Scramble and vie for the coveted title of National Champions in Las Vegas.

After the longstanding Buick/Oldsmobile Scramble shut down in 2005, golfers were left without a national scramble competition. PGA Professional Wayne Stone decided to change that. Stone created an event aimed at bringing excitement, camaraderie and team-building experiences back to golfers through the scramble format.

Stone, who is the director of Golf at Windermere Country Club in Windermere, Fla., decided there was enough interest to create a national scramble just by gauging the response of his members to the loss of the Buick event. Encouraged by the feedback, Stone set out to create the national tournament that was currently missing from the golf world.

The Bandit Golf Club in New Braunfels, The Buckhom Golf Course in Comfort, and The Republic Golf Club in San Antonio are the answer to many golfers' prayers -friendly, high-value golf in the Hill Country. Owned and operated by foresight Golf, these courses reflect the well-earned reputation Foresight has for doing it right - delivering golf courses with championship-guality conditions to customers 12 months a year.

Foresight prides itself in providing golfers with the best course environment every season of the year, and their courses are among the very few in the area to offer over seeded tees, fairways and greens during the winter months. Combine terrific, consistent course conditions with outstanding customer service and award-winning grill food, and you can easily see why Foresight's approach to the business ojgolf is admired and appreciated.

The Golf Club at Star Ranch has made its mark on the Austin-area golf scene as the home for “all-inclusive” golf, offering a greens fee, cart, range balls, breakfast and lunch buffets for one low price. But the best deal is no deal if the course isn’t up to par, right? Well, the General Manager of Golf Club at Star Ranch, Ricky Heine, also happens to be the President of the Golf Course Superintendent’s Association of America. Think his membership would allow him to keep his own layout in anything other than first-class shape?

Course conditioning is the first star at Star Ranch, but certainly not the Lone Star. The new “Star Player’s Club” offers unbelievable savings for loyal players who really want to improve their games. For $34/month, members get reduced greens fees, free range balls anytime, complimentary clinics and 7-day advanced tee time availability.

The latest star is the new practice facility featuring an entirely new driving range, a pair of short game practice greens, a separate wedge area with its own target green and an enormous practice bunker. Again, with game improvement in mind, Star Ranch offers numerous adult clinics and junior camps to go with their private and small group lesson packages.

Bill Smith and the new Hawk Golf Club in Spring Branch, just 30 miles north of San Antonio on Highway 281, are a match made in golfer’s heaven.

The old Rayner Ranch Golf Club was a great layout underneath those centuryold oaks, but was falling into disrepair until Smith, a successful area builder and passionate golf fanatic, came to rescue the course he knew and loved. Since taking over in mid-October, Smith has done a lot more than just slap a new name on the venerable old course. Now he’s ready to invite you out to see its amazing potential.

Like a lot of successful builders, Smith saw the “good bones” of this course, the challenging layout that flows naturally over the rolling Hill Country terrain, with all the features that Texas golfers look for in a “pure” golf course. This one just needed a little TLC to bring those features back.

Located in the beautiful Texas Hill Country between San Antonio and Austin, Canyon Lake Golf Club offers a wide range of activities with facilities and staff to accommodate a variety of needs.

Tucked away in the peaceful community of Canyon Lake, this par-72 golf course boasts wellmanicured fairways accented with rolling hills, live oak  trees, and a lovely view of Canyon Lake.

Several holes have been completely redesigned to challenge even the most avid golfer. New cart paths allow a smooth flow of traffi c, while also preserving the fairways.

The course opens and concludes with challenging par-5s and in the middle of the back nine is a rare combination on a championship par-72 layout, back-to-back par-3s.

Located just 15 minutes from downtown and the San Antonio airport, Northern Hills Golf Clu b offers an interesting and challenging course for all skill levels.

Our newly resurfaced putting greens are the new Ultra Dwarf Mini-Verde surface, the only one of its kind in the entire San Antonio public golf market.

This newly developed surface is the same putting surface the pros formerly putted on at TPC Sawgrass on the PGA TOUR.

A dramatic restoration and upgrade of the venerable Brackenridge Golf Course will tee off the new Municipal Golf Association- San Antonio’s (MGA-SA) Alamo City Golf Trail that will forever change the golf landscape of the City of San Antonio.

Reid Meyers, Chairman of the MGASA Board of Directors, says the birthplace of Texas golf just beckons to be restored. “Golfers around the nation have revered Brackenridge as the first 18-hole municipal golf course built in Texas, in 1916, by renowned golf course architect, A. W. Tillinghast,” Meyers said. Tillinghast designed other great golf courses such as Baltusrol Golf Course in Springfi eld, N.J.; Winged Foot Golf Course in Mamaroneck, N.J., and Bethpage State Park, Farmingdale, N.Y.