In my prior article, I wrote about the Dye course at PGA Village, in that piece I pretty much confessed my love affair with Pete Dye golf courses. His course designs tend to not only suite my eye, but the importance Dye puts on accuracy and not distance fits my game. So, as we divided up the assignments for our Golf Aficionado 2019 Ultimate Golf trip to Austin, I jumped at the chance to write about Austin Country Club, another Pete Dye masterpiece.
For the past several years Austin Country Club has had a huge spotlight on it as host of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play event. When we decided on Austin as this year’s ultimate golf destination, we knew Austin Country Club had to be part of the trip.
Course Background
Let me share a little history about the course and Austin Country Club, and a few things you wouldn’t know just from watching the Match Play event on TV. The golf course wraps around a corner of the Colorado River, located approximately 20 mins from downtown Austin and less than 30 mins from Austin International Airport.
ACC, founded in 1899, has a bit of a vagabond history. Originally a nine-hole course set in what today is Central Austin. The club relocated in 1949 to what the locals call East Austin, in 1984 the club made their final move to their current location along the Colorado River.
In 2015 the course was renovated with Bermuda 419 on the fairways and Bermuda grass for the greens. ACC is purely a private club and only visible, in part, from the Pennybacker Bridge – more on that later. If you want to play the course, it’s either through a member or by special arrangement. The private atmosphere is made apparent by the lack of signs from the main road; if you’re not invited, you’re not meant to know it’s there!!
Harvey Penick, a Texas golf legend, started his golfing career at ACC when he became a caddie at the age of 8, he eventually became the head pro, a position he would maintain for 50 years. Harvey Penick gained worldwide fame when he co-wrote the Little Red Book, which went on to sell more copies than any golf book ever published. It’s important to know, his name permeates everywhere at the club, not to mention if you play the tips, called the Harvey tees!
The staff was very welcoming, extremely professional, and helpful. The pro shop has everything you’d ever need and a special thanks to ACC General Manager, Nick Smith CCM, CCE for welcoming us at the club with open arms and making us feel at home!
Tee Selection
As always, there’s the tough decision of what tees to play, at Golf Aficionado we tend to look at yardage and slope rating in comparison with our home courses, at ACC it’s not quite so easy. There’s Harvey (tips) playing just over 7,000 yards (Slope – 152), then simple tees called I (6582 yds – 148 slope), II (6047 yds – 136 slope), and III (5066 yds – 129 slope) but then you can mix it up with Hancock (10 holes of Harvey and 8 holes of I – 6821 yds, 150 slope), Riverside (10 holes of I and 8 holes of II – 6291 yards, 143 slope) and lastly Davenport (10 holes of II and 8 of III – 5523 yds and a slope rating of 133). In short seven different tee options. We settled on Riverside – the yardage was close to our normal play albeit at a 143 slope, that’s more than 20 points higher, but that’s Austin, Texas golf Vs. Central Florida.
Hey, Something Doesn’t Look Right!
For those that have only seen the course on TV, the first thing that will seem odd is the first tee box. For the WGC the front nine is inverted to become the back 9. The course is a tale of two nines – the front nine, as members play it, is all focused around the Colorado river/ Pennybacker Bridge and plays more open than the back nine which has sloping fairways, ravines and a lot of trees, although the front isn’t exactly short of trees!
I haven’t played every Pete Dye course, although I’m certainly making a dent in the list. As I mentioned earlier, his designs lean towards rewarding accuracy over distance. While getting off the tee is important, being too long or off-center will find a problem or two and that’s an issue we did run into during the round – huge undulations that cause big kicks towards, normally, trouble in the form of canyons, creeks, ravines, and pot bunkers, all those things amateur golfers love.
Front Nine Highlights
The 1st hole is a blind, dogleg left, par-4. We had a forecaddie; JD and he was worth every penny. ACC mandates that you take a forecaddie if you aren’t playing with a member. JD was very brave, he went and stood in the fairway on every hole leaving us with explicit instructions to aim at him, I say brave, but when he saw some of our shots, he may have thought something else. An accurate drive on the 1st will leave you with a mid-iron into the green, a great chance to start the round off with par or better.
Hole 2 is a par 3, not long but don’t be short, very picturesque. Slightly downhill, over water with a waterfall off to the left of the green.
Hole 3 – I’m not sure words can do the hole as much justice as the picture. The trees you see are indeed pretty close, and yes the drop to the fairway is pretty steep, and yes, the backdrop to the hole is amazing, and all you have to do is hit a solid 200 yard, straight drive, apart from that…par 5, stroke index 5 and the green is surrounded by water.
Hole 4 is a short par 4, 300 yards and there’s a temptation as you stand on the tee box to think, hit driver, carry the water and be on the green in one and then the sensible part of you kicks in. Hit a 5-iron to the middle of the fairway and an approach wedge into the green. As a group, we had three on the green in regulation, one of which made a birdie and the fourth. Remember how I mentioned the idea of carrying the water; he made a double bogey!
Hole 7 – looking back from the green on hole 7 is a great way to see how the fairways undulate, and this is one of the flatter holes!
Back Nine Highlights
Hole 11 – My favorite hole, the tee shot is over a ravine onto a fairway that slopes, hard, from right to left. Too long off the tee and you’re in the ravine that runs down the left side of the fairway, anything other than a shot favoring the right side of the fairway could give you trouble. A good first shot will leave a downhill approach to a green that is protected on the left and right by bunkers, too left or long of those you’ll be dropping a new ball. (pic 182 – 11th green)
Hole 13 – Par 3, over a ravine not the hardest hole but very pretty and one of the more forgiving holes, so long as you’re not in the ravine and then using the drop zone!
The finishing three holes are a par 3 – good 7/8 iron, relatively short par 5 with an elevated green with bunkers surrounding it and a wonderful par 4 to finish.
As mentioned, the course rewards accuracy, and with the slopes, it doesn’t play long, but the chances of having your feet and the ball on the same plane are slim. Everyone in our group had at least one lost ball, and I suspect there aren’t many rounds where members don’t lose at least one.
Austin Country Club Course Rating 4.5 out of 5
We played in August, in temperatures of 102°F+, considering it was mid-summer the course was in great shape and it’s not a stretch to imagine the course looking even better when it cools down a little. The club does an amazing job honoring their history as the first golf club in Texas, and local legend Harvey Penick would be proud. We all walked away saying we would play it again in a heart-beat, if you get the chance, take it… and send me an invite!