So, we’ve arrived at Omni Barton Creek! Located just outside of downtown Austin in the heart of beautiful Texas Hill Country, Barton Creek is a golfers paradise providing guest access to four 18-hole Championship Golf courses. During our visit we had a chance to play three of the courses, the first was the Crenshaw Course (all about the greens, that’s what they warn you about, and they aren’t wrong). The third course was Fazio Canyons, both covered by another colleague, a lot of writers here these days to try and give you an idea of where to spend your time and money! We didn’t play Lakeside, which is a Palmer design located about 35 minutes away from the resort. That left me with Fazio Foothills, it was closed in Spring 2017 for renovation, and re-opened in June 2018 with all revisions done under Fazio’s watchful eye.
If not already mentioned by my colleagues in regards to the other courses, to play Barton Creek, you’ve either got to be a member or a guest of the resort. The on-site pro-shop is small, modern, and efficient, serving both Crenshaw and Foothills.
Fazio Foothills
Five tee choices – Black (7087 yards/ 141 slope) Gold (6685 yards/ 139 slope) Blue – our choice for the round (6311/ 134 slope) and White M (5922/ 131) / White W (5922/ 137 slope) and Red (5092/ 126).
Par is 72 with two par 3’s and two par 5’s on both the front and back 9, a very traditional hole layout.
It’s the middle of summer, we’ve already played 18 holes, had a bite of lunch and now heading out for another 18..it’s 104F°, and we are running late for our tee time. As we drive up to the first tee we are given the best welcome ever… 2 starters and two lovely cart girls await, we felt special but thinking back, I think they just wanted to see what kind of crazies wanted to play golf in Austin on a cloudless day, at the peak of summer heat. As they told us, we’ve got a few people on the back nine just finishing otherwise the course is yours, so reading between the lines, you guys are crazy!! The funny thing is when we checked into the resort the day before we ran into a couple of golfers that couldn’t wait to give us advice, “play in the morning, don’t go out in the afternoon.” Guess I need a hearing aid!
The one and, I think, best comment from our starter was the course starts easy and continues to get harder as you progress. Looking back, it was the perfect summary.
Front 9 Highlights
So with our ‘crowd’ of on-lookers, we took to the first tee. A very picturesque hole, slightly downhill, very open par-4 playing just over 400 yards. The only words uttered on the tee box, ‘get off the tee, don’t make us look bad. Just what you need, a little more pressure! It’s a great starting hole, and a par will have you feeling good, and for me, the next few holes follow a similar feel undulating, challenging but not daunting and very scenic.
Hole 5, the fun starts. A par-5, a good drive, ideally with a light draw and then your first decision, stay low in the valley part of the fairway or go high on to the top fairway to give an elevated approach into the green, which happens to have a retaining wall and stream running in front of it, bunkers back right and nearly the whole left hand side – beautiful and at 546 yards, off the blue tees, one that most aren’t getting on in two.
I should mention that nearly every hole has trees keeping things ‘defined’ and punishes the truly wayward shots, but while they look tight, the fairways do open up and as a result allowing for some forgiveness.
Hole 9 is simply amazing. A truly gorgeous par 3, play the distance, long or left and water and sand are there to meet you, but once on the green, pretty straightforward, it’s all about getting there and not being SCARED!
Back 9 Highlights
To get to the tenth hole, you have to go over the road, past the car park and out on the poolside of the hotel and an awesome view is there to greet you. An elevated tee, looking down on the hole, there’s water on the left, hit a good tee shot and it will leave a good mid-iron shot to make the green, love this hole!
The 12th is a short and drivable par-4 at only 258 yards, rated as the easiest hole on the course. Don’t let your guard down; it’s very clever. If you relax just a little, you’ll be in big trouble.
Stay on your game for the run-in, there’s only one easy hole left to play – the par 3, no.14, don’t go long or left, and you should walk away with a par.
The 16th is another top hole, commit to the drive and then you can make the decision to go at the green, over a stream (I’ve not mentioned the amount of water that exists on this course, it’s a common theme, lots of holes have water somewhere, be it a stream or a waterfall).
To finish, an uphill, par-5 and, I think, the best hole on the course. It plays, kind of parallel to the 10th so take a good look at it as you play the 10th. Hit a good drive, ideally left of center, second up in front of the ravine, more right to have the shortest approach and then do not decelerate on your approach shot or you’ll never see your ball again. There’s a better than fair chance you will have an audience watching you from the resort pool, who very sportingly will clap and cheer or shout some advice depending on your shot. The last of our group drained his putt to much cheer, and rather than shaking our hand he turned to the crowd and waved his cap. I think he’d have thrown them the ball if they weren’t quite so far away but playing to the crowd certainly brought a laugh for us all and capped off an amazing, beautiful, round of golf. We might be complaining about our scores, but no one had a bad word for the course!
Fazio Foothills Course Rating 4.2 out of 5
It’s a fun course, challenging, with a bit of everything although, depending on your game, it might be a lot of sand, water, rocks, and lost balls. Out of the three courses we played at Barton Creek, Foothills earned the highest-rated. Another great Fazio design, the Foothills Course gives you a real taste of the Texas Hill Country, and a stiff test of golf. The Omni Barton Creek is a fabulous resort recently re-opened following a 2-year $150 million renovation it’s truly a sight to behold.
My home course, in Florida, is a Fazio design and as much as I like it, there’s no way to draw any comparison. Foothills takes everything to a whole new level. This course, of our seven rounds in Austin, was the one that beat me up and I don’t care, it’s a brute of a course, and I’d play it again in a heartbeat!!