Barton Creek: Fazio Foothills and Cliffs
Barton Creek is a great five-star, four-course resort located outside Austin, TX. I played Fazio Cliffs here in 2004 and Foothills in 2012. Above is the resort from the Foothill’s par-five 18th tee. I didn’t play the other two courses but have played several in the immediate area – Texas Hill country gives you some awesome elevation changes and great views.
This is a kick-ass resort! Streamsong, Cabot, Bandon, Sand Valley, Kohler and now Big Cedar Lodge are getting all of the love lately but Barton Creek should be on any guys golf trip agenda if you’re looking for a resort with multiple top-notch courses. Best of all, unlike the others, this isn’t in Bumfuck; it’s a quick Uber ride to one of the great food and party cities in the country. Though be careful, I don’t think Uber is legal in Austin. Everything else is though.
I am guessing since the other resorts are the shiny new objects or since the Barton Creek courses have drifted off the golf mags’ top 100 lists, they’ve become the ugly Wilson Heart sister to the still hot other Wilson Heart sister. But honestly Barton Creek is more like the hot Dreamboat Annie Ann not the These Dreams Ann and has aged much better!
But I digress. Canyons is kind of lost on me all of these years later. I remember it was on a huge, sprawling, hilly piece of property, that the holes were unencumbered by houses or other golf holes, and there were various pond and creek water hazards. I only have the first picture below from the course. It’s generally ranked higher than Foothills and creeps into the top 100 public courses list. It’s in the Scrapbook here.
I played Foothills seven years later plus I had it on my Links 2003 Computer Golf Game so remember it more. The first is a great par four (415 from the blues) but downhill all of the way. It’s definitely one you can get another 75 yards on your drive leaving a wedge in. Two is a shortish par four that once you negotiate the tree in the middle of the fairway is pretty getable and three is a par three and the second easiest hole on the course. You can definitely get off to a hot start here but the course turns tough from here. The very next hole is the number one handicap and except for the driveable 253-yard par-four 12th, the course gets pretty tough after three. There is a lot of movement here, a lot of elevated tees, and a lot of creeks that you need to negotiate. The course got a re-do a few years back so if some of the features have changed from my descriptions, that’s why. That and I have a pretty bad memory.
My daughter milked it to get included on this work trip to “tour” U of Texas on her college visit tour of the US. I found out later she had chosen Penn State months before but milked every work trip I had to jump in on some great restaurants and bars and tour some cool cities. Funny she wanted to go along on this and University of Miami and Hawaii trips but miracle of miracles, had no interest in touring any schools in Detroit or Cleveland!
Like I said, for a guys trip, the Barton Creek and Austin combo is a great choice. The restaurant here (and in fact everything at Barton Creek) is super pricey, but good. Around the corner is JAK (Jack Allen’s Kitchen). Awesome place. Downtown Austin is a short ride away and there’s some great live music and a great scene down on Sixth Street. For BBQ, go to Lambert’s. Trust me, this is one of my all time faves. Swift’s Attic has some eclectic menu items and a nice Mexican “chain” is the Iron Cactus right on 6th (upstairs balcony table if you can get it).
There aren’t many other public courses nearby Barton if you have a longer trip planned. I played Wolf Dancer all the way on the other side of the city in Lost Pines that was pretty okay. But shit if you’re out that far, keep going and stop at Buc-ee’s and grab yourself some beaver nuggets. Look it up. It’s a thing there.
There are also some great private tracks near Barton (Spanish Oaks and Austin CC). I played the former but not the latter. If you got the connections, do those. We got on Lost Creek, too which is super close but would’ve rather played one or the other Barton Creek courses than there.
Golf Scrapbook 