As I stood on the very elevated 10th tee at Apple Rock Golf Course this past week, I faced a stretching panorama of distant rolling hills, bright blue lakes, and a lush green fairway. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve guessed I was somewhere in Northern California or perhaps Kelowna, British Columbia. But this was Horseshoe Bay, Texas – roughly an hour west of Austin. And I assumed Texas golf was all about flat brown courses that allowed me to putt from 80 yards out. So much for the famed Texas wedge.

In fact, a lot of this Hill Country golf resort and community surprised me during the four-day getaway. Shortly after checking in at the seven-story Horseshoe Bay Resort hotel, I got a preview of the upcoming 3,000 square foot Cap Rock Golf Academy that’s replete with two indoor bays equipped with Trackman and Toptracer technology, clubfitting services, a club repair room, and a demo area with shafts, grips and clubheads. It opens soon and frankly looks fantastic.

But I was here to play golf. And over the next three days, I was able to experience all four courses on property. The first was the acclaimed 6,884-yard Ram Rock, a Robert Trent Jones, Sr. design that has hosted the Texas State Open, among several other USGA qualifying events and pro tournaments. It features both narrow and wide fairways, 62 steep bunkers, 10 water hazards, large elevation changes and one island green hole. Piece of cake, right? There’s also native landscaping and rugged natural rock outcroppings to negotiate throughout your round. I thought the greens were generously sized. On this day, the greens rolled slower than they looked. But there’s a lot of undulation on them, and some really tough pin placements. The best advice I got was from the starter: Keep the ball in play. If you don’t – even if the ball travels slightly out of the fairway – you will find trouble.

Next I played the adjacent 6,999-yard Apple Rock, which is more of a player-friendly resort style course that’s way more forgiving. This Jones layout is tons of fun. Nothing’s overly difficult. The fairways are generous, the greens are easy to read, and there’s a lot of variety to the holes. Yet they all flow nicely together. Several of the holes have water hazards – including No. 12, which has a predominantly island green – yet it seems like everything’s really fair and reasonably easy to score on.
It’s an enjoyable resort-style course that the locals say is mega-popular with everyone. I felt like I used more clubs in my bag on Ram Rock, but this one has enough freshness from hole-to-hole to keep it interesting the entire 18. And there’s not nearly as much elevation change as there is on Ram Rock.

After the 36, I went back to the hotel for dinner at J’s – the restaurant in the lobby. There I discovered what is probably my favorite new food of the year – BBQ tomato soup. Think of creamy tomato soup with barbecue sauce added and burnt ends. Absolutely fantastic, as was the restaurant’s barbecue-skewed take on a corn dog – a huge jalapeno-filled sausage with incredible batter enveloping it.

The next morning, I was off to Slick Rock Golf Course – yet another Jones layout that was renovated in 2016. Deemed among the state’s Top 50 courses you can play by the Dallas Morning News, I found it to be a really fun golf course to play. It’s a Parkland-style, 6,867-yard residential course that’s super friendly to golfers. Fairways are pretty wide and the whole property is fairly flat compared to the other courses. Everything is reachable and playable, and the greens aren’t deceiving in any way. There are only a couple of hilly greens, but most of them are pretty fairly flat. They may be tilted, but completely playable. It’s no wonder this course is mega-popular: It plays fast, is really easy to score on, and simply lots of fun. Regardless of your handicap or skill level, you’ll probably find yourself hitting a lot of drives and then shorter irons into the greens. On this day, the greens seemed to hold approach shots pretty well.
There’s some great water features all around, but the coolest is the waterfall off the 14th tee. It’s called the Million Dollar Hole – probably because that’s what it cost to build the waterfall – and you actually drive through the waterfall without getting wet to get from your tee shot to the landing area.


On the last day, I played Summit Rock Golf Club – a Jack Nicklaus Signature design. It plays a hefty 7,246 yards from the tips. It’s a members-only course – yeah, I was privileged to play it – with what’s described as some of the most stunning scenery in Texas. It may gave been my favorite of all the Nicklaus courses I’ve played, and was more friendly than most. It climbs upward after the second hole, where golfers are graced with a 30-mile Hill Country view. In fact, there are plenty of raised tee boxes with spectacular views for the following nine holes. Most of the greens are large, raised and guarded with slope and challenging undulations. Thus, you’ll get some funky bounces if you miss the greens because several of them are on steeper terrain. There are also a lot of tight shots, yet they were complemented by open areas to land the ball on your drives – provided you clear the several forced carries. Summit Rock’s considered the best of the bunch at the resort. And I can totally see why. It’s about 12 years old and officials keep it in outstanding condition. The holes are visually well defined by the penal rough. I found the bunkers to be fairly easy to escape. And the greens were slower than at the other three courses, but were well-conditioned. It was very enjoyable to play.

After the final round, I played the 18-hole natural grass Whitewater Putting Course back at the hotel. Unlike anything I’ve ever encountered in any golf setting, it’s a par-72 dwarf Bermuda grass miniature layout with waterfalls, rose gardens, exotic birds, real bunkers and a trail. So much fun, especially if you play at night with the glow-in-the-dark neon lights.

As I stated up top, this is not how I envisioned Texas golf. And in the case of Horseshoe Bay, that’s a great thing.