Vaaler Creek Golf Club

First of al this is probably the most beautiful challenging public course II have played in Central Texas. If there wasn’t a drought and the water was full it would be next level, but several factors make it not worth the drive or money. First the course is long and the fairways are wide. Because of the drought it is cart path only , but you don’t learn this until the first tee. There was a frost delay, but they did not handle it well . The starter did nothing to space out the groups. It was obvious he dud not want to be there. The clubhouse staff was really rude and dismissive. I won’t be going back unless they hire a new staff.

Love the course, but they need club/ball cleaners on the carts. I'm sure they have a reason, but cart path only with no wet conditions kinda makes for longer play. Also they do not have a liquor license to sell on the course.

Don’t get me wrong, course is still great to play but it’s the little things that make an overall round great & worth the money. It was cart path only & I get the excuse about water restrictions but there were several areas on the course that were over watered, soft, and soggy for it being in the 70’s & late afternoon. Greens were fluffy & slow and level of fringe onto greens was too high & thick; there was no gradual transition. Several trees need to have branches trimmed; we were on fairway several times with no shot to green due to limbs. This should happen if we were in rough but not in the fairway. Marshall was downright rude as well. Cart woman was friendly & she came around several times. Food at the turn was decent but definitely over priced. Vaaler used to be our groups favorite course to enjoy a round & relax but I’d have to give it a bogey.

Course conditions and layout are excellent. Unfortunately, it was cart path only as overseeing was in progress so we had to walk and carry a few clubs each hole.

Cart path only was a hassle but I understand that was not normal.

So I am going to be brutally honest. First time I played the course and was restricted to cart path only, I understood due to the heavy rains. However the other day when I played, the Weather was perfect (for fall golf) and we were still restricted to cart path only. When I asked the starter why (OBTW - no mention of this in the clubhouse during check-in) he stated that it was because of the draught and hot summer.

OK - so here's the funny thing - I played two other courses during the holiday weekend and none of them were restricted to cart path only. Both had equally as nice fairways too... Neither were goat tracks that needed to be watched over. -- This I did not understand nor could I comprehend it.

Here's the effect of this decision - 18 holes paired with 3 others took 4.75 hours as compared to 4 and 3.75 hours respectively at the other courses.

Course conditions: IMMACULATE - as one would expect for cart path only restriction

Greens: much better this time as they were nicely cut; however every pin was crooked and was not sitting level. Some of the pins were in extremely tough positions, which made playing this course a challenge.

No Beer Cart - nor mention of this at check-in either.

Food: Quesadilla - so/so -- no contiments or salsa - basically microwaved tortilla with some heated up buffalo chicken (which was actually its saving grace).

Marshall: Seen once but never did he push the group ahead of us that thought they were pro's and hitting from tips; when most should be on RED tees. There was one player that maybe was a blue tee player. Slow play causes us to barely make it in before nitefall; and the players behind us hit into us 3 times becuse they could not see us due to falling daylight.

I would really like to say this is one of the best courses in the area, but unfortunately, I cannot due to the limitations they put on themselves. Let me know when cart-path only limitation is lifted as I would like to come back and play as a normal course.

The course is always kept up. They have a great mixture of Par’s. This is by far my most favorite course in and surrounding SA. The only thing I would say is a negative, if you’re not a resident of the community, you can’t get earlier Tee Times. But everything else is awesome.

Course looked great and in excellent condition, but cart path ONLY ON ALL HOLES WAS TERRIBLE. Paid for cart but can't use it. This has been the case now for over a month..my last 3 rounds...all cart path only. I will go back next year. Will play elsewhere for now.

Only issue is that according to the Marshall, it’s cart path only and it has been for a while, with no expectation of going back to allowing carts back on the fairways. Difficult to play when a partner has bad knees and back problems.

cart path only makes for a very long round as many players get to their ball and either have the wrong club or hit a bad shot and need a different club .

might be better to have walk only rules to speed up play if you want to protect the fairways.

First off - very happy to have found this hidden gem in the San Antonio area. However with that said and giving acknowledgement to the recent poor weather (heavy rains) - the conditions were less than favorable. Just wish the staff would have warned me.

1. Greens recently resanded and uncut.

2. Fairways uncut

I will come back to play this course, because I can see that it would normally be very well maintained. Very Green and lush, similar to other high caliber courses in the area given the high heat and low rain.

Somethings to Consider:

1. Range is farther away from clubhouse than normal - you will take the road farther than one would expect to find. Very open to the elements and based on high winds it was hard to dial in shots prior to teeing off for the round.

2. Hole 1 is equally as far from clubhouse and driving range.

3. There was a starter, but nobody after that, to include beverage cart; however there were plenty of water cans on the course. Not having a course ranger allowed for a 5-some and slow play in front of me today - however they were very polite and allowed my group to play through at the turn.

4. If you have cart-path only play (which I did) then plan for long walks from cart path to ball if not near cart path.

5. This is a challenging course if windy!

6. Traps were well maintained and had soft fluffy white sand.

7. Carts have GPS with geofencing - consider resetting geofence, as I had to back up a few times because the GPS said I was off the cart-path, when I was not. This was a bit of a hassle on a few holes, and actually frustrating.

8. Carts have "rain cover" and cooler - which was nice to see.

It hasn't rained lately, so I asked why it was cart path only. They said that it was due to the continuing drought. The course was in really good shape, but the greens were recently sanded. It was a Thursday mid day tee time, but the course was really packed. With the cart path only, it was a five hour round.