Falconhead Golf Club

I don't want you to get the wrong (negative) idea from my review below. I point out things but try to be at least a little funny/entertaining. *Are you not entertained!?* So, I'll put this here and again at the bottom:

*** I highly recommend playing this course! It's a great track and has never disappointed me. ***

First off, shout out to the starter. I don't think I'm allowed to say his name but it rhymes with lob (wedge). He just comes across as a great guy -- always in a good mood when I've come out here. And given enough time, you can have a nice chat with him -- stories, jokes, life, whatever. Anyway, this is a great course to play. I've always really enjoyed the rolling hill country and natural setting. If someone were to come to the Austin area and ask for some of my preferred courses (for various reasons), this one would certainly make the list. Today's round was not perfect of course. My 'job' as a reviewer isn't to just put up a short comment of "course was in good shape, shot well, will be back." What does that do for you as a reader of such reviews!? So I have some good and not so good to point out in my honest and detailed review. I'll start with the things that are particular to this course and today's round and then hit the basics of Tee Boxes, Fairways, Hazards, and Greens. And if you're so inclined after reading this lengthy tale, then feel free to click the Helpful button or leave me a comment. Rarely does anyone do that. But at least then I'll know folks are looking. Thanks!

What are the chances we can get them to put a high net along the right side of the driving range to protect the #9 fairway from being littered with balls by all of you slicers? :) Seriously, the berm isn't cutting it; never has. I shouldn't have to play up the left side just to avoid spending 5-10 minutes looking for my ball while hitting 20-30 range balls back over the hill. The driving range has added an improvement (literally .. a structure) since I last visited the course. They've added covered hitting bays with mats and couch seating [picture attached]. There are four (4) seats per bay along with a coffee table. From what I can tell, this is part of Toptracer Range -- something a few courses in the area are adding. And from what I've read elsewhere, you may be able to play famous golf courses and/or compete against friends. So I guess this will be available at certain times for family fun? Something extra to give the members because they don't want to drive to TopGolf and deal with the drunks, the music, the crowds, the parking, and the cost? Oh, yeah, I can see that as a draw (no pun intended) for having a membership. But it's a really small draw ... even for a golfing family including kids, I see this as a bit kitschy; I don't see it being used more than a few times by anyone. I wonder if it'll last. Otherwise, I guess it'll give folks a way to stay dry while hitting balls on a misty/rainy day. Now past all of that, the Falconhead web site mentions the Toptracer app in order to track data on your various shots. Is this built into all of their range balls; are they all chipped? No pun intended. Or do we need to get special balls from them? Is it available all of the time? Can we hit these from the normal range grass? Does it cost anything? I obviously have questions and no answers at this time. This ... this could be useful for a lot of folks looking to figure out their distances, work on tweaks, etc. And I'm sure it'll be useful for those receiving personal ($) instruction/lessons. Perhaps they'll add more detailed information on the web site soon-ish. (hint hint)

While the vast majority of the course was in *fantastic* shape, I definitely noticed (more so on the front 9) a significant number of areas along the cart path with just hard dirt and rock (often roped off accordingly). I hope they're looking to repair them somehow as it's not a good look. Perhaps the course should pour some of those short cart path turnoffs to show golfers where to enter and exit the fairway. Then I'd put up a more permanent form of decent looking barrier (e.g. short moveable fence sections made of cedar) to stop carts from exiting the path from every possible entry point in a span of 100-200 yards. And while I'm on the pseudo topic of accessibility, I *really* think steps/stairs are needed to get up/down from the #10 green. It's always been just a bit too steep. Anytime I see every age of golfer having to be extra careful walking up and down, that means someone's going to slip, blow out a knee, etc. Steps towards the back part of the green (after the bunker) where the vast majority of golfers walk would be very welcome. Are you listening Falconhead? Thanks for listening.

Are there any kind of yardage markers on this course other than the hole signage by the tee box? I know they don't have red-white-blue-yellow painted cart paths markers. They don't have 150 yard polls. I think I remember them in the past ... maybe. And I don't recall seeing sprinkler head markers (but I wasn't exactly looking). Many of us are now using apps for yardage. And they can work quite well. So are courses going to start letting go of yardage markings altogether? I'm okay with that if they put GPS in the carts but that's likely proved too pricey for many courses with subscriptions, updates, maintenance, etc. Otherwise, I think some form of yardage markers need to stay.

There are two (2) bathrooms on the course away from the clubhouse. They look nice from the outside and I can only assume that they're air conditioned. The drink machines, however, could use a little adjustment. The one by #5/6 apparently only takes single $1 bills and nothing else -- no credit cards either. My partner didn't have singles. So, he bought one at the clubhouse for $3.25. Wait, the drinks are $3 in the machine but $0.25 more in the clubhouse ... for the exact same plastic bottle of Dr Pepper!? :) The machine by #13 wouldn't even take my partner's newly acquired $1 bills. So he had to go without his caffeine fix. I did see a number of water jugs on the course. I'm glad to see courses putting these back out after the past 18 months of COVID-19. I'm cautious in general, but I'm fine with having the water back.

Tee boxes ... were alright but many were a bit overplayed. I can't really fault the course much though. This semi-private (because they have membership) course is in a nice neighborhood and the folks are a little more comfortable financially than a lot of the surrounding metro area. So they're apparently able to come over way too often while 'working' from home. :) I did notice that hole # 4 has two (2) sets of tee boxes. I swear that I've never seen that in my previous rounds at this course over the past 17 years (since I first played it). Anyway, the set we were on was likely on its last day of play (I hope) -- dry and beat the heck.

Fairways ... were really all in excellent shape. Green, lush, rolling, and nicely cut. And the rough was forgiving more or less. There's a lot of natural plant life in the rough etc. They likely didn't have to bring in much of anything to complete the 'landscaping' of this course. For that reason, you can get a mixture of tall grasses, trees with spreading roots, broadleaf weeds and clover, as well as just good hard dirt (under some of the trees). It can test you in more ways than one.

Hazards -- mostly just bunkers with only a minimal amount of water. The bunkers were all in fine shape for the most part. Of the ones I found, one was a bit hard and compact. But the others had nice soft sand. Sometimes that's good; sometimes not. It just depends on your style of play and what you're used to finding. As for water, #2 has a barely wet crick below the green due to recent rains or a busted sprinkler head. #8 has the pond below the par-3 of course. It's the only real water you have to worry about on the course. And #15 has a pond to one side of the fairway before you get to the green but it's certainly not a carry; it even disappears off to where it'd be OB +/-.

Greens ... only one or two with a small-ish burned up spot today. Otherwise, these were all rolling very consistently. On occasion, the uneven terrain surrounding a particular hole can trick you into seeing a break that is or isn't there ... or just throw you off completely. Not complaining -- just pointing it out.

*** I highly recommend playing this course! It's a great track and has never disappointed me. ***

pro shop staff and starter were awesome. They welcome us with a big smile.

Be ready for a five hour round of golf. Played here twice and both times it has crawled.

Marshals need to get slow moving groups a 3 strikes and you’re out policy

my son and I had a great time playing the course-- each hole is challenging and fun to play

Normally Falconhead is always in great condition and it’s a great day. Today it was pretty terrible. The greens are in AWFUL shape. Yet they still charge you the same green fee. There were mini sand traps on more than half the greens. They look like they were aerated with a tractor plow. There was almost no sense in trying to reading putts. Very disappointing. On top of that we finished the front nine in 2 hours and 5 minutes…would have been faster but a twosome held us up for the first 3 holes and finally let us pass. When we walked off the 9th green we were chastised by an old crotchety marshal for “holding people up and being WAY behind the pace of play…the closest group behind us was 2-3 holes behind. When I told him we had played the front 9 in just over 2 hours and there wasn’t anyone behind us he didn’t apologize or recognize his mistake, he stuck to his guns and said, “well your still way behind the pace of play and you need to speed up.” What a joke. We paid $100 bucks to play this course and expected a $100 course. We got a $40 course at best. Get your **** together Falconhead. We won’t be back anytime soon. Too many nice courses around here that have significantly nicer greens and staff and don’t cost as much.

Falconhead is a nice course. Rain has been good - so fairways are in very good condition. Greens are bumpy because of a recent aeration. While overall condition is good because the abundance of water. There are quite a few areas that require attention in the fairways (clearly indicated as ground under repair) . However some other areas like photos attached don’t seem to be catching the attention of the course manager. A person came by to refill our sand holders without a request. I liked that gesture very much so everyone gets committed to repair divots.

I enjoyed the course overall. The pro shop staff and starter were all very nice. Fairways and rough were in very good condition. Greens and collars were bumpy and had a lot of rough patches under repair. Plenty of water on the course and saw the cart girl at least 3 times. Fun layout but would be very rough from the tips. No gold tees today so played the blue and it was very fair and enabled me to hit all the clubs in my bag. Pace was pretty decent. I would definitely play this track again!

Had a great time playing at falcon head … each hole was challenging and fun to play