Wednesday at Horseshoe Bay's Ram Rock course.

I took a few days off this last week to drive out to Horseshoe Bay Resort so that I could (what else?) play a few rounds of golf in the Texas heat and humidity. With three courses to conquer I figured this was as good of a place to head out to as anywhere else in the area. Horseshoe Bay is west of Austin and pretty much has the resort, some homes and little else. Seems like a good place to get away for a while.

I played four rounds while I was there. On Wednesday I played the Ram Rock course, shooting my best score of the week with a 75. While it wasn't easy, in hindsight I probably played a tee box too short if judged solely by length. Though it was a par 71 track the tees I played was under 6000 yards so maybe it really isn't quite so bad. The next tee would have been over 6400 yards and while that should be doable a few of the holes would have measured out to be pretty long. Also, the rating for those tees was pretty stout (73.2/135) and since it was my first round I wasn't really looking to beat myself up so soon.

No matter the length I did play pretty well overall. My first few drives were solid enough but I picked the wrong lines a few times, blocking myself from the greens by hitting through the fairways. Still, I managed to get the ball around or even on the greens and shot 37 on the front. Here are a few pics of the holes I encountered :

The par-4 first hole

The island green of the par-3 fourth hole

The green of the par-5 seventh hole

The par-3 eighth hole

The approach shot to the narrow par-5 ninth hole

Making the turn, the tenth hole definitely took driver out of my hands, as shown below :

The view from the tenth tee

The elevated tenth green

 The hole is only about 300 yards but from what I could figure out the fairway ended at around 200 yards out. I decided on 4-iron and managed to get my ball down there to within gap wedge range. The pin was up close to edge of the green but I actually managed to get my ball within 10 feet and make the putt for my first birdie of the trip, putting me at even par for the day. Of course, I can't stand success...

The view from the 11th tee

The 11th is a par-4 dogleg left that I just could not get comfortable on. The landing area is blind from the tee and I wasn't exactly sure how far to the left I could go. With the water lurking left I didn't want to cut it too close and eventually I just put up a flare to the right and into the trees. I was forced to punch out and managed to get on the green from there for a bogey. It could have been worse.

A par on the par-3 12th was followed by a bogey-5 on the 13th. Two more pars later I found myself on the 16th tee at 2-over for the day. The tee shot was uphill and the hole was a dogleg right, that much I knew for sure. From what I could see the line looked to be to hit my drive toward the corner of the dogleg, using a tree there as a likely target. I hit it pretty well, just left of said tree, and saw my ball land up on top of the hill. Assuming I was either on the left side of the fairway or just off I felt good about the shot.

I never found the ball.

The fairway ended up being a sharper turn than it looked and that tree was closer than I thought... at least I think that has to be true. There was a lateral hazard to the left so I can only assume my ball went through the fairway and took a hike in there. I dropped, punched out and eventually took a double bogey. Quite a letdown when made a pretty decent swing off the tee. That is one of the drawbacks of playing unfamiliar courses though.

I did finish out the round with closing pars to score that 75 so at least I managed to keep it together to do that. Still, I wonder what could have been. The 16th hole was a good looking hole but with all of the ball hunting I forgot to get a picture of the green. I did manage to get these though :

The par-3 12th hole

The uphill approach to the 18th green

Looking back from the back of the 18th green (and a nice look at my ball on the green, I missed the putt for birdie though)

I really liked Ram Rock, though the closing hole was pretty bland to be honest. The hole plays a bit uphill and does have out-of-bounds to the left but the fairway seemed pretty wide and just didn't seem terribly imposing or attractive compared to what was before it. Despite that I still think Ram Rock was my favorite of the three and not because of my score either. The greens were probably the best of the lot, that helped also.

A nice storm is rolling through Cypress as I type this so I think I'll break Horseshoe Bay up into two or three entries. We'll cover Slick Rock and the two rounds on Apple Rock later in the week!