- Follow us on:
From our Directory of the most recommended golf courses
Avery Ranch Golf Club
Revise Course Description
ShareThis
Rating: 2.9
Pace of Play
3
Greens
2
Service
2
Value
3
Design/Layout
3
Avery Ranch is in a real estate development in northwest Austin, and was designed by a former Nicklaus designer Andy Raugust. The course is a good alternative to the higher priced resort courses in town, and is always rated as one of Austin's better public access courses. It was built over rolling Hill Country land with streams, lakes and even limestone caverns throughout the course. It plays to 7121 yard from the championship tees and is a challenging design. The greens are good sized Tif Eagle, and the fairways Bermuda, and bunkering is moderate, but there are some huge complexes. The course is usually in good shape and is a fair price.
Published by: paulb
Posted by: Golfcom
May 5th, 2011
It was cart path only and water-filled sand bunkers at Austin's Avery Ranch golf course today after a night and morning of heavy rains. The course was very wet; that's the bad news. The good news is that only a few groups were out there, so I could savor a trip around a nice routing with many interesting views, some challenging shots and some brutal pin positions. And greens fees were incredibly reasonable at just $52, cart included. I'll report on the course in detail in an upcoming issue of HomeOnTheCourse, but here are a few highlights. In launching me out onto the five-year-old routing, conceived by Nicklaus Design protégé Andy Raugust, the friendly starter Gil warned me to stay on the right side of the fairways on the front nine. The indigenous mesquite trees block shots that are just a little left of the fairways, and on the 2nd hole, after my slightly hooked drive ended up on the left edge of the fairway, I had to lay up and around the trees from 135 yards. Always listen to the starter. I was struck by how many pin positions were tucked just over steep sand bunkers at greenside. On the very short par 4 16th, which plays to just 300 yards from the middle tees (6,229 yards overall), I had a lob wedge from 55 yards over a sand trap to a front pin position on an elevated green. I thought I hit the lob perfectly, and with spin. But the front pin was on a slope that tilted from front to back; my ball hit about three feet short of the pin and rolled 25 feet past. With a lob wedge! I suppose such short par 4s should be tough around the greens, but the positioning of a pin should never be such that birdie is impossible. The greens at Avery Ranch were wonderful to putt if difficult to read. A few times I misread putts I was sure of when I lined them up. I thought the greens were a little slow. When I mentioned this in the pro shop after the round, the two assistant pros insisted the stimpmeter readings were around 10 and invited me to the 18th green for a test with the stimp stick. (They had some time on their hands because of the weather.) The reading was 9.6. Close enough. Par 5s were all challenging and most required three good shots to get to the putting surface. The par 3s were all approachable and a nice variety of short (145 yards) and long (205 yards) from the middle tees. Of the testing par 4s, my favorite design was #7, an uphill dogleg left that played to only 360 yards from my tees. The drive needed to carry 180 yards to clear a ravine. Left of the fairway was wilderness stroke-and-distance territory, while a trap at the elbow of the dogleg 235 yards out was within reach. Good players would probably opt for 3-wood or less. Then the approach had to clear a creek, a rock wall and a bunker to get anywhere close to the pin. It was a wonderfully designed short par 4, one of many nice holes at the fine Avery Ranch Golf Club. At Golf Community Reviews
Flag Content
Posted by: JohnG
Apr 25th, 2011
What a let down. Course has a lot of potential and from what I've heard used to be in great shape. Good layout but the only thing in good shape is the fairways. Rough and anywhere out of the fairway is full of weeds. Greens were aerated 4 weeks before I played it and were destroyed during aeration. I will say I know this course took a big hit in the floods of last spring and a few holes are still recovering from that. They also supposedly went bankrupt. If someone would put some money back into this one it would be one of the best around.
Flag Content
Posted by: GeorgeM
Jul 24th, 2010
Golf Community Reviews It was cart path only and water-filled sand bunkers at Austin's Avery Ranch golf course today after a night and morning of heavy rains. The course was very wet; that's the bad news. The good news is that only a few groups were out there, so I could savor a trip around a nice routing with many interesting views, some challenging shots and some brutal pin positions. And greens fees were incredibly reasonable at just $52, cart included. I was struck by how many pin positions were tucked just over steep sand bunkers at greenside. The greens at Avery Ranch were wonderful to putt if difficult to read. A few times I misread putts I was sure of when I lined them up. I thought the greens were a little slow. When I mentioned this in the pro shop after the round, the two assistant pros insisted the stimpmeter readings were around 10 and invited me to the 18th green for a test with the stimp stick. Par 5s were all challenging and most required three good shots to get to the putting surface. The par 3s were all approachable and a nice variety of short (145 yards) and long (205 yards) from the middle tees. Of the testing par 4s, my favorite design was #7, an uphill dogleg left that played to only 360 yards from my tees. Overall, fun and reasonably priced course to play, a good choice for the Austin area.
Flag Content