I'm sure someone here has played it. I'm playing for the first time Wednesday and I'm pretty pumped. Always heard a lot of good things from that course.

Any tips for a first timer?

Where's my invite?

Find the fairway off the tee (it's tight, don't be afraid to hit less than driver) and play to the center of the green on most of the holes. Also take your camera, some great views of the Brazos.

Sugar Tree is a gem. It is one of my favorite courses. I cannot think of a course in Texas that is cut into the land better than Sugar Tree. It is a special place.

Play from the back. It is only about 6700 yards from there. And hit the ball straight. Very straight.

One of my favorites around but it's a ways out there. We are actually playing it this Friday.

Agree with Alaska - some of your tee shots are very narrow. I played it last summer and really enjoyed it.

Worked at sugar tree in high school and played it a ton on the golf team. Must be able to work the ball both ways and hit a punch shot. Not the longest course by any means but it defends itself just fine. Designed by the same person who built split rail. Have fun and try to hit 14 fairways, I have only done it once there.

I have played there many, many times.Always a favorite. Last Monday, they were working on holes 14-15 - they were power washing mud from the fairways. 14 played as a very short par three, and 15 had equipment in the fairway, but was playable. Greens were great.

Is 14 the par 5 thay runs down the Brazos with the drainage ditch in front if the tees? I imagine thay hole has caught some flooding.

Yes, you could tell where water and debris had covered the small bridge leading from the tee box. It didn't look too serious.

Really enjoyed playing Sugartree today. Only problem I had was that the tee boxes are quite hairy. Greens were fast and true, fairways were nice as well. Somehow I only lost one ball...always a plus!

Wish I would have shot a better score, but I think I'll go back again. Definitely a hidden gem in central/west Texas!

Just got done playing, man that was an ass whoopin. Course looks great though.

I had a friend that worked there as the Super back when the front 9 was complete, and the back 9 was still under construction. We lived a couple of hours away but would go visit our friends there fairly regular, and when we did, we would typically go play the course. The owner was Phil Lumsden at the time, and as someone mentioned, I believe he sold Sugar Tree and then built Split Rail. He lived in the big house on the course that looked like a barn, white with green trim from what I remember. From what I understand he had a computer company, or a computer software company, that's what funded the golf course/real estate investments type business initially. He would play with us some. Could be a real tool to my buddy in regard to being his boss, but was always pretty nice fun to hang around when I was down there. I guess there was a lot more testoserone flowing back then because we always played from the tips. I haven't played there in 23 years or so.

I meant to reply to this before you played the course last week. Tough course. The par 5 on the back that runs along the Brazos has, or had, a sprinkler head that said "NO WAY" instead of having a yardage number on it. There was a tree in the middle of one of the fairways on one of the holes that guarded the green, they put a hangman's noose up in that tree. Seemed like most of the greens were not visible from the tee boxes. Lots of dog legs. The par 3 that the road going to the club house crosses it's path was one of those you pretty much had to land it and stick it on the green, or you were in trouble, like un-playable. Course is not for sissies.

One of the locals, and very first few to actually buy a lot on the course before any of the houses out there were built(not sure if he ever built a house out there or not) was a good friend of my buddy. This guy had an air boat, and we would fish the Brazos for catfish. Once we caught a big mess of little fingerling catfish out of the river and stocked the bigger water bodies on the course with them. Had some good times out there.

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Just got done playing, man that was an ass whoopin. Course looks great though.

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Yep. It always is.

Went out there once with one of those ProudAggie types that will do anything to make sure you know how good they are and how far they hit it. When he found out it was 6700 yards he started laughing. So did we. And we continued to laugh at him all the way thru the round as he thru crooked number after crooked number at his scorecard.

Actually, its not quite as hard as, say RamRock or something. Once you get the hang of it and figure out where to hit it you can score out there. It just takes a while.

Beautiful place. Its a masterpiece.