I was out at Hackberry Creek less than a year ago. I don't know if they have changed it but could always reach out to my buddies who are still out there if you want.

Hack allows 4 guests at the moment. We just redid our greens, bunkers and clubhouse so it's starting to get packed and not sure if they will continue this policy. They just started the split tee times for the weekend morning times.

Must be an individual club thing, not ClubCorp, because Canyon Creek doesn't allow guests on Sat morns.

Heard Northwood is opening to guests next week. Have not heard much about Dallas national. Have heard of some tension at bent tree regarding what to do via capital improvements. Not sure how it ended up.

On the Bent Tree Capital improvements, the improvement vote passed and all plans are being drawn up to get the improvements started. The struggle right now is we haven't heard much on when things are going to start so people are getting antsy. There was a big split between the older members who were fine with things as is and the younger group who wants upgrades. We shall see what happens over the next several months.

Considering joining Prestonwood. Im actually playing the Creeks on Saturday to check it out.

I travel a bunch for work so it would be nice to have a network of courses to play and entertain customers.

My wife and daughter will live at the pool in the summer so thats also a plus.

I dont play much in the fall because of football but I think being a member will force me to play more which is never a bad thing.

If anyone is around the club and wants to grab a beer on Saturday let me know. We tee off at 1.

The 2019 Avid Golfer review of Dallas Clubs is out:

https://en.calameo.com/read/0047567924d2e15461486

Legend said:

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The 2019 Avid Golfer review of Dallas Clubs is out:

https://en.calameo.com/read/0047567924d2e15461486

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Always interesting to see their crap shoot rankings. Thanks for the link.

I always wonder how much politicking is behind it. Although they seemed pretty defendable this year.

Is it just me or are these rankings laughable? Or maybe I just don't understand what they are judging it on.

The list is extremely political. It's hard not to be when Avid Golfers entire revenue plan is based on ads from people like Club Corp, the Four Seasons and other daily fee courses.

The clubs that want to be high on the list are high on the list. For instance, I wouldn't have put it past Northwood pushing heavily for their rankings after all the work done on their course and facilities. They significantly bumped prices and did a huge assessment. They likely pushed hard on the rankings with AG to justify their investment.

Gleneagles (a CC club) is way to high but they are there because the pay the bills. If you listen to the AG radio show on the ticket on Saturday mornings, it's pretty easy to figure out who they are getting paid by.

The blue blood clubs like DCC, Brook Hollow and PT don't care where they end up on the list.

I personally think Trinity Forest is leaps and bounds better than DN. AG disagrees. However, DN is trying like crazy to hold onto their members while TF doesn't care because they are bankrolled by a billionaire. One rolls out the red carpet to AG while the other allows them to play on a Monday afternoon when the members are not around.

It's how the game is played...

Best Happy Hour is Trinity Forest? Who drives way out there for HH?

Curious to see how everyone's course is holding up after the rain and wind storm a couple weeks ago. I know a lot of clubs lost a lot a trees and didn't know what the plan was for getting all that fixed.

Prestonwood was hammered as you saw from the video. Bent Tree was too. They closed the front 9 but opened the back. Not sure if they are fully opened. Northwood was hit hard. Over 100 trees. Still closed to date. Drove by Royal Oaks... it was trashed. I heard that they don't plan to open until July. Not sure if true.

Heard Lakewood and DCC were fine. I assume PT got hit based on prestonwood and bent tree.

I think the suburban courses were fine.

Heard this from an ROCC member today. Royal Oaks closed at least 6 weeks. They may have to reroute some holes and add bunkers to make it harder. They lost so many trees it's likely to be re-rated (downward) unless they put some teeth into it.

Northwood closed indefinitely. No timetable for reopening.

Bent Tree opened all 18 this past Tuesday.

Timing of storm was particularly unkind to Northwood as they were forced to cancel their member-guest. Heard from a member that they lost 195 trees. Given that their recent renovation included removing a large number of trees, it will be interesting to see how the course looks and plays once it reopens.

Northwood is back open. Royal Oaks still looking at mid-July. I think RO is the only one not back open yet.

I found a nice little hidden gem in Arlington, Shady Valley CC. It is a ClubCorp course. I was able to get in on no initiation fee and half off dues for the first 3 months. It's a tough course. Lots of trees and narrow fairways. Completely changes the way you play your game.

I pay no attention to AG. It's all butt kissing.

Good buddy of mine is at ROCC and always gets so bent out of shape if I ask him if it's flooded. He says it's not that bad.

I emailed Lakewood about their waitlist and it sounds like it would take years to get full membership.

Initiation Fee was quoted at $75k

How does TPC Craig Ranch compare to others like Glen Eagles, Stonebridge, Stonebriar, etc?

First, it is golf only. So, if you are looking for a country club (pool, tennis, etc.), Craig Ranch is not the place. The course is good and you got the TPC benefits, but they've struggled to attract members. It was recently bought by Club Corp so I'm not sure how that is going to impact things. I know several guys that like CR, so it's worth checking out.

How are you liking shady valley so far?

I'm somewhat surprised by the lack of conversation about The Sports Club at Four Seasons. Two pretty decent courses, an unparalleled fitness area, tennis, pools, 20 minutes from Park Cities, not a huge initiation, access and benefits from the rest of the resort. Golf members are pretty great with a wide dispersion of ages and backgrounds. Zero attitude from anyone. Happy hour is usually a good bit of fun.

Negatives: while TPC course gets some resort traffic, it's not too bad. They do have their fair share of corporate events however. Members lounge is pretty pedestrian but the food is a little better than average. I'm currently pissed at them as they have instituted a smoking (cigar) ban for the outdoor fire pits. The networking is no where near as robust as DCC or Brookhollow

I think Four Seasons is a great facility. If you want an elite club in the heart of Dallas, you have DCC, Brookhollow and Northwood (all $100k+ and you can debate the pros-cons of each). After that, you have Royal Oaks and Lakewood. You really need to live east of downtown to enjoy Lakewood (IMO). Four Seasons is great if you don't mind the distance. Bent Tree is really your other good option at that price point and distance. It will be interesting to see what the redo at Bent Tree does to shake things up. Prior to the redo, I think TPC is nicer than Bent Tree. If you lived northwest of Dallas, I'd pick TPC. If you are Far North Dallas or Plano, then Bent Tree has a better location.

If you worked in Las Colinas or wanted to live close to DFW airport, TPC Four Seasons would be a great option for the money. The extra amenities like fitness, tennis and the resort are also very nice. Even if you live Park Cities or Preston Hollow (or work downtown), Four Seasons is a great option for the money. The teaching pros are good and the practice facilites are really good too.

DMN Texas 2020

Dallas Morning News 2020 top Texas courses. Dallas national on top, followed by PT, Brook hollow, northwood, Maridoe and trinity forest (of the Dallas corses).

Wouldn't take these ratings too seriously. As stated previously I work with a few guys who were and still are members at DN. DN kisses up to course raters if you look at Golfweek's top 100 modern DN is down on the list. I do not like Tom Fazio garbage. Also might add the new renovation they did to the clubhouse looks like a Holiday In. God who let their wife design that?!? I stand by my statement DN is not a top 100 course or club.

Also do not think PT should be ranked that high. I am a member at Lochinvar in Houston but PT and Lochinvar are "newer" courses and I think the all male allure makes a them more appealing than what they really are.

Don't know how they can rank Brook Hollow and Shady Oaks when they are being renovated since last year.

Best course in Texas IMO is Whispering Pines and Austin Golf Club is awesome underrated

Just wondering if anyone had any 2021 thoughts on the state of Dallas clubs? Hear Bent Tree is going to have a $30 million clubhouse but a lot of different thoughts from members. Brook hollow re-do is supposed to be nice. Anything else?

I would be interested to hear any updates as well. The wife and I are about to start to looking into getting on at Lakewood or ROCC.

FWIW, Avid Golfer came out with 2021 Private Club Rankings. I know it's not the gospel and people always have their own opinions, but there is always some interesting stuff in this annual write up.

Plus, this thread is dead, while Ft Worth and Houston ones are active. Can't have that...

https://en.calameo.com/myavidgolfer/read/00475679293cd640a1867

Legend said:

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Just wondering if anyone had any 2021 thoughts on the state of Dallas clubs? Hear Bent Tree is going to have a $30 million clubhouse but a lot of different thoughts from members. Brook hollow re-do is supposed to be nice. Anything else?

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Northwoods renovations where completed a few years ago and are amazing. Royal Oaks and Lakewood are both still good all around options. Brook Hollow just re-opened in the Fall after being completely renovated. Supposedly they went so all out that they even added sub-terrain cooling system for its Bentgrass greens which is crazy (that's something you see in Major hosting quality courses).

Curious to hear about Bent Tree. I've been out there 3 times in 2020 and it was a great course. What thoughts are you hearing ? (they don't like the club house design or they wish the money was allocated more towards the course ?)

560ti said:

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Legend said:

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Just wondering if anyone had any 2021 thoughts on the state of Dallas clubs? Hear Bent Tree is going to have a $30 million clubhouse but a lot of different thoughts from members. Brook hollow re-do is supposed to be nice. Anything else?

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Northwoods renovations where completed a few years ago and are amazing. Royal Oaks and Lakewood are both still good all around options. Brook Hollow just re-opened in the Fall after being completely renovated. Supposedly they went so all out that they even added sub-terrain cooling system for its Bentgrass greens which is crazy (that's something you see in Major hosting quality courses).

Curious to hear about Bent Tree. I've been out there 3 times in 2020 and it was a great course. What thoughts are you hearing ? (they don't like the club house design or they wish the money was allocated more towards the course ?)

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I've heard there were a decent amount of defections from Bent Tree when they did the rebuild. But, the people that stayed are excited about the new clubhouse. It's going to be nice. Have also heard they want to jack the membership price to compete with Northwood and DCC, but I think that will be tough. I think it's a great club that will compete for members in the Royal Oaks price point. Bent Tree has a really good membership imo and most people seem pretty happy there.

Legend said:

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I've heard there were a decent amount of defections from Bent Tree when they did the rebuild. But, the people that stayed are excited about the new clubhouse. It's going to be nice. Have also heard they want to jack the membership price to compete with Northwood and DCC, but I think that will be tough. I think it's a great club that will compete for members in the Royal Oaks price point. Bent Tree has a really good membership imo and most people seem pretty happy there.

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Yeah Bent Tree is great. I love the neighborhood, in my opinion the late 70s and 80s houses where the last good era of custom built houses (90s custom houses is when it became the brown/red brick cookie cutter 2 story builds and 2000 onwards has too much of the fake wannabe LA vibe).

Bent tree definately has more of a chill vibe, it's not like DCC or Lakewood in which you have alot of people that are mostly there just to be seen. It's got more of a tight knit feel, not a flashy look at me