Been looking for different courses around DFW to play, and we took in the Irving Golf Club this past weekend. I think it might be on the short list for best value in area. A 10 o'clock round was $60, the carts had GPS, and the range was pretty nice.

The course was in pretty good shape. Got to test out the traps a couple of times and they had excellent sand. It was more of an open, links style with some pot bunkers and whatnot. Some holes ran along the Trinity for some water holes, so it was a good mix.

Greens and tee boxes were in good shape. No houses or streets to negotiate. Pretty decent views. A couple of short par 5s (468, 471. A couple of challenging par 3s (199, 176). Pretty short at 6141 from the blues. Definitely getable if you're a good golfer at 69.5/120, which probably explains why I shot a PR.

Biggest downside was that it was backed up like crazy, but I get that. Best weather in a while so everyone was wanting to play. Round took way too long, but the weather was perfect and the drinks were cold, so I wasn't eager to get out of there.

Will definitely play there again.

Irving is very solid. Agreed that it's very good value. Retains a lot of water. If there's rain it stays pretty wet for a while.

Where was the pin on #18 when you played it? If it's up top it's a cool hole. If it's down low it can range from "quite an adventure" to "this is freakin stupid."

I'm pretty sure it was was up top. There were a ton of false fronts with close pin positions where I had to take more club and try to play to the middle and put to the edge. I will say a lot of the greens were pretty big. Like 40 yards deep, big. Between that and the open and hard winter ground, there was a lot of texas wedge getting through around out there.

Really fun course, but I've seen it be pretty slow. Last time I played we were one of the first groups off, and I still had to quit at 9 because I was going to meet my wife at 1230

I haven't played out there since it was Twin Wells. Is it still a fun layout?

It's a fun layout but, unfortunately, it seems the secret is out since they redid the joint. Really long rounds out there.