Since I got done quickly with my first round, I went for a bonus round. It didn’t take me long to get from Winfield to Wichita, about 45 minutes, and once I got into town I had a couple courses on my list to try. I stopped first at Tex Consolver Golf Course, but they couldn’t get me out until around 7 P.M. Next, I tried Auburn Hills Golf Course and thankfully, they had an opening for me at 5:10 P.M.

Tex Consolver and Auburn Hills are two of Wichita’s four city courses. Out of the four they looked like the best choices and I came away impressed with both. They are excellent municipal courses and I’d even go as far as saying that Auburn Hills is a hidden gem. More on Tex Consolver can be found in the next post.

Auburn Hills is a Perry Dye design that is located about 15 minutes west of downtown Wichita. The course, which opened in 2001, is on the outskirts of town and located in a newer development. The homes are set back from the course on the front nine and about half of the front plays through a natural area, so it is a nice setting. The holes on the back don’t have as much separation between the homes and its setting isn’t anything special. The residents were handy with the firecrackers on the holiday weekend which made focusing on golf quite fun! Not.

The layout at Auburn Hill is nothing like a typical municipal course. There are some interesting design features, a number of signature holes, good bunkering and plenty of fescue grass. I thought the course had a great look, especially with the lighting/shadows with my late tee time. If you took this course and put it in a major metro area the green fee would easily push $100. My green fee was $40.

I played the blue tees which are 73.6/138/6695 and Auburn Hills is difficult. It can play long – up to 7,169 yards – and there is a lot of danger, with many demanding holes. The fairways are pretty generous but if missing in the wrong spots, the scores will up quickly. The 3rd and 4th are a couple holes that play in a natural area and require forced carries over trouble. The 3rd is a double dogleg with the green hidden in the trees and the 4th is a long par-3 with a big carry over water.

I think the 7th, 12th or 18th could all be signature holes. They were my favorite holes on the course. The 7th is a 153 yard par-3 that plays over a creek. The green is small and angles from front right to back left so getting the yardage right is important. The 12th is another par-3 (181 yards) that plays about a club downhill and had a great look with the low angle of the sun. The green slopes from left to right with a lower tier on the right half. The 18th is a long closing par-5 with another tiered green and water to the right.

The maintenance was fantastic as well. The tees and fairways are zoysia and had great coverage. The ball sat up nicely. The greens are bent grass and were a medium-fast pace with true rolls. The rough was thick around the greens and took some touch to get a chip shot close.

Auburn Hills turned out to be the surprise course of the trip. My only complaint is that the design felt a little over sculptured and overdone. Still, for the price and the quality, it gets my vote as a public course to check out if you are in Wichita. If you are expecting a ho-hum muni – like I did – then be prepared to be impressed.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):