After an exhausting – but fun – six weeks on the road I had to find some energy for my round at Cowboys Golf Club on Sunday afternoon. I got back to Dallas around 3:30am, got a bit of sleep and headed over to Grapevine for my round.
Back in May I purchased an iDealGolfer.com certificate for a round at Cowboys ($100 which included food and non-alcoholic drinks) and Sunday was my last day to use it. I forgot about it while I was on my trip, but thankfully everything worked out and it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon for golf – mid 80’s and not a cloud in the sky.
Cowboys is usually regarded as one of the premier public courses in DFW and is ranked among the top public courses in Texas. So, needless to say, I was excited to finally check it out! Plus, I ended up with a great deal to play here which always makes me happy. The normal rate is around $200, so it can be an expensive round if you aren’t careful.
As the name indicates, Cowboys is named after the Dallas Cowboys NFL team and the course claims to be the first and only NFL-themed course in the world. I don’t follow the NFL so I probably didn’t fully appreciate the theme, but if you like the Cowboys I’m sure you will enjoy the nice touches found throughout the property. For example, a merchandise store acts as the proshop and stone markers near many tee boxes share facts about the team’s history.
As for the course itself, I found it quite flamboyant – probably just like you’d expect from an NFL team. Jeff Brauer, who has done a lot of good work in the area, designed the course and the result is a visually stunning golf course in the plain landscape of North Texas. Cowboys is highlighted by beautiful bunkering, a bit of elevation change and many pretty trees. As you’ll see in the pictures the aesthetic appeal – especially on a blue sky day – is probably the course’s best quality.
Similar to yesterday’s round I started out playing the silver tees (72.6/136/6563) but moved back to the blacks (74.7/138/7017) halfway through the round. I labeled all my pictures from the silvers for simplicity. Except for a few holes on the back nine, I found that the layout allowed for adequate space to miss a shot. The long and narrow par-5 13th (594 yards with a forced carry over a creek) is the only hole I feel should be opened up some. I found the toughest part about playing here was picking the proper lines to avoid the bunkers and then trying to negotiate the seriously contoured green complexes.
The two most memorable holes at Cowboys are probably the 3rd and 4th. The 3rd is a mid-length par-3 that plays over water. The green is cut into a hillside and is maybe 40+ yards wide but no more than 10 yards deep. So, picking the right club and hitting it solid is imperative to avoiding the water. Then, the 4th is a 366 yard par-4 with the Cowboys’ star in the middle of the fairway. The tee is elevated before reaching a wacky green with false edges.
The conditioning at Cowboys was top-notch, as you’d expect for a premium price. There were some dry spots and that 13th hole had sections re-grassed, but everything else was cut tight and near perfect. The fairways and tees had great color to them and the greens rolled smoothly, at what I’d call a medium pace.
For the right price (~$100 IMO) I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend a round at Cowboys. If you are traveling to DFW then it is a course you’ll want to put high on your list. My only gripe is that the design seemed a bit repetitive – mounded fairways, heavily contoured greens and a sea of gigantic bunkers.
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):