After a few late spring rounds in the Fort Worth area (shortly after I arrived in Texas) I shifted my golf interest to other parts of North Texas to mix things up. Well, this weekend I was back near Fort Worth to check out Hawks Creek Golf Club.

The course is located towards the far edge of the DFW area, but still fairly close to downtown Fort Worth. From what I had read the course seems to get listed as one of the more upscale public options in Fort Worth. That turned out to be my experience – although I actually think it is a muni!

I found a discounted time for $43 on a weekend morning and couldn’t resist booking it! Normally, the green fees go for somewhere around $60 so it was a nice savings. If you want to splurge (an extra $20) then you can get one of those electric golf boards instead of a cart.

Someone in our group tried a golf board and that thing looked like a handful to operate! I’ve never used one before and this person’s experience didn’t sway me towards trying one either. The golf board seemed to work well in a straight line but cornering and stopping were a different story.

While Hawks Creek has a modern feel to it, thanks to a renovation by John Colligan in 2002, the course actually has military ties and dates back prior to Colligan’s work. From what I could find Hawks Creek was previously called Carswell Air Force Base Golf Course. And, the course’s prior military association is one of the most interesting things about it!

Hawks Creek is located a fence line away from Fort Worth Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base (the new name for base). That means you might get to see some some fighter planes taking off and flying around! I saw about four planes total during my round and heard a couple more – pretty impressive stuff.

For the most part Hawks Creek has a fairly natural feel and includes a nice mix of holes with the tiniest bit of elevation change. There are some open and tight shots and ones where you’ll need to work the ball both ways. The yardages vary lots so you’ll end up hitting plenty of different clubs.

The main feature at Hawks Creek is the creek that cuts through the property, and at times it creates some spacing issues. I played the blue tees (71.8/133/6515) and the creek holes are going to be what makes the course a bit tougher. The greens are also fairly demanding.

While the holes seem routed around the creek as best as possible, the creek made for some awkward angles and forced layup areas. For example, the 9th and 18th are par-5’s where the creek cuts across the fairway right around where I wanted to lay up.

Then, the 14th is a wacky par-4 with a forced layup off the tee for most golfers. It almost plays like two long par-3’s as it doglegs left and over the creek. If you are a big hitter then you probably can cut the corner and you won’t find the 14th all that difficult.

I thought the best part about Hawks Creek was the maintenance, which was top-notch! The course was in beautiful shape, even if my pictures make it seem a bit crusty. Even though things have been drying out the crew is still keeping plenty of water on the course.

The fairways had the ball sitting up and the greens were smooth and quick. The bunkers were beautiful and seem to be some of the best that you’ll find at a public course around these parts.

I found Hawks Creek to be one of those “tough par” courses so it doesn’t do much to make you feel good about your game. However, the above average conditioning and chance to see some fighter jets make it worth a play if you haven’t been out here!

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