On Sunday I headed a little south of town to check out Old Brickyard Golf Course. I scored another deal of ~$20 for a mid-morning time – but even the normal rate here shouldn’t be much ($35 to $45).

I’ve found a few gems in recent weeks and from my research I hoped Old Brickyard might be another! What made the course so interesting to me is that it is built along some old quarries. Ultimately, the course didn’t make it to that “gem” status, but the setting is as unique as you’ll probably find in North Texas.

Old Brickyard occupies land with some elevation change, thanks to an old brick company’s business here years ago! Apparently the ingredients for bricks were excavated here and the course plays around the edges of the old pits. Overall, I found it to be a pretty neat setting and the course has a cool brick theme with quite a few bricks on display throughout the property.

As soon as I parked the car I was drawn to what I’d later find out are the 9th, 10th and 11th holes, which can be seen from the parking lot. A large lake filled what I’m assuming is one of the old quarries and these holes border the lake. The parking lot and clubhouse sit at a high point (on a bit of a bluff) so you have a great look out over everything.

I think the 10th is Old Brickyard’s most interesting hole. It is a long par-5 that doglegs almost ninety degrees around the lake. The drive needs to be played almost into the hillside to the left of the narrow fairway which will allow the drive to skip right towards the fairway. If you land the drive on the right half of the fairway then you risk bouncing into the water! From there the layup and third shot will need to carry edges of the lake.

If you throw in the par-3 8th – Old Brickyard’s signature hole – then you have an awesome four hole stretch (the 8th thru the 11th)! The 8th is a 207 yard par-3 that plays across another lake. It has a great look and forces you to hit a solid long iron or hybrid. Even without playing a ton of courses in the area I’d say this stretch is as good as you are likely to find in North Texas for the sub $50 green fee.

The remainder of the holes are located more towards the edge of the property and while still fairly interesting to play, they aren’t up to the standards of the 8th through the 11th. The rest of the holes feature some elevation change, narrow fairways and have a bit of a links look to them.

While Old Brickyard isn’t a long course (6,293 yards as a par-71) it has a target feel to it. A couple times I had to guess and hope where things opened up, and I wasn’t always right! The rating is 70.8 and the slope is 127, however the course felt tougher than that to me with all the trouble lurking.

The overall conditions were decent with the tees, fairways and greens in very nice shape. Outside of those areas the rough had lots of crabgrasss, bunkers were thin with weeds in them and there was a decent amount of hardpan. Apparently the course had a landslide earlier this year which can be seen on the 6th hole.

If you play here know that there is a quite a bit of funk to the layout. The 9th is a goofy par-4 with a blind tee shot that you really need to play over a huge mound. Still, I think the uniqueness of the layout overshadows any of the course’s shortcomings. There are plenty of other better courses out there but if you like a course with a story (as I do) then I don’t think you’ll regret a round at Old Brickyard.

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