Saturday was a special day for me! In recent years I’ve set my sights on playing 1,000 courses. I’ve been creeping up on 750 courses for the last couple months and just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for #750!

I mulled over a couple potential weekend trips to celebrate but the timing just didn’t work given the expenses associated with my recent move to Texas. I decided that I’d play it by ear and golf locally. I hoped to play somewhere in East Texas but the weather looked a bit sketchy out that way. So, I headed southwest of Dallas and out to Squaw Valley where the weather looked good.

From where I live it took 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to Squaw Valley, so it isn’t “convenient” to the metroplex. However, from Fort Worth it is a more manageable hour drive to Squaw Valley.

The remote location aside I was very impressed with Squaw Valley! The courses looked great and I found them interesting and playable. Plus, for $45 they were in super shape and an excellent value. Squaw Valley represented the things I appreciate most in a golf course! Needless to say, I ended up happy with my pick for course 750 (and 751).

I started out on the Apache Links course which ultimately turned out to be my favorite course at Squaw Valley. I ended up doing a replay on the Comanche Lakes course late in the afternoon, which I’ll review in my next post.

The Links is the original course at Squaw Valley and was designed by Jeff Brauer, who seems to be a common designer around these parts. The course is defined by an open, links-style front nine and has a clever back nine with a Texas Hill Country vibe to it.

I’m sure some golfers may think the front nine is a bit boring but after playing tree-lined courses for years I thoroughly enjoyed it! There is hardly a tree to be found on the front and it has massive fairways and large greens. There is some mounding and undulation in the greens so you can end up with some tricky up and downs.

The short par-4 7th is probably the best hole on the front nine. From the tips the hole is 362 yards and forces you to play either aggressive or conservative from the tee. A hazard cuts into the fairway to create a split fairway. I managed to find the left fairway and had a short pitch into the green!

The back nine is where the Links hits you with tons of character! The back plays along and across Squaw Creek, which meanders through the property. The 11th kicks off the parade of shots you’ll hit over the creek. All in all, you play across the creek on six holes of the nine holes. You’ll have some layups off the tee and a devilish short iron approach on the 16th, but I found it pretty fair.

Even with all the water in play the rating and slope are reasonable from the blue tees where I played. The blues are 72.6/127/6731.

While I don’t think there is a bad hole on the back nine, the par-3 14th is the signature hole. The 14th is a 165 yard par-3 that is an outstanding hole. It plays across the creek which can come into play if you miss short or left, as everything feeds towards the creek. The creek curves around the green and there is some exposed rock from the creek bed that adds a nice contrast against the green grass and tree-covered hillside. It is a nice spot for some pictures!

The conditions were excellent for the price. The fairways were recently aerated but full and the ball mostly sat up for me. The fairways had some spring to them, which I haven’t adjusted to yet in Texas! The greens were smooth and rolled at a medium pace. I wasn’t in any bunkers but they looked acceptable, just without lots of sand.

If you live in DFW and don’t mind some traveling then make sure to put Squaw Valley on your list, as I think it earns that hidden gem status!

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