On Sunday I headed a bit north of Dallas and back to the Lake Texoma area. I was out here in May (shortly after I moved) with a friend and we played Chickasaw Pointe Golf Club on the “oma” side of the lake. This time around I thought I’d try the Texas side and check out Tanglewood Golf Club.

Eventually I’d like to play all the public courses in North Texas, but I haven’t figured out how that looks geographically just yet! Until then I’ll just try to knock off what I can and Tanglewood caught my eye because the design has Arnold Palmer ties.

The course is associated with a resort and it seems that a stay and play package was the only way to access the course for the longest time. However, tee times are now listed on Golfnow and I snagged mine for $27! I suspect the resort’s off-the-beaten-path location has to do with the easier access to play these days.

I got there a bit early for my 1:45pm tee time and hit a few range balls, which were included with the green fee. I saw a few other groups but none that were within a few holes of me! I sailed around in about 2.5 hours and was back home at a reasonable time even with an hour drive.

According to what I can find Arnold Palmer and Ralph Plummer co-designed Tanglewood in the early 1970’s. Usually, I’m a pretty big fan of Palmer designs but I haven’t heard of Plummer until today. Apparently Plummer is a mostly-Texas designer who grew up before much of the earth moving equipment was available.

The design of Tanglewood is very straightforward and probably just as you’d imagine a resort course built in 1971. Most of the holes have a similar look with slight doglegs or slight elevation change. I played the back tees which are 71.1/125/6536. No matter where you play though, the course won’t beat you up! While the fairways are borderline narrow, you can hit it all over and still advance the ball.

There isn’t much to highlight about Tanglewood’s design as it is about as functional and simple as you’ll find! The most interesting thing about Tanglewood, at least in my opinion, are the green complexes. Having played some of Palmer’s newer courses I could see his influence on the bunkering. The bunkers weren’t deep, but they were laid out in Palmer fashion and added some interest to the design.

I don’t think there is a signature hole at Tanglewood, although the 18th is pretty solid. The 18th is a short risk/reward par-5 that doglegs right around water. If you get aggressive and challenge the right side then you can have a shorter club into the green. Or, if you’d rather play the tee shot out to the left that will give you some options. The flag was on the top shelf when I played and wasn’t very easy to access!

The conditions were fine for the price I paid, but generally speaking things were a bit unkempt. In fact, my pictures have the conditions presenting nicer than they were. The fairways were playable but not much more. There was some great sections to them and then some very spotty patches with crabgrass/worn areas. The rough was mostly a mix of grasses.

Putting on the greens at Tanglewood were the best part of my afternoon here! The greens looked very healthy and rolled well at a medium speed. They have fairly minor breaks so you could get hot with the putter. What is interesting about the surfaces is that they are zoysia. I don’t think I’ve putted on zoysia before! They had a bright green color and I didn’t see much grain in them.

The course is a little rough around the edges right now, but it still has plenty of potential with a renovation. If you want to see an early Palmer design then come on out as the cheap afternoon rate makes it attractive.

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