The next course up on my short visit to Wichita was Tex Consolver Golf Course, another of the Wichita municipal courses. I worked the early shift on Monday and then headed out to Tex Consolver for a 4:30 P.M. tee time. Tee times are hard to get at the Wichita city courses, especially for a single. Most of the available times are for 2 to 5 people with a few single spots, depending on the day.
I think I was supposed to be paired up with a threesome, but a foursome rolled up around the same time I did and let me go. That was nice. Still, it was another busy afternoon with many groups out playing. I walked – which cost only $25 – and made it around in a bit over four hours, not bad. Thankfully the walk here was much easier than yesterday at Auburn Hills.
Tex Consolver turned out to be another awesome value course in this part of Kansas. It was in very good shape, although not quite as good as Auburn Hills, which was mint. The fairways here are bermuda and had some sporadic patches of winterkill. Nothing that affected play, as you’ll see in the pictures. The ball sat nicely. The tees had good coverage. The greens were full and rolled well, just a medium pace.
The course is located next to the airport on a mostly flat piece of land, with many links and prairie style golf holes. The course opened in 1970 and was designed by Bob Dunning. Overall, the routing and course features are fairly simple. It is a no-frills kind of place. For example, the bunkers are flat, most greens slope gently from back to front, and the tee boxes are long strips. I’m sure this may bother some people, but for $25 I have no complaints.
The biggest challenge about Tex Consolver is its length. There shouldn’t be anything else too difficult about it, except for the wind on a windy day. The blue tees top out at 7,361 yards while even the white tees play over 6,800 yards. I moved back to the blue tees on the second hole because I wanted the full experience (I’m a glutton for punishment). There are five par-4’s over 430 yards. The shortest par-5 is 545 yards while the longest – the 13th hole – reaches 600 yards. The par-3’s are long as well. The firm ground allowed me to have more mid irons into the greens than I expected, so that was nice.
The first six holes aren’t very exciting, but I started to like the course more once I got to the 7th. The 7th and 9th are sharp dogleg left holes that need a good drive to avoid the water. I’d probably say the 9th – a 433 yard par-4 – is the signature hole. The back nine has more trees lining the holes and some gentle up and down, so I enjoyed it more. Plus, it was another evening of great lighting and the long shadows made the course quite pretty.
Tex Consolver turned out to be my kind of course. It is affordable, playable and unpretentious – I can see why it is popular with the locals. The course isn’t flashy and won’t any awards, but on a nice evening it was a great place to be out golfing. Tex Consolver is a step below Auburn Hills, but still worth playing if in Wichita.
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):