Texas Outside review of La Cantera -- Palmer Course

La Cantera -- Palmer Course

Texas Outside Rating: 9.3

18 Holes - Golf - Public
San Antonio
210-558-2365
Website
Stay & Play

Date Played: August 11, 2008
Front Nine Rating: 9.5 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 10.0 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $50.00 to $125.00
Where To Get Coupons: GolfQ.com

Brief Description:
La Cantera's Palmer Course is clearly one of the best courses in Texas - very scenic, fun to play, excellent condition, lots or variety, and somewhat challenging. They don't get much better than the Palmer Course which is evidenced by all the awards that both La Cantera courses have one - from Best Resort Course (GOLFWEEK, 2007), Top 100 Golf Resorts (Conde Nast Traveler, 2007), to 75 Best Golf Resorts in North America (Golf Digest, 2006).

The Palmer Course is sculptured out of and on-top of some of the highest rolling hills just north of San Antonio. As you play along the ridge-line on the back nine you have magnificent panoramic views of the countryside, San Antonio, and the Resort and it's hard to focus on watching the ball when you have such fantastic scenery. Natural streams, dramatic waterfalls, magnificent live oak trees, and limestone rock outcroppings further enhance the beauty of the Palmer Course. In addition to the natural beauty, the course is in excellent condition, very well manicured, and landscaped with lots of colorful plants.

With five sets of tee boxes, you can find a slope and rating that fits your game. The course is 6926 yards from the tips, fairly wide open if you can control your shots, and challenging but fair. The Palmer course is the harder of the two courses (slope of 142 from the tips!) with 4 blind shots, lots of ups and downs, and smaller well protected greens. You'll find a little bit of everything that makes golf fun on the Palmer course. You're going to love the finishing hole - it is the sad conclusion to a very fun round. But don't fret, the 19th hole is outstanding with a deck that overlooks the 9th, 18th, and the surrounding hills - you may not want to leave.

When we played in August 2008, the greens were in near perfect condition. The TIF Eagle greens seemed a little small, about average speed, and were difficult to read. The fairways were also perfect and most had some slope. Make sure you study the hole and read the excellent GPS tips prior to teeing off if you want to score well.

Both La Cantera courses are open to the public and don't require you to stay at the resort. However, if you want a fun and enjoyable weekend, than stay at the resort and play both courses. If you're a local, you should check in the La Cantera Two-Some Card which gets a round down as low as $59 (in 2008). Both of the La Cantera Courses should be an your must play list.

Here's How Texas Outside Determines the Scorecard Rating

The Texas Outside rating scale ranges from 1 to 10 – a perfect 10 course would be something like this: links along a cliff overlooking the Pacific ocean and bordered by tall trees; lush fairways on rolling hills with lots of natural hazards; water (which is crystal clear) on most of the holes; immaculate greens (but they are undulating and tough); lots of variety and character (each hole is completely different and includes blind shots, elevation changes, doglegs, and significant challenges); perfectly manicured traps with the whitest and prettiest sand you’ve ever seen; a nice club house with great food and a 19th hole; a GPS; plenty of beverage carts or your own cooler and ice; and it only costs $40 bucks! What this means is that you probably won’t find any 10s in Texas – try Cabo San Lucas, Pebble Beach, or some of the Hawaii courses!
Texas Outside rates courses on the following:

Beauty – tall trees, rolling hills, beautiful houses, waterfalls, and similar stuff would score high; a 1 would be flat, bushes or cactus instead of trees, and some grass but mostly weeds

Difficulty – a straight, 300 yard par 4 with no traps or hazards, no out of bounds or water would probably get a 1; if it is a 460 yard par 4 over two ravines, with water along one side, natural hazards on the other, strategically placed traps or that dreaded tree right in the middle of the fairway, we are talking a 10.

Variety – what would you give a course where all the holes looked and played exactly the same (“I thought we just played that hole!”); were side-by-side, which is good for finding or dodging other people’s balls, but not much fun; and you can see the flag from every tee box? That’s right, it gets a 1.

Fun Scale – a 10 is where you walk off the course and say “now that was fun” and you can’t wait to get back, or you immediately turn around and play another 18 holes

Value – a 5 is $50 to $60, a 10 is $20 to $30, and 1 is $200 or so – of course all of this is dependent upon how you liked the course. For example, if a run down, boring municipal course, with six players on each hole was only $10; it would still get a value rating of 1.

Condition – this one’s pretty easy – what condition are the fairways. A 10 commands very lush perfectly manicured fairways, compared to a 1, which has fire ants, weeds, and more dirt than grass!

Condition of Greens and Difficulty – very hard to read greens with lots of undulation and tough pin placement, rate very high on the difficulty scale. Condition is self-explanatory.

All of the above determines the overall score for the golf course. In other words, we like courses that are pretty, fun, very challenging with a lot of variety, and fairways and greens in excellent condition – all for $40. We also tend to play the courses that are affordable for the masses, which means in the $30 to $80 range. We rate hard and we haven’t found a 10 in Texas yet – don’t worry we haven’t given up and we’re still looking.