Texas Outside review of La Cantera

La Cantera - Resort Course

Texas Outside Rating: 9.2

18 Holes - Golf - Resort
San Antonio
210 558-4653
Website
Stay & Play

Date Played: August 29, 2008
Front Nine Rating: 10.0 Stars
Back Nine Rating: 8.5 Stars
Approximate Weekend Price Range: $75.00 to $140.00
Brief Description:
La Cantera Resort has two outstanding golf courses - the Resort Course and the Palmer Course. Both are daily fee courses and don't require a stay at the Resort - but you should make it a goal to stay at the Resort, enjoy the amenities, great food, outstanding service, and play both courses. The 7021 yard Resort Course was home to the 2006 and 2007 PGA Tour's Valero Texas Open and is about 5 or 6 strokes harder than the Palmer Course. To learn more about the Palmer course read our review.. Both courses and the La Cantera Resort have won a number of accolades ranging from "Best Resort Courses" (Golfweek, 2007) to "Top 100 Golf Resorts" (Conde Nast Traveler, 2007) - and I'm sure it will be one of your "Texas Favorites" as it ours.

The Resort course has been carved out of the rolling hills north of San Antonio and offers some of the most magnificent scenery in Texas - breathtaking panoramic views of San Antonio, the surrounding rolling hills, and Fiesta Texas; more color than you'll see on any course in Texas (reminds us of California and Hawaii courses!); limestone rock outcroppings; live oaks and lush greens/fairways; and running streams. You'll also find rolling fairways, doglegs, elevation changes, and some fun and memorable holes. For example, on number #7, the tee boxes sit upon a tall limestone bluff overlooking the hills and Fiesta Texas and a 316 yard beautiful dogleg left hole with some strategically placed huge white sand bunkers, a small lake, and a small well protected green - they don't get much better or more fun than that!

When we played the greens and fairways were in excellent condition. Most of the fairways are wide and forgiving - so bring out the big dog and let 'er rip, particularly on the first hole which is a 665 yard confidence builder! The greens seemed larger than normal, a lot were oblong, and all were in very good condition. They can be hard to read, so make sure you spend some time putting before you head out. The GPS is excellent with some tips and information on the greens.

Both nines take advantage of the rolling scenic terrain and all are tree lined with no out of bounds and no houses. The back nine is not quite as scenic and is more open and forgiving. You'll enjoy both nines and want to come back again. In 2008, La Cantera has a excellent Two-Some Card that got the rates down as low as $59 on the weekend - a real bargain for a course of this quality!

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.