Holiday Hills Country Club

Review of Holiday Hills Country Club in Mineral Wells

Holiday Hills Country Club plays up and down some gently rolling hills just minutes from downtown Mineral Wells and a couple minutes from Mineral Wells State Park.  The course is suitable for golfers of all skill levels – from the tips the low handicapper golfers will face a slope and rating of 69 and 123 and 6169 yards (a little short by today’s standards, but still enough to keep you focused) and high handicappers, beginners, and women/seniors/kids will enjoy one of the other two tee boxes with yardages of 5002 and 5872.

The front nine of Holiday Hills Country Club is fairly straightforward and traditional with some uphill and downhill shots, a couple dog legs, 9 bunkers you need to avoid, water on 5 holes plus a creek (if it rains) that crosses the fairway on two holes, and some side by side holes where if you spray the ball you’ll still have a fair recovery shot but watch out for the golfers coming the other way,. Our favorite holes on this nine which has 3 par 3s, 3 par 5s, and 3 par 4 are:

• #1 is a 310 yard dog leg right that offers a good risk reward shot for the brave of heart who want to try and fly the trees to shorten the hole – survive that and you’ll have a shorter shot to a challenging raised green with a bunker guarding it’s right side
• #4 is a fun and demanding par 3 with an elevated tee shot over the lake to a green with little room for error

We liked the back nine (par 35) more than the front because it seemed a little more challenging, had more character, two long par 3s, and was home to a couple great holes like:

• #11 where you can pull out the big dog and let-er-rip from the tee box – the fairway and landing zone are wide open, but after that you’ll have a demanding uphill shot to the green
• #13 is short at 323 yards from the tips but very challenging with an intimidating carry over the lake from the two back tees that also offers you the opportunity to try and carry more of the lake to shorten the hole and your drive needs to be accurate to give you a shot at the green that is blocked with a cluster of trees on the front and both sides of the green – this hole puts a premium on course management and accuracy to both carry the lake and give you a shot that treads the needle  through the narrow tree slot to the green
• #18 is a fun 364 yard par 4 with a creek (if it’s rained) that crosses the fairway, a green tucked off to the left side of the fairway, and a lake along the left side of the fairway and green, which makes the 2^nd shot challenging

All of the fairways at Holiday Hills Country Club are tree lined (no homes) and range from tight to wide and forgiving off the tee box.  Most of the fairways are flat but you will encounter some rolling hills and some up and downhill shots.  When we played in May, the fairways were dry and firm providing lots of extra roll and they were in pretty good shape.  Spray it under the trees and the rough varies from a grass, weed, and dirt mixture, but you’ll most likely find the ball and have a worm burner shot back to the fairway – or you may find your ball in the other fairway. 

The bent grass greens at Holiday Hills Country Club were in very good condition, ran true, and were soft, but they were a tad too slow for our liking.  The greens ranged is shape and size with most smaller than average and most were elevated – which put a premium on a deadly accurate approach shot. 

There aren’t a lot of bunkers and they seemed easy to avoid and the sand was good and the faces weren't that steep which made it easy to get back out of bunkers. 

Bottom line – a good quality course, with an affordable rate, and good for family and high handicapper play.