Casa Blanca Golf Course

Review and Rating of Casa Blanca Golf Course in Laredo

Casa Blanca Golf Course was designed by Leon Howard and opened in 1967.  The course hosted the very first Border Olympics Collegiate Event and during their academic youth Tom Kite, Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Steve Elkington, played here.  Like most older courses, Casa Blanca is fairly traditional and straightforward and short by todays standards – 5270 to 6539 yards with three tee boxes.

The layout is good and fair for all levels of play but can be somewhat demanding – the fairways are ample, there is a good mix of dog legs left and right, there are a couple forced carries over water, and a couple holes require some strategic play to par.

Some of the holes we liked included:

• #2 is a 490 yard par 5 that dog legs left around water leading to a severely back to front sloping green guarded by a bunker on the left front
• #4 is being redone and now plays as a par 3 but it looks like it would be an excellent par 5 – a carry over a lake from the back tees, a slight dog right, and a carry over a creek crossing in front of the green
• #8 and #13 are 139 and 152 yard par 3s that are all carry over the lake to the green
• #12 is the #2 handicap hole – a 448 yard par 4 with a layup or risky carry over a creek leading to a green with 2 bunkers guarding it

When we played in January 2015 the fairways and rough were in very poor condition – a mixture of weeds, grass, and dirt.  Part of the problem was the weather that has impacted all of the course conditions in Texas and the problem was they are adding new irrigation and it's not yet finished.  It had rained for 3 days prior to our playing which made the course muddy with lots of pools of standing water.  The rough was thicker than normal because of the rain and it was a mixture of weeds (a dense clover like weed), dirt, and grass.  The fairways are linde with a scattering of trees and towering palms,  ample but not overly generous, and the rough is fairly wide. 

Weather had also impacted the greens at Casa Blanca Golf Course and most had some damage – which didn't impact play, but wasn't ascetically pleasing.  The greens range from small to about average and most have some slope and some have severe slope.  They were running a tad slow for our taste (maybe an 8 or so) but true, had lots of subtle breaks, were a tad bumpy, were soft and spongy and held the ball very well. 

The bunkers were wet and had standing water and as such weren't playable.  Normally I would think that the sand is thick and fluffy and great to hit out of.  The lips are tall and you're not going to like your lie if your ball is up against them.  The bunkers range from small to above average and all of the them but one guard the greens. 

Bottom line – low rates, some fun holes, and when the irrigation system comes online the conditions should improve