Comanche Trace - The Hills Nine

Review of Comanche Trace Hills Course Kerrville, Texas

Comanche Trace is home to three fantastic nine-hole layouts all within the 1300 acres of the upscale Comanche Trace golf community just a few miles south of Kerrville.  Comanche Trace was voted the "#1 Private Course in the Texas Hill Country."  Each of the nines has it's own unique characteristics and personality:

• The Creeks, designed by Jay and Carter Morrish, is the newest  and hardest of  the nines and is characterized by the meandering creek that twists and turns along and across seven of the fairways – here is a link to our review of the Creeks Nine at Comanche Trace
• The Valley Nine at Comanche Trace was designed by Tom Kite along with Roy Bechtol and Randy Russell and opened in 1999 and it plays in the valley and as such it is the most open and flattest of the nines – read our review of the Valley Course
• The Hills was part of the original 18 that opened in 1999 and as you would expect from its name,  it leverages the beautiful Hill Country with plenty of elevation changes and rolling terrain – this nine has the reputation as the easiest of the nines. 

Common to all three nines are excellent conditions, challenging Bent grass greens, beautiful scenery and views, lots of fun and challenging holes, great service, a 15-acre practice facility, and a 24,000-foot upscale clubhouse and pro shop high on a bluff with an unbelievable view of several golf holes and the surrounding countryside.  Everything is very well maintained and manicured.

The Hills nine is the shortest of the three nines and you'll most likely find it to be the easiest of the three nines but don't let that lull you into complacency, you'll still need to manage elevation changes, challenging green complexes, dog legs, water, rolling contoured fairways, and some very treacherous greens. 

The Hills is also home to some great holes, for example:

• #1 is a 443-yard dogleg right with an elevated tee box, a good risk-reward opportunity off the tee, a rolling fairway, and an uphill shot to a tiered green
• #3 is a picturesque 167-yard par three with a downhill shot over a creek with cascading waterfalls and a huge front and rear bunker guarding the green
• on the short 318-yard #6, you can pull out the big dog and let it rip but watch out for the steep and deep pot bunker in the middle of the fairway – a good birdie opportunity
• #8 is a blast with a great risk-reward opportunity to fly the bunker and miss the trees and natural area to shorten this dogleg right 525-yard par 5 – from there you have an uphill shot to the pin
• #9 is an excellent finishing hole – a 525-yard par 5 with a dogleg right between a huge bunker on the right and 2 bunkers on the left followed by an uphill shot to the green set back off to the left and guarded by 3 bunker – after paring this beauty, make sure you turn around and take the scenic vista of the entire valley

When we played in late May, the fairways couldn't have been in much better condition – lush and plush.  All of the fairways on The Hills are rolling and most are generous off the tee.  But if you miss you're in a thick but playable rough and then most likely lost in the natural areas. 

The bent grass greens were also near perfect – soft and smooth, fast (around 10 to 11) and true, and huge!  But they also are well guarded, some are raised, and all have some combination of significant slope, contour, ridges or saddles, or tiers. 

The other big challenge on The Hills is to avoid the bunkers which are all shapes and sizes ranging from small pot bunkers to some real monsters.  The good news is that they all have soft thick fluffy sand that's perfect.  The bad news is they are steep and deep and surrounded by a thick rough. 

Bottom – a fun, scenic, and fair nine that's in excellent condition and very scenic.  A real joy to play.

The Slope and Rating are based on playing the Hills and Valley Courses.