The Golf Club at McKinney

Review and Rating of The Golf Club at McKinney

We understand that in early 2016 this course was closed but may reopen as a nine hole course sometime in the near future.

The Golf Club At McKinney is a semi-private club located within The Fairways at Wilson Creek which is an exclusive gated apartment home community. With five sets of tee boxes, the course varies from 4492 to 6807 yards and as such, it caters to all levels of play. The layout is somewhat traditional with mostly straight and fairly flat "what you see is what you get" holes.  However, there are a few exceptions like a hidden creek crossing the fairway, some blind shots, and couple sharp dog legs. 

The designer, Lyndy Lindsey, did an excellent job of taking advantage of the local terrain which includes some elevation changes, ravines, and ups and downs.  In addition, he must have moved a lot of dirt to create some fairway slope and contour, numerous berms, water, and raised greens.  If you've played Augusta National you might recognize holes 12 and 16 which are replicas of those holes at Augusta National.  All of that makes for a fun and challenging round.

Each hole is a little different than the others and each one throws something at you to keep you on your games, for example:

• #1 is a 540 yard par five with a carry over a ravine to a narrow dog left fairway with a ridge on the left and trees along the right
• #3 has an elevated tee box with a shot through a narrow tree lined slot toward an uphill green
• several holes have challenging approaches to raised greens of varying shapes that are well guarded by some huge bunkers
• two of the par threes require you to avoid the water and some treacherous bunkers if you're looking for par or better
• #15 offers a good risk reward shot to try and fly the trees to shorten the dog leg left and the more conservative shot down the fairway needs to be accurate to avoid the only fairway bunker and not overrun the fairway

The fairways were in very good condition compared to most other courses that were suffering from a very harsh winter, a drought, and a record number of days over 100 during the miserable summer of 2011.  The fairways are all fairly tight but the rough was playable.  If you spray it and miss the rough you'll be in the trees and lost, wet, or in another fairway which offers a pretty recovery opportunity.  Some of the holes are lined by trees, others by side by side fairways, and some play along side a very busy road or by homes set up on a ridge.

The greens are what define The Golf Club at McKinney and make your round very challenging.   They typically run fast, between a 11 to 12, and have plenty of slope, undulation, tiers, and ridges – pin placement can be a killer.  Most are raised and all but one is protected by water or some big bunkers.  When we played they ran fast and true, were challenging to read, and held the ball well.  The good and bad news is that they are all different shapes from oval to light bulb to a small "L" shaped and most are huge requiring you to accurately read and putt through several breaks.  Practice putting before you head out.

All but one of the bunkers are protecting the green and most are large with a half to a foot or so lip.  It rained just before we played so the bunkers were full of water and not playable.  On a previous round, the bunkers were in very good condition with thick and fluffy sand.

Bottom line – a fun track with good conditions, a fair value, some fun holes, and challenging green complexes.