Friday, June 20, 2008

A golf-lover’s guide to Oak Cliff golf courses

By Jeff Alsup of Cliff Dweller

I love the game of golf. More accurately, I love golf courses. They are some of the most pleasant places I know to spend a cool morning or a lazy summer afternoon.

The stillness, the sense of quiet reverence, can be an almost spiritual experience. That is until somebody in your foursome misses a three-foot putt, and then the tranquil course can quickly turn to rival the saltiest seafaring vessel. I’ve always wondered how parents of families who live on the 14th green explain the meaning of the words floating in over the hedges.

Even these outbursts, however, point to a reason I love the game. In what other sport can you be both consistently terrible and passionately engaged, and welcome to try your hand regardless of your (in)ability? From the time I started playing as a child and up to this very day, I have never been any good at golf. And yet the game has a hold on me that just won’t let go.

Since I moved to Oak Cliff four years ago, I have had little opportunity to respond to the call of the course. Trying to raise three little girls, spending at least a few minutes a week of quality time with my wife, and struggling to keep my multiple job hats on my head have all conspired to take me away from the game. But that hasn’t kept me from looking longingly up the fairway as I drive past a course, hoping that I can sneak away and spend a few hours chasing the ball toward the hole and enjoying the sculpted beauty that a golf course has to offer.

Thankfully, Oak Cliff is no stranger to the game. I can, in theory anyway, throw my clubs in the trunk and be at one of several courses in as little as five minutes. You long-time residents may know all about the little green gems that have inhabited this part of Dallas for much of its history, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that golf in our neck of the woods has both a storied past and a vibrant future. I’d like to introduce those of you who don’t know to four of the nearby opportunities to get your fix when the birdie bug bites.

Stevens Park Golf Club

This little beauty is easily the most recognizable course in Oak Cliff, if only because anyone driving down Hampton or Colorado can’t help but notice that a golf course is tucked in to the neighborhood. One of six courses owned and operated by the City of Dallas, and the second municipal course built in the city, Stevens Park offers an affordable, accessible chance to squeeze in nine holes between the office and home. Tell the boss you need an hour or two of personal time, secure a pass from the spouse, and head over to the rolling hills and tree-lined fairways of this 6005 yard track to get a quick fix of twilight golf before heading home to put the kids to bed. Or, if you have survived that stage of life and are free to take things at a more relaxed pace, take advantage of reduced senior fees or multi-round packages (good at any of the City-owned courses), and schedule a regular morning round with friends, followed by lunch at the recently renovated Grill. The course’s manageable length and quirky layout will test your ability without bringing out too much of the foul-mouthed sailor. My favorite hole is the 8th, a strange little poke out to the corner, right turn, and up the hill that tempts me every time to cut over and up in one mighty swing. I’ve yet to see the green in regulation.

Cedar Crest Golf Course

Originally developed as a private club in 1916, this muni now owned by the city hosted the first Dallas Open in 1926. That turned out to be such a success that the club was able to attract the 1927 PGA Championship, won by Walter Hagen. The Depression eventually took its toll, however, and the young club closed its doors and the grounds lay dormant until the Dallas Parks Department purchased the facility in 1946. According to published reports, the course wasn’t much to behold until, in back-to-back renovations, the clubhouse and course completed major upgrades in 2001 and 2004 respectively. With all work complete and a few years to straighten out the kinks, Cedar Crest is again showing off its pedigree as one of Dallas’ finest public courses. While it’s true that Cedar Crest is an Oak Cliff neighbor rather than a resident layout, it’s a brief hop over I-35 and east on Illinois. I haven’t timed it, but I’m betting that, from my house in Elmwood, Stevens Park and Cedar Crest are both reachable in under ten minutes. Like the former, the latter is both affordable and playable by those of us whose handicap hovers around the quarter-century mark. My favorite hole on the course? The par five 14th, a long driving hole with a green protected by a severe dogleg and a good bit of sand.

Sunset Golf Club

Okay, full disclosure time. I haven’t actually played this course, another neighbor to Oak Cliff just outside our Western border. In fact, I’ve driven by it several times and assumed that it was just a little driving range. Each time I passed, I made a mental note to come back and hit some balls when I had an hour to spare, and each time promptly forgot about what I thought was nothing more than a place for hackers like me to pound out a bit of frustration. What a pleasant surprise when I discovered that, tucked away on 3295 yards of land sitting inconspicuously just off Main Street in Grand Prairie (that’s Davis for those of us coming from the Cliff), sits a little nine hole course that has been operated by, as their web site tells us, “three generations of the Mims family.” Now I know the purists reading this may scoff, but I think nine-hole courses are a little slice of golf heaven. Typically less pretentious than their 18-hole siblings — and from what I’ve seen Sunset seems to fit the mold — they are places where anyone can get a taste of the game without being too worried about what the folks sporting the $900 driver and the 40-pound golf bag will think. Not that Sunset golfers don’t take their game seriously. They have a Golf Association over there that hosts, by my count, three weekly events, a Skins game every other week, and a bevy of tournaments from May to October. But I’m guessing it’s the kind of crowd where I’d be just as welcome with my 10-year-old Taylormade Bubble driver and knock-off Alien wedge as would the scratch golfer playing a custom-made set of blades. No favorite hole here yet, but I suspect that my next golf pass will be used to check out our neighbor to the West. With “All Day Play” rates, I might just tell the boss I need more than a couple of hours.

The Golf Club of Dallas

The short list of courses for CliffDwellers wouldn’t be complete without the venerable Oak Cliff Country Club, now known by its new moniker, The Golf Club of Dallas. It’s true that this course is part of a private club, with all the associated membership dues and fees that accompany such places, but we include it here for a few reasons. First, because it so is steeped in local golf history, having hosted the Dallas Open in the late 50s and much of the 60s. Sam Sneed and Charles Coody are among the big name winners on the course. In addition, it is among the most affordable private clubs in Dallas (and is actively seeking to fill out its membership roster). Finally, it hosts so many charitable tournaments that there is a good chance you’ll get to play the course reasonably often even if you can’t take the leap into membership. My exposure to the course has been due to such events, and I will wholeheartedly say that the experience is an enjoyable one. The course, the last design of renowned golf architect Perry Maxwell and his son Press, is challenging without being intimidating. It epitomizes for me the pleasure of the game. Fifteen minutes from my house, in the middle of one of the largest metropolitan centers in the country, I can stand on a tee overlooking a well cared-for slice of creation and absorb the feeling that so often eludes me in every day life. This is a place of peacefulness. Particularly as I move into the interior of the course, I am struck by how far removed the city seems. For this reason, more than for any unique challenge it offers, #3 here is my favorite. A little par 3 tucked away in the back corner of the course, it offers a place to stop and breathe and remember that golf is a game to be savored, not just played.

Worth Mentioning

These four courses serve to orient Oak Cliff in terms of golf. They are by no means, however, the only options available. Just north of I-30 off Loop 12 lies Twin Wells, an attractive municipal course with discounted membership options. Plenty of CliffDwellers enjoy Thorntree Country Club down in Desoto. Grand Oaks, a semi-private course, sits just southwest of Mountain Creek Lake, while Prairie Lakes sports 27 holes on the west shore of the lake itself. Reach a little farther out and you’ve got all kinds of options, public and private, within an easy 30 minute drive. Heck, as long as we’re talking about reaching, if you happen to have an extra $185K and friends in high places who can provide a requisite invitation, Dallas National is right here in our back yard. And then there is the other end of the spectrum — Ellen’s on Highway 67 down in Cedar Hill offers a nice little Animated Miniature Golf Course. And does anybody know of a disc golf course around here?

The possibilities abound. If only I could find the time to play.

Pegasus News content partner - Cliff Dweller

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