The Bandit: Keith Foster designed a beauty of a golf course a few years ago. This award winning loop has matured well and provides golfers with a fun and challenging course. I used every club in my bag, and came away smiling.
The current dry conditions made the course play much differently than previous experiences at the Bandit. Hard and fast would be a sedate description of the golf course right now. While the course is in good shape, conditions give lots of run down the fairways. Well struck shots behave as you would expect with the exception of the runners that go the extra mile thru the turn or down into a crossing creek. To compensate for the hard and fast runners the greens were in extremely good shape considering the drought, very receptive while putting fast and true.
The Rewards
Keith Foster designs great golf courses. With other Texas winners like Texas Star and The Quarry in his portfolio, Foster knows how to provide Texan Golfers with what they want. Namely challenge, followed by rewards when conquering the challenges of the course. The Bandit is a great example of the challenge and reward scenario in the Hill Country of Texas. Each hole has an appropriate name to describe it, so I will use the hole names here to help paint a picture of the challenge and opportunity offered.
Lets talk about what the Raccoon (the official logo for The Bandit is a Raccoon) gives as rewards. Tomorrow we will talk about what the Raccoon steals away.
The first two holes offer fair warm-up par-4 and par-3 holes, allowing you to get the lay of the land (moderate elevation changes while hinting that more elevation changes will be coming). Then #3, "Make Hay" is a par-5 giving you an opportunity to score early. A very forgiving fairway off of the tee box, and then a down-hill funneling fairway to the green gives you a great environment for getting home in two. Just don't miss left with your approach shot as the oysters in the little pond short and left of the green wouls love to "kiss" your wet ball. The green actually tilts from back to front in order to help you get the ball stopped on the green.
Strike while you are hot, by scoring well on #4 "Spanish Dagger". Every step of the way is downhill on this narrow par-4 hole. Use the steel electrical tower slightly right of the mid-point of the fairway as a target because even a little left is a quick step into jail. The elevation probably drops 100 feet (ever so gradually) from tee to green so long hitters can easily hit a hybrid or 3-wood off of the tee-box. I smacked a driver (I am not long) and still wound up with 80 yards to the hole. The green slopes hard left to right, and being below the hole here definitely has its advantages. I walked off with a birdie after making a smoking 25 foot putt (uphill - I told you !).
#8 "Sunset" is the first of two holes where you launch your tee shot from a high and scenic elevation. The mound where the tee boxes are located is the highest point on the golf course and the highest point in the area, offering a great view of the rolling hills and treacherous path that Long Creek makes as it negotiates though the course. Hit a slight draw down the right side of the fairway to get to the promised land, as hazardous sand traps are more numerous on the left side than the single trap you need to clear down the right side. Hitting your second shot from the right side also makes it easier to clear the creek in front of the green and settle safely on the green that is running long-wise to your right side location. A pretty easy par of a very scenic hole.
#11 "Pecan Pie" is the first really loveable Par-3 you will encounter. Usually the wind is helping slightly, and short is more fatal than long on the 163 yard hole.
Loved it, and the beverage cart girl was there to offer some Ice Cream on the Pecan Pie - but in reality she needed to sell us Gatorade Ade or water to prep us for the upcoming rewards.
#15 "Blame Lu" is a par 5 for loving, not hating. Blister your drive down the pipe, 320 yards will still leave you a hair short of Long Creek, but left with choices in getting to the green. Most of us will want to hit a 6 iron then a 9 iron to be in the middle of the green. The bombers have options. This hole has been updated from it's original design, which was prone to washing away right in front of the green during those fall floods that appear on a 5 year cycle. Instead of a creek meandering in front of the green, there is now just a low place that is rarely holding water; giving the bombers a safe landing spot for second shots that don't make it to the green. There are a couple of ways to come away with a birdie here.
Finishing up with 17 and 18 gives everyone an opportunity to walk away as a real golfer.
"Stonewall" is a 148 yard par-3 with a 50 food elevation change from the tee-box to the green. Long Creek runs deep and wide in front of the green, so short is very painful and long is a lot more palatable as two traps can catch any shots where you didn't account for the elevation drop. Make birdie here and keep your noggin in gear for decision making that is needed on #18.
"Long Creek" is the finishing challenge. The creek actually runs down most of the right side of the fairway. This par 5 gives you multiple different ways to play it, but the choices start out with the same winning move - a straight tee shot that either draws slightly or is straight. Hitting a fade off the tee-box is the kiss of death as the fairway runs downhill from left to right and forces fades to disappear into the "heather" and the creek.
This long par 5 offers it all. From the mid-point of the hole, you are going to have to cross over Long Creek, and the scenario described reverses itself - everything on the approach and near the green leans to the left, fairly hard, into Long Creek. The locals always play more club than the yardage calls for because the approach shot is uphill and they know (local knowledge) that the side of a hill on the backside of the green acts like a backstop to keep your ball in play and thus closer to the hole than misses that are short or far left. Slightly long is your friend as you come onto the green.
Tomorrow - The Bandit - What the Raccoon "steals" away.
