Austin Country Club

[ChuckH]

They're playing the World Match Championship at Austin CC this week so I thought I'd boot up Barton Creek as it is fairly close. To my surprise, I see that there is a rendition of Austin CC for Links by John Brooks. Don't know how I missed that. Anyway, excellent rendition by John with nice elevations, pano, club house, bridge, etc. Probably most know of this course in Links but for those that don't know about it, check it out. Thanks John.

[Jimbo]

It's a great rendition...JB sells himself short when he calls his work "Impressions"! They're spot on.
Unfortunately thanks to Rory he's going to have to do a new version!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha-ayipfq0M

[Sandy_Trapp]

Yeah, it's a great course to play. Lots of interesting scenarios, curvy greens, elevation changes, it has it all. Challenging.

[Adelade]

John I have a question about Austin CC World Matchplay 2021: Are there any other changes from your 2018 version apart from the nines swapped around? I notice the yardage and file size listed are subtly different, but I suppose the yardage being a tiny bit different is expected when having to re-plan the holes in APCD. The reason I ask is because Austin is one of your courses that I mentioned to you in a private message a while back that I wanted to make an update of one day. I havent gotten around to starting it but I expect to do it before next year's PGA event (assuming they have it there), so Im wondering if there are any reasons to consider about which of the two versions to start from. Can anyone tell me if they've mentioned the reason for swapping the nines and chance a guess as to which routing they'd be most likely to use in the future?

[brooks2345]

Hi Adelade

As far as I can tell from the website (and maybe I'm wrong), the Members usually play it as per my original version, and it's only played the other way round for the Matchplay.

No problem in updating - all my "impressions" are unlocked, so feel free.

From what Jimbo says (he's played it) the greens are a nightmare!! I tend to level them out a bit to help Linksters.

As regards yardages, when reversing the hole numbers, you've also got to alter the hole previews and completely redraw the holes, so there's bound to be a small discrepancy in yardages, but not enough to make any difference in play.

Looking at it on TV, the rough certainly seems a bit more full of marron grass and waste areas.

The only thing that I find a bit awkward in Links is the wind - both as regards strength and direction.

Anyway, good luck if you do decide to do any updating!

Cheers

John Brooks

[brooks2345]

Sorry, forgot, there aren't really any changes from the 2018 version - I just re-jigged this so that people could play along.

Cheers

John Brooks

[Jimbo]

No swimming pool??? You should have "Beta'd" this one!

But seriously, the greens are far more "user-friendly".

[GoBucks]

Looking at it on TV, the rough certainly seems a bit more full of marron grass and waste areas.

That's due to the snow and bitter cold that Texas endured in February. Normally that's not an issue in Austin.

[FOOOOORE!]

I just DL'd this one, and yes, the greens are enough to get me to not bother. I played the first two holes and I have to ask: Are the greens and pin placements really like that? Having just played PGA National a few times, which is not an easy course, at least the greens are fairly straightforward and not like you're on a rollercoaster.

[pmgolf]

Based on what I can see on TV, and also from what I've heard, the greens really do have severe slopes on them.

Pete