Why San Antonio

Why San Antonio

                Winter golf in San Antonio remains a largely unnoticed and underappreciated product in the USA. Most northerners think about Florida or Arizona when they think about finding a winter golf home. I have now lived in South Texas for twenty five years and I am here to tell you winter golf is very good in San Antonio and there are compelling reasons to come here this winter, the next, and beyond.

                It has not always been this good. When I married Sharon in 1986 the city courses of San Antonio were dreadful. Outside of the city courses the other public options were sparse. Since I became a permanent resident two major things have happened and golf has never looked better in San Antonio.

                The first thing was the vision and development nerve of Dan Pedrotti and Ed Miller in forming Foresight Golf. Foresight developed three outstanding public golf courses in the San Antonio area: The Bandit Golf Club, The Buckhorn Golf Club, and The Republic Golf Club. You can get a look at these courses at www.foresightgolf.net. The Bandit is in my current home town of New Braunfels and serves the growing I-35 corridor. It is an outstanding test of golf designed by Keith Foster. The Buckhorn is the other way in the town of Comfort. Its reputation is being easy and enjoyable but I have found when I play that it is a challenge. Foresight completed their first trilogy with The Republic is the southeast corner of San Antonio. Art Schaupeter designed both Republic and Buckhorn and both are always in good condition thanks in large part to Ed Miller’s executive oversight.

                Foresight then performed a coup by purchasing Pecan Valley the sight of the 1968 PGA Championship won by Julius Boros over Arnold Palmer. Pecan Valley was then and is now the center of privately owned public golf in San Antonio. Under the care of Foresight, Pecan Valley has been able to maintain a high quality of conditioning and play. Pecan Valley was designed by J. Press Maxwell which makes it a design cousin to Southern Hills in Tulsa designed by Perry Maxwell. In 1986 the only public option worth my time was Pecan Valley and even then is was a little ratty. Now with Foresight at the helm everybody has four fine golf courses to choose from all at reasonable rates.

                In 2007 the landscape for public golf changed for the good when the City of San Antonio began to turn the municipal courses over to a non-profit company known as The Alamo City Golf Trail. The Alamo City Golf Trail has a board of directors, all advocates for golf, and the CEO, Jim Roschek runs The Trail with sound business skills. The beauty of the arrangement is that The City of San Antonio is now on the plus side on the profit loss side as is the Trail which spins the proceeds to charity. It was a win-win for the city and the courses. Also winning were the golfers of San Antonio and the employees of the Trail. The courses are better. The jobs are better. Everybody has won.

                The centerpiece of The Alamo City Golf Trail is Brackenridge Park which is historical in every sense of the word. In golf it is historical for being the home to the Texas Open which is golf’s fifth oldest event. It is historic for all the golf played there by Snead, Hogan, Nelson, and for the longest time Mike Souchak who held the lowest score shot on tour. It is also historic because Gutzon Borglum did a lot of work on Mount Rushmore in a studio overlooking the golf course. Recently the Borglum Studio has been renovated and restored into a working reception and meeting facility. Right now when you go on property at “Old Brack” you have the feel of being at a special private club. You can feel the history, serenity, and cool that is a great golf facility.

                As a golf course Brack is short, topping out at maybe 6300 yards. It was designed by renowned A.W. Tillinghast in the 1920’s it was redesigned and reopened in 2008 under the supervision of the Alamo City Golf Trail. It is the center of public golf in San Antonio for all the right reasons.

                The Alamo City Golf Trail has six other golf courses and each is being renewed and restored into facilities worth playing. To learn more about the Alamo City Golf Trail and its courses go to www.alamocitygolftrail.com. It has been a phenomenal change in the golf landscape giving everybody at least six legitimate municipal courses and four privately owned course on which to play. This alone makes San Antonio a viable, end destination for golfers looking for a winter home. In the twenty five years I have been here my town has gone from one public option to at least ten. What a dramatic change.

                Finally while Foresight and Alamo City Golf Trail have greatly improved San Antonio golf, I would be remiss if I did not mention San Antonio has three great resorts; Hyatt, Westin, and JW Marriott; and at least two other great courses minutes from the airport; The Quarry and Silverhorn. Add to all that a low cost of living, great food, and a user friendly downtown it adds up to the next great spot for winter golf, NOW!