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San Antonio’s Toughest Holes

Tough is as tough does, which is another way of saying, if you’re looking for challenging holes on the San Antonio golf landscape, you won’t have far to look.

 While the Alamo City has built a reputation as a welcoming, friendly destination, that doesn’t mean you won’t find plenty of stern matches for your scorecard.

“We have a lot of great holes and courses in San Antonio, but some tough ones as well,” said longtime San Antonio golf promoter Jack Parker. He should know. Parker is a co-owner of the Tapatio Springs resort in Boerne, the site of the area’s toughest hole, the 174-yard par 3 eighth on the resort’s Valley Course.

“I’ll tell you what makes a great hole,” Parker said. “I was playing 3-4 holes one night after dinner with my wife, just because it was close to my house. We got to the 8th hole and I teed it up and knocked it in the hole.

The next time I teed off from up there, I hit it in the bunker, sculled across the green— almost into the water and I was lucky to make a five. I know it’s a tough hole because I see so many balls hit into the water fronting the green.”

Plus Four of the Toughest Holes

1. Pecan Valley Golf Course. No. 18, Par 4, 418 yards (back tees): This brute starts with a narrow opening off the tee which widens into the tree-lined fairway ( Salado Creek runs all the way across it, leaving golfers the choice to lay up or try to blast it over). Out-of-bounds and the driving range line the right edge; bunkers track both sides of the heavily sloped green. Not intimidated yet? Number 18 marks the spot where Nicklaus missed the cut at the 1968 PGA Championship and Arnold Palmer failed to birdie losing his best chance of a PGA victory.

 2.  La Cantera Golf Club. No. 12 (Resort Course), Par 4, 415 yards: Very tight driving hole with out-of-bounds right and a large series of bunkers left. Once you arrive in the fairway, a stream flows across it, fronting an excruciatingly narrow and sloped green. “Always trust your yardage. Because it looks shorter, but never is” advises La Cantera’s Director of Golf Steve Shields. “If you’re short, there’s no guarantee you’ll get up and down.” The PGA TOUR’s best have their hands full here every fall at the Texas Open.

 3.  Hyatt Hill Country Resort. No. 6 (Lakes Course), Par 5, 540 yards: This risk/reward scenario will leave you a golf hero or dunce. Out-of-bounds runs to the right, a dry creek bed to the left, but with a good drive you can go for the green in two. A sizeable lake guarding the right half of the green from your second shot.

 4.  Canyon Springs Golf Club. No. 10, Par 5, 535 yards: With the tee box perched on a hundred-foot cliff with water to the right, water below you and trees to the left, bad tee shot can suffer a variety of evil fates; a good one sets up two long approaches to a small green.