Overview
Just outside Austin in the heart of Texas Hill Country, Spanish Oaks’ highly acclaimed design was widely considered the most environmentally friendly golf course built in Texas. This rustic layout also set the standard for modern day golf course housing developments. Shortly after opening, Spanish Oaks was named, “One of the Best Private Courses in America.”
In 2021, Bobby Weed Golf Design returned to guide the club through practice area improvements and expansions.
Spanish Oaks is a contemporary and proactive club, always placing the highest interest in the game of golf and environmental efforts. The club also attracts high level amateur players and a handful of TOUR players.
Awards
2021 Golfweek
Best Private Courses in Texas, No. 12
2021 Golfweek
Top 200 Residential Courses, No. 49
2004 Golf Inc.
Development of the Year
2003 Golf Digest
Best New Private Club, No. 4
Challenge
When former University of Houston golf team member and developer Daniel Porter commissioned Weed to build Spanish Oaks, he wanted to create the most environmentally progressive golf course in Texas.
Located within a 1,200-acre mixed-use development near Austin, the property blended distinctive cultural, topographical and vegetative character. When Weed initially inspected the site, he found that hillside erosion and cedar invasion from the past 100 years had caused the soil to silt in nearby creek beds. The task arose of harvesting these soils and using them to plate the rocky site.
Another aim was to restore more than a dozen native grasses.
Approach
Unlike other flat courses in the area, Weed sought to fully utilize the step-riser topography.
His routing plan was devised to keep home sites elevated and the golf course down in the valley. The golf course was strategically laid over the existing landscape so it felt like it had always been there.
“Spanish Oaks paid special attention to environmental issues: endangered species habitats, site disturbance thresholds, floodplain encroachment, and wetland impacts. The architects carved out a core golf envelope and then resurrected the Hill Country grassland within it. Since planting, three Hill Country grasses have reemerged that were not included in the repurposed blends, each a testament to the success of the crew’s restorative efforts.” -ASGCA, Environmental Case Study
Solution
Spanish Oaks has just 485 homes across 900 acres.
Bobby Weed Golf Design’s course construction served as a massive reclamation project, restoring native soils and Hill Country grasses that had been lost to overgrazing, erosion and cedar invasion. Original trees were integrated into the course design or transplanted, rather than removed. The strategic routing plan created a minimal need for earthwork.
The entire golf course is irrigated with reclaimed and portable water. To this day, a keen environmental awareness remains to respect the creeks – so much that holes adjacent to the creeks are irrigated with potable water. The remaining holes are irrigated with reclaimed water.
Over 20 years since originally building this acclaimed Austin private golf course, Weed continues to consult with Spanish Oaks, carefully guiding the club for continued decades of success.
70% Increase in Course Bookings
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