San Antonio golf

Ed and I have been talking about going back to San Antonio for golf and we finally got it scheduled.  He has friends from his US Seniors golf association that live in San Antonio and it's a good halfway point for us.  His friends are quite the characters.  The group is of people who have "made their money" as my old friend Carlos would say, so they tend to be somewhat disinterested in the rest of the world.  Fine by me, I just listened and of course, enjoyed the golfing fruits of their labor.

Thursday I drove up in the morning and we met up at Briggs Ranch Golf Club.  It's on the west side of town, off Highway 90.  Next to it is the Golf Club of Texas at Briggs Ranch.  One is a private club, the other a public course.  When we we at lunch, there were others there. One person came by and the discussion veered to the public course. "Never played it" said the member  (it's right next door!).

San Antonio seems to be awash in money with the drilling profits rolling in from the Eagle Ford Shale.  [Pronounced like Stableford] - Eagleferd.  Lots of people playing golf at the private club that day.  Or at least having lunch.

The course is a Tom Fazio design who is the top architect of the modern era.  Like other of his course, it has some signature traits:   the bowled fairways, the short par 4, the large water hazards in the middle of the course, the fast greens, the deep bunkers, the waste area rough.  Course was in great shape:  even in the rough you had a good lie.  I finished strong, with 4 4's after hitting a few into the waste area rough.  Final score:   90.

We stayed downtown at the Westin Riverwalk and had dinner at Paesano's (my choice).

Friday, we went to one of our favorite courses, the San Antonio Country Club.  A lot like the Houston  CC, that must be why we like it.  In the past this course played to my strengths:  not too long, calling for good iron shots.  This time the course bit back.  Every shot where I missed just a little ended up in the wrong spot:  the side of the bunker, over the green, behind a tree.  I got going better on the back side, near my favorite 2 holes, 12 and 13 (reminds me of Lions Muny 2 and 3) but fizzled out and shot 94.  Still a good day.  After we finished I continued to Austin and Ed went home to Houston before dark.