Stevens Park Golf Course — Attraction in Dallas

My son and his friends have enjoyed playing Stevens Park due to its uniqueness, location and value. So I was there at 7;00 this morning. I was greeted by their upbeat Assistant Pro, Mike Sarap, and sent out for a fun round. Last year I'd played the white tees and found the course to be a little too short for my game. Today I played the blue tees and scored much better than last year. However I'd forgotten some keys from last year. On the blind dogleg left par 5 6th hole I hit a good drive down the middle but played my 2nd shot at some tall trees that I thought were at the far corner of the dogleg. You need to choose to play conservatively to the right of those trees or take a risky short cut left of the trees.

And on the 16th hole I forgot to try to fade a shot off the tee around the trees on the right. I laid up in the middle of the fairway but too short for a safe shot over the creek and up the steep bank to a long left green. Next time I'll remember!

My memories of the course will certainly be the hills and the views of the downtown Dallas skyline. Head pro, Jim Henderson, (27 years on the job!) told me Stevens Park GC was used as the venue for some key scenes in the TV show "Dallas" for those skyline shots.

I'll also remember some special holes that rank high in the "fun factor". I hit a long-iron off the 3rd tee based on advice from my last year's playing partners as the hole is a 90 degree right turn to a steep uphill shot to the green. The 9th hole is a long, straight beauty finishing with an uphill shot toward the clubhouse. The hole measures a big 602 yards from the black tees.

I enjoyed the back nine even more than the front largely due to the scenery. The 10th hole is a nice risk/reward birdie opportunity if you can nail two nice shots first downhill off the tee then uphill to a pretty green with a colorful floral backdrop of nandinas and roses. Then the 11th tee box provides the first great view of the Dallas skyline. The view is even better on the 15th hole. The 18th hole is a rather tight and challenging uphill finish toward the scenic stone patio of the remodeled old clubhouse.

Some other points of Stevens Park uniqueness are: 1) greens with odd geometric shapes including square corners, 2) very soft and dry sand in all the fairway and greenside bunkers and 3) two small driving cages in lieu of a driving range in this charming, limited space neighborhood and some shots that definitely made easier with some local knowledge help.

The course was in nice condition especially considering this was late April and North Texas has received some tremendous rainstorms and flash floods in recent weeks. I'm anxious to play it again this summer and fall.. off...

Was excited to play this course but was let down on Wednesday April 23rd. I'll start off with the positive. The greens ran very fast which was a pleasant surprise. The views are great and its a very unique layout. Something to note is that the course is very close to downtown and there is lots of cars around the course. If you don't like playing around roads or get nervous hitting tee shots with traffic looking at you then this isn't your course. Now to the reason why I gave this course only 2 starts. The tee boxes and spots on the fairways were in rough shape, and had bare spots of dirt. Not sure if the course is still recovering from the freeze or if the pictures are lying, but the course was not in great shape when we played. The thing that really frustrated us was the pace of play. We had a gentleman join us to make us a group of three and it took us pretty much 5 hours to play this very short course with carts. Our tee time was at 1:40 and we didnt tee off till after 2:00 due to a massive line at the first tee box. The line looked like a line at six flags on the first tee. They need better time management and marshals to keep pace of play up. nThere is no reason it should take 5 hours to play a course that is just over 6,000 yards with carts. Overall, I don't thing I will be returning to this course, and I think it is over priced for...

Really nice layout and the course was in fine shape. Sure wish I could say that about the staff and (some of) and the patrons.

Here is my experience....

As a walk-on I called the night before and they indicated it's fine to come out and they will pair me up. When I got there early in the morning the guy took my $$ and showed me where #1 was. I asked if he had some groups that I could be paired up with and he said no not really. He then told me there was a two-some on the tee, but was not sure if they would let me play with them. Go down there and ask.

I hurried to #1 and asked the man and women if they would mind and they said yes they would, WOW!! So off I go - ALONE packed between twosome's and foursome's. I caught up with the twosome in front of me and they did not want anyone joining them either - NICE!!

Played a couple more holes, waiting and waiting between shots. Finally picked up and went back to the club house requesting a 9 hole refund. We don't do that here the man says. He sends me BACK to #1 where there were a number of groups waiting to tee off. I ended up joining a group and played the round.

HAVE A TEE TIME and HOPEFULLY the staff is not as RUDE as I experienced.

Oh BTW, last time I will drive the 25 miles...