The Genesis Invitational

Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course)



    Omni Barton Creek Resort: Crenshaw Cliffside

    Austin, TX Private

    Overview

    Crenshaw Cliffside, completed in 1991, was just the second course Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw completed and represents the last project they'd work on in relative obscurity: soon after they began piecing together Sand Hills, no. 8 on America's 100 Greatest Courses, creating a wave of minimalism and big natural courses that has yet to abate.

    Though not on property particularly suited to good golf, Crenshaw Cliffside has all the hallmarks of what has made the architects' courses at once revolutionary and nuanced: large, heavily contoured greens that feel subtle; bunkers that have some of the most detailed edging in the game; a sense of elegance and restraint in the construction; and the discipline to take what the land gives, yeilding unconventional sequences like huge back-to-back par 5s along the edge of a river ravine followed by a pitch-shot par 3 into a shallow thumbnail green.

    Golfers tend to think more highly of Omni Barton Creek's two Tom Fazio-designed courses, Fazio Canyons and Fazio Foothills, and gravitate toward the flash and aesthetics of those designs. Each are listed among the top 40 in Texas's Best in State ranking, while Crenshaw Cliffside is not. Those who enjoy the work of Coore and Crenshaw, on the other hand, appreciate that the architecture takes the opportunities that were presented and works with them, creating a tight, connected layout that's different than it's peers but rhythmic and riveting in its own way.

    About

    Holes 18
    Length 6630
    Slope 130
    Facility Type Private
    Designer Ben Crenshaw/Bill Coore, ASGCA

    Golf Digest Logo Panelists

    Ratings from our panel of 1,900 course-ranking panelists

    3.7

    100 GREATEST/BEST IN STATE SCORES

    Shot Options
    6.5667
    Character
    6.2865
    Challenge
    6.3585
    Layout Variety
    6.2621
    Fun
    6.4335
    Aesthetics
    6.5096
    Conditioning
    6.649

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