Omni Barton Creek Resort - Fazio Foothills Course

Avoid this course right now! It is torn up all over the place. Tee boxes are a mess with sod patches everywhere. Greens are decent but Crenshaw course they are so much better. There are many areas of the course where it has been stripped to lay more sod patches. They are charging $300 to play a course that in this condition should be about $125. It’s a great layout and could be very nice but it needs a lot of work!

Barton Creek Fazio Foothills is a very nice layout with good views and challenging terrain. It is in very good condition and has a lot of strategic choices to make throughout the round which makes for a fun 4 hours. Customer service could be better for the price of the round. The GPS in the cart wasn't working and we used the "call for assistance" button which went unanswered. No one was available to help us as we made the turn between 9-10 and then there wasn't anyone around when we finished 18 and returned to the clubhouse.

Driving through Austin to get to the course you can see that it is some-what hilly, but when you turn from Bee Caves Rd to Barton Creek Blvd the view and the drop-off is breath-taking. Omni Barton Creek has the Fazio Foothills and Coore-Crenshaw course at the resort, and the Fazio Canyons course a few miles down the road.

I drove down from Fort Worth that morning for a 10:00 a.m. tee time with a group of local Golf Advisors, and got to play at the resort rate. Normally you must be a resort guest or a member to play. The pro-shop was small but adequate, with a parking garage next door that kept the car cooler in the summer heat and the staff were very friendly and accommodating. The 19th hole at the resort was closed, but we were able to go to the pool bar for a late lunch after the round.

The Course:
As we played the first hole, a downhill wide open par 4, we could see the 8th green that had a creek and waterfall immediately to the left, and we joked about how many waterfalls we may encounter on this Fazio design (we eventually lost count) but I became a Fazio fan . While there were several forgettable shots hit, there were few if any forgettable holes, and the course conditions were perfect.

Par 3's:
3 of the par 3's are about the same distance, but they were all unique. The 3rd hole has a nice gorge carry with a false front and shallow back to front, the 9th hole is downhill and has a gorge and waterfall/creek left and generous bail out area to the right. #17 is a beautiful uphill redan.

Par 4's:
Great variety from split fairways, dog-legs with safe and adventurous options, and even a short driveable hole(#12), and a biarritz green. The fairways are wide and generous, but penal if you miss, often with woods on one side, and a creek or pond on the other side. Visually intimidating drop off's require commitment to your shot(#10 drops about 100 ft from the tee to the fairway and I wasn't committed!). If I played here again, I would only use driver on about half of the par 4's

Par 5's:
This was probably the funnest set of par 5's I've ever played!
#5 is a 611 yard monster with split fairway on the approach. You can either play the high side or the low side before you cross the creek to the green. #8 is 529, with a good chance to go in 2 with a good drive down the left. Too far right and it's blind to a green that you absolutely can't miss left. #15 is fairly straightforward, but has a huge bank to the right of the green and a great chance for birdie.

#18 has a generous fairway to hit, but if you hit it well, you have a decision to make. There is a MASSIVE gorge full of Pro-V's that starts about 50 yards in front of an uphill green. You can either hit it long left and be even with the pin with a wedge, lay up short and have a blind wedge uphill, or go for the glory and bring the gorge in play.

Final Thoughts:
I don't recommend driving 4 hours with very little sleep then pegging it up. Despite the course not being walkable (due to hills, routing, heat, etc.) and being more $ than I would normally pay for a round, the world class experience here was totally worth it. No matter how you play, you will want to play here again.

If you’re looking to get the full Tom Fazio experience in the Austin area, Barton Creek has you covered with his wildly fantastic Fazio Foothills course. A spectacular layout, pristine conditions, and all the amenities of a premium golf resort make Foothills a must-play destination for all Fazio fans. As a Local Advisor, I was invited to play here as a non resort guest but paid for my round in full.

The course design might seem a bit tricked up to the more conservative golfer but I found the massively elevated tees, various hazards, and numerous nearby waterfalls made for an exciting and eventful round.

Many of the fairways are wide and forgiving and even with all the ponds, creeks, trees, and bunkers, you’ll often have no issues reaching the greens in regulation. That said, stray too far from the short stuff and you can end up spending quite a bit of time looking for lost balls and dodging central Texas wildlife critters, so be careful.

Like the Crenshaw Cliffsides course next to it, Foothills offers some amazing and challenging par-3s. Nearly every hole has its own character and the many vistas from the tee boxes and the aforementioned waterfalls offer plenty of photo opportunities. You’ll also use every club in your bag on this course and I like that the par-3s offer a good variation of distances so that you’re not just reaching for your 6-iron every time.

I’m a total sucker for a good elevated tee shot and as such the par-4 10th is already among my favorite holes in golf and can only be described as absolutely epic. You could just about sit down and drink a whole beer waiting for your tee shot to land in the fairway 100+ feet below. It’s a cool shot and a really fun hole.

Contrast that joyous experience with the par-5 18th, an exceptional test of your golf game with one of the hardest approach shots on a par-5 I can remember playing. The third shot is sharply uphill with a deep gorge guarding the front and thick rough covering a steep up-slope behind the green. You have to have your distance control and math skills dialed in while combating the fatigue from the first seventeen holes.

Fazio Foothills, like it’s lovely contrasted Cliffsides partner are well-maintained by the maintenance team at Barton Creek. You’ll appreciate the work they put in, especially around the greens with smooth, fluffy rough, groomed bunkers, and putts that roll like they’re on fresh carpet (only much faster). While the course demands a premium rate, it backs it up with a top-tier on-course experience and plenty of amenities to go along with it.

Barton Creek has put their best foot forward with these two courses and as someone who traveled all the way from Virginia to play it, I can unequivocally that it was worth the time and money. I look forward to playing here again during my next visit to the Lone Star State.

Subtle is not a good description of this course. It's got some flair... elevation changes, undulation, ample bunkering, water, and of course waterfalls. It's a fun course.

This course is pretty tough as there are trees lining most holes, but at its heart it's still a resort course. Many of the holes set up looking very narrow, but open up 150 or so yards from the tee. I certainly found that way more of my drives stayed playable when I was sure they were goners. This keeps the course more playable for all skill levels.

Still ,there are some challenging shots. A couple of par 3s over water to smaller greens, and the brutal uphill par 5 18th.

You should still bring your A game, but this course is very enjoyable. The conditions are as good as any place I've played in town, and the staff were very friendly and professional.

Definitely not a course for walkers though!

Played with a group of solid golfers early on a weekday. I believe we got a special deal as unless you are a member you must stay to play.

Driving in you are met with the enormous resort buildings. After paying for my green fee I went to the (short) driving range - it’s probably only 220 yards long but there are no signs for irons only. But it’s a quality setup with grass and turf hitting areas. The practice green was also reasonably true to the course.

As you would expect there is nothing out of place.

Heading out to Fazio foothills my general impression is that it is a reasonably playable course for any level of golfer. It is not overly long and there are some wide and forgiving holes. Approach shots can test your distance control, with creeks running beside and in front of several greens.

The conditions were perfect. The fairways were lush and green and the greens even paced and true. Some excellent views of the hill country are available as well.

Staff were friendly and the tacos at the Nopales restaurant overlooking the 18th were excellent.

Played the course for the first time in about 5 years. I have to say that the course was in great shape. I was really impressed by the amount of trees and brush that they removed from the course. It opened up the layout and showed you the beauty of the course. I would recommend this course to any of my friends.

Omni Barton Creek is undergoing a huge transformation - I didn't quite grasp the the whole scope of it - and while the resort doesn't reopen until May 1st 2019, the Crenshaw and Foothills courses have been renovated.

The work on the Foothills was predominantly bunker work and some regrading but perhaps most importantly tree management. There are more open vistas and space around greens now which really helps turf quality. I noticed on Trip Advisor some golfers complaining about the edges of many greens and that was addressed in a big way with the tree management.

The Fazio design itself is a showy one with lots of elevated tees, scenic overlooks, greens beside rock outcroppings with waterfalls, and holes that dangle across ridgelines. It is a candidate for Top 100 lists and I can see why. Greens are a little smaller compared to Fazio designs that were built in the 90s and 2000s.

It's great they don't overseed either (except par-3 tee boxes) which makes conditions in the spring and fall presumably excellent. One bummer for purists: members can walk the Barton Creek courses but resort guests can't. Never quite understood clubs that institute this policy.

This course is designed absolutely fantastic. The layout, the structure, course pathway, everything on that end is perfect. Long holes play down-wind, short holes play into the wind.

With that being said, the conditions were considerably lacking. Loads of dead spots on the green where it meets the collar. This course SHOULD be the best one on property, but the conditions just did not match the design here. Considering the budget to build this course, with the waterfalls, greens hanging off ledges, elevation changes, etc. you would think they would keep this course in great shape. All of the other courses on property were in superb condition so you cannot blame the weather for the lack of quality conditions at FF. Fazio did fantastic work here on the design, cannot underscore that enough.

Sand traps unplayable. Shouldn't charge these rates for the condition.

Excellent golf course. The scenery was beautiful and the fairways and greens were in excellent shape.

The layout of this course is superb, from tee to green a great course!

The marshals are very present on the course and kept the slower groups moving.