Pros:
This is built on the old golf course at Kelly AFB. The Lackland OAC has plenty of discs for rent inside, and a clubhouse with restrooms, drinks and snacks. There are very nice scorecards with a map available.
The holes make outstanding use of the terrain and vegetation. There are some elevation changes on a handful of holes, 3 blind tee shots, a few tee shots that come out of tight trees, and 3 directly over water.
It's a fun mix of holes. It's tough to shoot under par, but it's tough to have a terrible round, either. The #16 hole is the showpiece, with its impressive views, and you just want to launch your whole bag and watch them sail down the hill.
The front 9 is pretty soft, and you'll need to take advantage of it as the back 9 is much tougher, and longer.
Holes 1-4 are almost must birdies. 5-7 are makeable pars, and hole 8-9 are birdies if you've got the stones to make the tee shot.
Holes 10-11 can be par but become bogeys if you're not careful. #12 is a hole you need to bomb low and straight to make par. #13 is my favorite, as you stand on a small hill and bomb it down into a little grove of some pretty large trees. 14 is more downhill than it looks, with a very large tree guarding the pin.
Hole 15 is a short over water shot, and 16 is the signature hole. 17 is over water, and 18 is a simple uphill final hole.
UPDATE: For 15, you now look uphill from the basket at 14 and see the old ball golf tee sign for 15. Throw for the #18 basket.
- For 16, throw from the stone tee at basket #18 to old basket #17.
- For #17, use the old #18 tee and basket.
- For #18, throw from the benches on the walking trail between #1 and #15 to the practice tee.
This is a very enjoyable course with a lot of variation. Some of the greens are built up, some are tucked behind or under trees, and all in all they add to the course.
Cons:
It's not mowed as often as I'd like, but it doesn't get too tall. Just a little shaggy sometimes.
(Update from October 2010: The mowing and conditions have actually made the course so much better, I gave it an extra 1/2 disc in my rating. The fariways are mowed and the OB is now a bit more punishing to bad shots, like a great course should be. It's even mowed from one basket to the next tee! 15-17 are now completely unplayable, but some new holes have been marked.
Other Thoughts:
You must have a military ID to get on the base, but you can get all the civilian friends in with you you want.
It is pretty cool that if you're there at 5 pm they play the National Anthem and everyone, everywhere takes a break and salutes (or holds their hand over their heart) and then goes back to what they're doing. This has to be the only DG course that has that.