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Round Rock, TX

Old Settlers' Park

3.925(based on 6 reviews)
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Old Settlers' Park reviews

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aclay
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 39.7 years 309 played 236 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Old Settlers' Park

Reviewed: Played on:Feb 28, 2024 Played the course:once

Pros:

Excellent level T pads. Most are oversized (5x15, trapezoid), but a few are standard 5x10. All are level and in good shape.
 Tee signs are informative, with par, distance, map and obstacle. The orientation of the map is awkward, and its location near the ground (on a large limestone rock that can double as seating) isn't ideal.
 Legitimate two-shot par 4 holes, six of them.
 Baskets are yellow DGA Mach X. The color helps with visibility, and they catch well. Not my favorite, but they are good.
 Other amenities: restroom, water, map, covered pavilion, plenty of parking, plenty of trash cans.
 I liked hole 11. Others will disagree, but the 285-foot downhill throw through a ton of small trees (especially early) was appealing to me. That tee is in the shadow of the scoreboard from Dell Diamond, home to a minor-league baseball team.
 Best (and possibly worst) hole is No. 9. It's 444 feet with the creek right and trees (and a walking path) left. But the basket is blind. The map shows a sharp dogleg right near the end but doesn't help you know that 200 feet up the fairway there is a 30-foot drop to flat ground beside the creek. The fairway doglegs right then left before paralleling the creek. The basket is about 30-feet left from the fairway. It is probably the best and most frustrating hole on the course. No. 17 is another pro/con hole. It's 571 feet (par 4) blind RHBH anny off the tee into a moderate width tunnel of trees. It looks interesting. The problem is that the fairway is almost completely mud. Given that the rest of the course was dry, this appears to be a permanent condition. Mulch had been placed to help, but it wasn't enough. Then about 300 feet from the tee, you reach stagnant, standing water. About 30-40 feet past that, you had a small bit of runoff from a ditch. The basket is left from the fairway, on a plateau about 20 feet above the fairway.
 Basket placements are well done. Some are near water, others near a slope (and some have both). Still others are on plateaus.

Cons:

Blind shots of the tee, 8 of them. The map helps, but often not enough.
 Long walks. I play to get exercise, but a walk of 1/4 of a mile (not an exaggeration) from 10 to 11 plus several other walks exceeding 500 feet between holes really breaks up the course flow. This impacts navigation in a small way, but at each place where the next tee is not visible from the basket, there are signs to direct you. Unfortunately, that happens seven times.
 Opening 4 holes bring the course down. They are mostly long and mostly open (perhaps lightly wooded). There is elevation, but all of the baskets are blind, so you don't have a good idea on your line until you walk up to where your drive landed and figure out you DIDN'T take the correct line to the basket. No. 4 is a good example of that. It's 565 feet downhill. From the tee, you are looking into a valley but can't see the basket, you assume because of some undulations. You throw straight down the middle. As you get to your disc, you realize the basket was well right of your line and is up on the ridgeline.
 After the opening four holes, the quality of holes and gameplay picks up significantly … until you reach 14. It's just short of 300 feet, flat with soccer fields left and a walking path right.

Other Thoughts:

A few 4x10 pieces of concrete early on look like they might make decent alternate tee pads but are unmarked. I assume these are leftovers from the previous course design.
 Other reviews (and the hole info on this site) only list water in play for two holes (11 and 12). Don't believe it. Starting with hole 5, probably half of the remaining holes have water in play. Perhaps some recent trimming has increased the chances of reaching the water. No. 8 is a devilish example of the water hazard. The hole is 289 feet, and at first glance it appears to be a boring, open hole. However, there are trees long/left of the basket, and when you get closer you realize the creek is short and right. The ground slopes down to the creek. If you have 300-foot power (I don't) and get aggressive, you could easily find the water.
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