Introduction
First opened in 1972, Slick Rock Golf Course is the original course at Texas’s Horseshoe Bay Resort. Now it has three sibling courses, but Slick Rock still plays a key role in the resort’s golf experience. Featuring flatter, more forgiving fairways and plenty of scoring opportunities, every visitor should make at least one loop here.
Practice Facilities
Slick Rock Golf Course stands on its own property, apart from Apple Rock and Ram Rock, and has its own practice facilities. There’s a large range with two huge swaths of grass as well as a strip of artificial turf. Each hitting station has a bushel of practice balls, a club stand, tees, and an alignment stick. Slick Rock does have a practice bunker on one end of the range but no short game area.
A large practice green is located a few yards from the first tee. It provides an excellent preview of what you’ll see on the course.
Customer Service & Amenities
Though the course is over 50 years old, Slick Rock Golf Course has some of the newest, best amenities at Horseshoe Bay Resort. The expansive clubhouse has a large pro shop that’s packed with soft goods, golf balls, and shoes. There’s also the Slick Rock Grill where you can get top notch breakfast or lunch dishes.
On the course, you’ll find each cart equipped with an excellent touchscreen GPS. Not only do they provide yardages, they have green maps which are a huge help. There are two new comfort stations where you can reload on ice and water, and a beverage cart will visit you several times during your loop.
Beauty & Scenery
Where Apple Rock [review HERE] and Ram Rock have dramatic, sometimes severe elevation changes, Slick Rock Golf Course is a rolling landscape. What it does have in abundance is water. Ponds and streams are visible on eleven holes with the highlight being the waterfall on #14, the “Million Dollar Hole”. Also noteworthy is the plentiful wildlife – deer, birds of prey, and songbirds accompany you on your round.
Tee Shots
The staff at Horseshoe Bay Resort told us throughout our visit that Slick Rock Golf Course was the easiest of their four courses, and the tee shots are the biggest reason why. Compared to the other three courses at Horseshoe Bay Resort, the tee shots at Slick Rock are flatter, and there’s ample room to miss on most holes. That’s not to say the tee shots are flat or dull, they just aren’t as extreme as Ram Rock and Apple Rock.
Slick Rock Golf Course has five sets of tees just like Apple Rock and Ram Rock [review HERE], but only two sets of combo tees are suggested on the scorecard. Still, seven total playing lengths – ranging from 6,867 to 2,407 yards – is a lot more than you get at most courses. Because the elevation is less dramatic than at the other courses, you can pick a more challenging yardage without that decision destroying your scorecard.
The fairways are average in width, though they’re rarely uniform. Most holes snake around a bunker or swell and pinch at various points. You’ll need to consider your distance in concert with your line if you want to set up good scoring chances. If you just want to blast away with your driver, you’re unlikely to be penalized – only 1/3 of the fairway sides are real trouble – but you’re not likely to be in position A, either.
Approach Shots
Where Apple Rock and Ram Rock place the difficulty of their approach shots front and center, the challenge of Slick Rock Golf Course is more subtle. That starts with the lie. These fairways roll and tilt more gently than at the other courses. You’re not getting a flat lie, but it’s less obvious that the ball is above or below your feet. In a way, this can make it more difficult because it’s easy to forget that you need to adjust your aim or swing.
Similarly, the greens at Slick Rock are more gently elevated than at the other tracks. This invites golfers to forget to club up and leave the ball short in one of the 72 bunkers – more than any other course on the property. The lack of dramatic elevation also seems to welcome the ground game. While the fairways do run into the green on several holes, this approach requires precision. As you can see above, several of the green’s mouths are narrow and flanked by bunkers.
The one challenge in the approach game that should be obvious – at least if you’re paying attention to your GPS – is that the greens at Slick Rock Golf Course are not particularly large. They’re not small either – I’d rate them average in size – but the square footage overstates how inviting they are. There are many pin locations where being more than a couple paces long or short will leave you chipping instead of putting. Distance control is the premium skill here.
Greens & Surrounds
Sand is the primary defense of the greens at Slick Rock Golf Course. The traps are average or bigger, and they’re placed to create maximum anxiety in the golfer. On the bright side, the bunkers are not very deep, so you don’t need tremendous sand skills to escape them.
If you’re able to keep your ball out of the sand, you shouldn’t have much short game trouble. The surrounds feature fairly tame elevation changes, and the rough is short enough that you can putt through much of it.
The bent grass greens at Slick Rock Golf Course are average in pace and subtle in their breaks. You can chip and putt aggressively without worrying that the ball will run away from you. Don’t give up the hole unless absolutely necessary, putt with conviction, and you should find some birdies and strong par saves.
Favorite Holes
#11 – Par 4 – 350 Yards
Depending on the wind and the tees that you choose, this par 4 is drivable. That doesn’t mean that driver is the smart play. The fairway gets very narrow once you reach the level of the bunkers, and six total sand traps are happy to grab your golf ball. Laying back too far is dangerous in its own right, as this green is not very large.
#14 – Par 4 – 361 Yards
The “Million Dollar Hole” has one of the prettier and more intimidating tee shots at Slick Rock Golf Course. Big hitters should try to play past the bunkers on the right to get a better look and a shorter club in their hand. Laying back is an option, but you need to stay to the left if you want to be able to see the green.
Conclusion
Slick Rock Golf Course provides an excellent contrast to its neighbors at Apple Rock and Ram Rock. With more inviting tee shots but plenty of challenge into the greens, this is a solid test for any golfer.
Visit Horseshoe Bay Resort HERE
Editor In Chief at Plugged In Golf
He founded Plugged In Golf in 2013 with the goal of helping all golfers play better and enjoy the game more.
Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.