Now Playing : Deep in the heart of . . . Scotland? - Brief Article

Two new Texas daily-fees have abandoned the usual Lone Star golf decor of mesquite and sagebrush in favor of Scottish-style humps and hollows. Magnolia Creek Golf Links, south of Houston, and The Tribute, north of Dallas, pay homage to the birthplace of golf.

Magnolia Creek was designed by Tom Clark with three nines (Ireland, Scotland and England) inspired by, among others, Scotland's North Berwick and Northern Ireland's Royal County Down. Clark reshaped a desolate field into a landscape of ragged dunes, then covered them with native grass areas now called "the gunch." A local rule allows the gunch to be played as a lateral hazard. Clark's ambition is to recapture the bump and run, and with each nine topping out at nearly 3,700 yards, they had better keep those 419 Bermuda fairways firm and fast.

Meanwhile, former Oklahoma University All-American Tripp Davis designed The Tribute with replicas of famous Scottish holes like the Road Hole at St. Andrews and the Postage Stamp of Royal Troon, as well as some not-so-famous yet compelling ones like the first at Machrihanish. The Tribute's holes are uncanny duplicates, and it borders Lake Lewisville, giving it an even more authentic feel.

Of course, the climate and vegetation in Texas don't duplicate what you find in Scotland. But what these courses lack in latitude, they make up for in attitude. Both capture the spirit of the old game of golf.

COPYRIGHT 2001 New York Times Company Magazine Group, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group