SMITHWICK, Texas -- It has been almost a month since the Texas Hill Country was pelted by as much as 19 inches of rain in just a four-hour period June 27, but the area is still being affected by the huge amount of water that has poured into the famed Highland Lakes.

Thanks to its superior design and pertinent planning by the development’s management team, the almost-ready-for-play golf course at Waterford Texas (located about 15 minutes from the epicenter of the huge storms) has come through the potential disaster with flying colors.

The track, designed by Austin, Texas-based golf architect Roy Bechtol in collaboration with Randy Russell, received only minor damage and flooding and its front nine should still be ready for limited play in late October or early November, just a few weeks later than originally planned.

The deluge – being called “The 500-Year Flood” by many in the area – drove area lakes far above their full levels. The June rains, added to an abnormally wet spring and summer in the region, sent lake levels to their highest mark in a decade. Waterford Texas has received a mind-boggling 50 inches of rain in 2007.

Two of Waterford’s holes (Nos. 11 and 18) are right next to the far-north shore of Lake Travis, a huge body of water that has risen from 643 feet above sea level six months ago to almost 703 feet as rainwater and runoff poured into the lake.

The fairways of both holes – designed at 698 feet – were overrun with water as high as three feet in some portions. The majority of that water has dissipated and left minimal damage to the fairways. Those holes’ greens are at 705 feet and were not affected.

The two holes are separated by a cove into the development’s marina and clubhouse village. That cove is spanned by a cart/footbridge whose bottom is normally 20 feet above the level of the lake. Three weeks ago the bridge was almost completely underwater, but in mid-July – thanks to the opening of at least six gates on Mansfield Dam on the extreme south side of Lake Travis – the waters had subsided to covering just the entrances to the bridge. The water has fallen below the bridge line this week but more rain in the area has slowed the drop.

“We have really seen the lake come up to historic levels, and I think we have come through it all very well,” said Jimmy Terry, Waterford’s general manager. “Those holes were built with a flood-type situation in mind, but the fact that the lake has come up so far so fast has brought the lake more into play than one could have truly imagined when the course was in its planning stages.”

Bechtol toured the track in early July and was amazed at the amount of water that had poured into the lake. At the same time he was pleased that the course stood up to Mother Nature’s challenge.

“I have never seen this much water in Lake Travis, and I have been in this area for 40 years,” Bechtol said. “We knew when we were building this course that there was a possibility the lake could come up this high, but this is something else entirely. I guess we did something right when you consider how much rain they have had out here and how the course has responded to all the rain and less-than-normal summer conditions.”

Waterford – which will play at 7,249 yards from its back (platinum) tees and to a par of 72 – has an abundance of natural resources in its stunning layout, which both the development’s partnership group and its golf course architects used to the fullest.

Waterford will feature water views from 10 holes, eye-catching elevated vistas, three holes playing along Lake Travis, five tee boxes at every hole and a landscape that graciously combines the native Hill Country terrain with the density buffalo roughs and A-1 bentgrass greens.

Three of the track’s four par-fives play at 586 yards or more, and the course boasts both long (483-yard) and short (331-yard) par-fours. The layout involves creeks and oak-lined hillsides, and Waterford's course blends the Hill Country's Texas terrain with bentgrass greens, Zeon Zoysia fairways and buffalo roughs.

Waterford’s front-nine is essentially ready for play, but the growth cycle for the holes on the back-nine has been affected by the wet spring and summer and the lack of temperatures in the 90s. This has been the coolest first month of summer in Central Texas in the past two decades.
In addition to the golf course and club, the development will include a European-style club village, a private spa, a marina, tennis, an airpark with an approximately 4,500-foot landing strip, a hike and bike trail system, an equestrian center and a family sports center.

About Bechtol Golf Design
Bechtol Golf Design has designed more than 50 golf courses throughout the United States either as the lead architect or as a collaborator with other golf course designers. Led by its principal, Roy Bechtol, Bechtol Golf Design combines cutting-edge technology with creative, traditional design practices to determine the best possible plan for land development.

Upcoming projects include courses in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, in the mountains of Panama, in the Colorado Rocky Mountains near Vail, on the coast of Mexico, in the hills of western Virginia, in the Texas Hill Country along the upper banks of Lake Travis and on Mustang Island on the Texas coast.

Bechtol Golf Design’s completed projects, together with those via Roy’s continuing relationship with World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Kite, include:
The Waterford Club (Smithwick, Texas)
Gaillardia Country Club (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
The Club at Comanche Trace (Kerrville, Texas)
Legends on Lake LBJ (Kingsland, Texas)
Riverplace Golf Club (Austin, Texas)
The Golf Club at Somersett (Reno, Nevada)
The University of Texas Golf Club (Austin, Texas)
The Golf Club of Texas (San Antonio, Texas)
The Golf Club at Star Ranch (Hutto, Texas)
Black Bear Golf Club (Delhi, Louisiana)
ShadowGlen Golf Club (Manor, Texas)
The Ambush at Lajitas (Lajitas, Texas)
ConCan Country Club (North Uvalde County, Texas)
Saddle Creek (Copperopolis, California)

Media Contact:
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