KINGSLAND, Texas -- After being shuttered for better than 16 months as accountants and creditors jousted over the valuable lakeside property on which it sits, Legends Golf Course is back up and running and enjoying a measure of success equal to if not more so than when the track was mothballed.

Playing a round of golf at the Legends Golf Course is akin to teeing it up at the high-end, daily-fee courses in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio – with a lot of the things that makes the Highland Lakes-area so special thrown in for good measure.

This jewel in the rough was designed by PGA tour pro Tom Kite in conjunction with Austin-based architect Roy Bechtol, and a trip around the track shows the touches each of those men brought to the process.

There is the pinpoint accuracy Kite is known for in his play and his designs, and Bechtol adds his moxie to the routing with the combination of lengthy and short holes, risk-reward opportunities and unparalleled attention to detail both on the course and in its surroundings.
Since the bankruptcy of its developers and original owners closed its gates until January 2007, the Legends – as should be expected – still has some roughness around the edges. But keep the word “potential” in the back of your mind when you tee it up here, and bring your “A” game to the track because you are going to need it.

“We are still working to get the course back to the shape we know we can have it in,” said Robert Strain, who manages the course and the adjacent villas after they were purchased by Strain and his father Don. “The course you see today is really just a stepping stone to the course we will eventually have ready for play.”

There are places at The Legends (hole Nos. 1, 6, 11, 12 and 14) where you have a good chance to make a birdie and improve your overall score, but those are balanced by the course’s tough holes – Nos. 2, 7, 9, 15 and 17 – where the use of a wrong club or a less-than-perfect shot could balloon to big numbers.

Located about a mile north of Highway 1431 in Kingsland on Ranch Road 2342, The Legends on Lake LBJ Golf Club is nestled in the bend of the Colorado River arm of Lake LBJ. This scenic area of the Hill Country offers solitude, elegance and convenience along with challenging golf for the scratch golfer with the back tees at 7,260 yards with a par of 72.
Bechtol has been involved in the design of more than 50 golf courses across the United States, many in conjunction with PGA Tour professional Tom Kite. Bechtol is an expert at the routing of his courses and he keeps in mind real estate values and an emphasis to a property’s natural surroundings and environments to build courses that bring to use every club in the bag.

“We were really lucky with the property that The Legends was built on,” Bechtol said. “The vistas there offer seclusion and elevation changes that only Mother Nature could provide. All we did was find the golf course that was already there and bring it to life. It is great to see that someone has bought the course and is looking to get the things out of it that are so readily apparent.”

The Legends offers three other sets of tees for the mid- to high-handicap golfer and can be forgiving enough for the beginner. Courses designed by Kite often carry the need for target golf shots, especially on approaches, and Legends is no different. The Legends, because of its circular layout, offers both links-style and Hill Country golf at its very best.

The Legends is a golf course that you could get used to playing every day, and is – almost – affordable enough to do so. Suffice it to say that it is one of the area’s best courses and it will only get better.

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 Colorado Rocky Mountains near Vail, 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:
Steve Habel
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