2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play: Inside the Course (Austin Country Club)

Austin Country Club is a Pete Dye designed course, which means players who find themselves out of position will find themselves in a world of hurt.  Dye courses are adventures that players can never be adequately prepared for, and match play just ratchets up that intensity. 

 

The 7,108 yard, par 71 track is the oldest course in Texas and might be a little too short for a stroke play event, but it's absolutely perfect for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.  It's not a bombers course, but a fair share of drivable par-4s will produce immensely watchable and dramatic theater.  Strategy and accuracy can make up for a lack of distance off the tee, which means any kind of player can win here. 

Resting on the shores of Lake Austin and the Colorado River, the views are spectacular, and in typical Dye trademark, also visually intimidating.  Desired targets are crowded by huge pot bunkers, railroad ties, and forced carries over water and canyons.  And it's Texas, you know there’s a vortex of wind. 

 

Firm, undulating greens protected by contours around the perimeters, narrow fairways squeezed by swales, and a marked difference between the two nines make this course a course a complex and guileful challenge.  The front-lakeside and back-hillside nines are reversed for the event, primarily to spotlight the exacting second-shot nature of holes 10 through 18. 

The Back Nine 
The back-nine holes feature canyons, creeks, and ravines, winding their way through the extreme elevation changes of Texas hill country.  Many approach shots will be 120 yards or less, favoring players who excel with their wedges. 

 

No. 11 is a deceptive par-4, 446-yard hole that doglegs left alongside Deer Creek Canyon, and requires a very accurate approach over a deep ravine.  No. 12 is a reachable downhill par-5, but a green tucked next to water will give players with rickety swings a reason to pause.  While No. 13 is a potentially drivable par-4, requiring a long carry over another canyon, but get too aggressive and there’s water lurking on the left. 

 

 

No. 18 is maybe the most dramatic, risk-reward hole on the back-nine with a jaw-dropping elevation drop from the middle of the fairway into the green.  Players who take driver on this 476-yard par-4 hole and can avoid the trees and bunkers along the left side will catch a downslope that puts them in sand-wedge range for their second shot.  Those who opt more conservatively to position themselves at the top of the hill still face an intimidating approach from about 200-yards out. 

The Front Nine 
Finishing match holes on the dramatic front-nine play adjacent to Lake Austin and are more of a links-style design with deep pot bunkers and waste areas.  Routed on basically flat terrain, it's still important players find the right places in fairways for the best angles to attack certain pins. 

 

This principle of playing to restricted targets is especially evident on the par-5, 7th hole (No. 16 during match play).  Aggressive players will be tempted to use a long-iron or fairway wood trying to reach the green in two.  However unless they're certain they can reach, a better play might be to lay up with their second shot. 

 

Bunkers in front of the green will demand a high-lofted approach with lots of spin to stop the ball quickly on an undulating green, and players too close with their second shot will have a harder time holding the green, especially with front pin placements. 

 

 

The par-4, 9th hole (No. 18 during match play) is another great illustration of finding the right part of the fairway off the tee.  Players might be enticed with driver here to avoid bunkers pinching the left side, and have a shorter approach into the green.  But shorter here doesn’t mean easier.  Again, from the top of the hill in the middle of the fairway players will have access to just about any hole location, and will find it easier to stick one close.