AUSTIN, Texas – Hometown golf course architect and land planner Roy Bechtol is collaborating with renown designer and shaper Jim Fazio on the most modern of projects – a 12-hole par 3 lakeside course that will combine golf and social fellowship with a Texas-friendly influence.
The new, members-only project is called Austin Beach Club and is in the final stages of planning and permitting, with ground set to be broken in September, pending city of Austin approval. The 63-acre site sits on the banks of the Colorado River just east of the Texas capitol’s burgeoning downtown sector and literally two miles from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on a former mining hub that’s flush with sediment from the river.
Bechtol, Fazio and club founder Lauren Carson call the club a “nature getaway 15 minutes from downtown.” The site has traditionally been family-owned ranches and farmland, and plenty of the surrounding area will not be touched, preserving that rural charm.
“The property is so magical,” said Carson, an entrepreneur and founder of Kinect Solar, a solar industry services company. “We have downtown views, and there’s just this feeling you get when you go out there. Whether you want to golf or just decompress, Austin Beach Club will be about getting into nature and connecting with other people.”
Holes at the golf course will be “connected,” with the routing designed to be a test for good players, an introduction to golf for those new to the sport and a low-pressure escape for folks looking to just decompress. A four-acre lake is the centerpiece of the course and the club as a whole.
Bechtol, who designed the six-hole par 3 Spieth Lower Forty at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin as well as celebrated short-game areas on a handful of his courses, understands that “untraditional” courses like the 12-hole track planned at Austin Beach Club are the wave of the future.
He expects the course at Austin Beach Club to be played with two or three clubs and a putter – and likely a drink in hand. There will be stations to set down your beverage on each tee box and green.
“Millennials want to play golf in a way that takes less time and is more fun,” Bechtol explained. “This is a much quicker way to enjoy golf and opens up the experience to more people who we know will fall in love with the game.
“What we’re trying to create at the Austin Beach Club is to play real golf, get outdoors, get away from computers and other every day stresses.”
Austin Beach Club’s course will have holes ranging in length from 78 to 120 yards and each teeing area will have two sets of boxes. The sixth hole will finish at the clubhouse to facilitate truncated rounds when time is short. Greens will be protected by bunkers and will average about 3,000-square feet in size.
“The land here is fabulous, and we let the terrain and what Mother Nature has given us dictate how the holes will be routed and how it will be played,” Bechtol said. “Mature live oaks are spotted around the layout and there will be plenty of native grasses on the edges to frame the holes and the property as a whole.”
Fazio said Austin Beach Club’s golf course will be a place “where grandparents can play alongside their children and grandchildren.”
“We envision a course that is friendly and unintimidating but also good enough to be challenging and memorable,” Fazio added. “At Austin Beach Club the golf will be a huge part of an experience in which the members and their guest can socially interact in a way that’s fun – it will have the ‘Austin’ vibe.”
Along with the golf course, plans include walking trails and a clubhouse with fine dining. There will be kayaking, paddle boarding and canoeing as well as wellness classes and social interaction with an Austin style, with the club designed to create a community for startup founders, downtown tech workers, families and anyone else interested in outdoor recreation.
Austin Beach Club’s mantra is “disconnect to reconnect,” and the golf course reflects that ideal. The plan is to light the golf course and for it and the club’s other recreational services to be open through evening hours, even as late as 2 a.m.
Carson believes the club will fill a niche that’s missing in the Austin market.
“Austin Beach Club will be a place to spend time with people when you don’t want to go to a bar and want to spend your ‘downtime’ in nature and with people that revel in being outside.” she said.
