LANDA PARK GOLF COURSE showcases

By Steve Habel, Contributing Writer

There continues to be an upswing in golf rounds in Texas and across the nation that began during the pandemic, with more people taking up the game and those players who already knew how great golf can be teeing it up more often than ever.

Those trends and that impact are perfectly illustrated right now at New Braunfels’ Landa Park Golf Course at Comal Springs, where prime course conditioning, a friendly and attentive staff and a great location combine with a fabulous and challenging routing for a memorable round every time.

Landa Park Golf Course is owned and operated by the City of New Braunfels.

There has been golf on the site since 1938, when the city opened a nine-hole track on 61 acres. In 1972, the course added another nine holes after acquiring 52 adjacent acres.

That track was completely renovated in 2013 by the noted Houston-based golf architecture firm of Finger, Dye, and Spann, who used its $7 million budget to turn the course into one of the most surprising – and fun – places to play golf in the region.

The renovation, which touched every part of the golf course, has created a layout that is fair but demanding, and loaded with character. The course’s playability is off the charts, with plenty of chances to show off your game and use every club in the bag, all just steps from Schlitterbahn, one of the Lone Star State’s top tourist attractions.

The staff at Landa Park GC continue to add aesthetic additions and tweaks to the facility, planting more than 80 trees over the fall and winter to better help define the courses fairways, especially on holes 11, 13, 14 and 17 where the fairways run parallel to each other. Creating that definition is also the purpose of the dry creek bed between the eighth tee box and 13th fairway.

The winter freeze of 2021 and 2023 helped thin out some of the trees that needed to be removed, meaning the ones left are where they need to be to make the course great.

“We’ve also added more river rock around our holes’ tee monuments and around some of the cart paths,” said Quint Alexander, the course’s PGA head professional. “Our goal every year is to add something that adds to the experience for our players – we already have wonderful conditions year around.”

Landa Park GC continues to show an increase in year-to-year rounds, with play up about 15 percent in the most recent fiscal period.

Length isn’t everything

Landa Park Golf Course will not overwhelm player with its length – it only plays at 6,205 from its back set of tee boxes – but the par 71 course can be a tester. Three of its par-3 holes are carded 182 yards or more, and there’s the tough 434-yard par 4 17th and the 571-yard fourth hole, which from the tips is a true three-shot challenge.

Landa Park Golf Course has an interesting routing, featuring a front-nine that plays to a par of 37, with a lone par 3, six par 4s and a pair of back-to-back par 5s. The back nine, carded as a par 34, is short at 2,851 yards but plays much longer than that because of subtle elevation changes and constant doglegs. It has three par 3s, a single par 5, and five par 4s.

The greens at Landa Park Golf Course are well-guarded, with slope, undulation, tiers, ridges, or swales.

Part of the experience at Landa Park Golf Course is the fauna (ducks, egrets, and more) and all of the deer grazing in the rough and in the shade.

The course is scenic with trees, native areas, and ponds plus the clear water of the Comal River, which comes into play on some holes. There are spots here where golfers can watch tubers riding the rapids; on the back nine, you’ll hear a lot of whooping and hollering at Schlitterbahn.

All those aspects have produced a membership of about 200 players and a handful of leagues and options to get out and enjoy the game.

Landa Park GC has become a gathering place for the area’s golf community.You’ll find players there of all ages and from all over the region enjoying the course and staying around afterward for a bite to eat, a beer, and some added fellowship because, well, they just don’t want to leave.

“We feel like the people who play here are our family and we are grateful to be a part of their lives,” Alexander said. “There’s not a day that goes by that someone doesn’t come into the pro shop after the round to say how much they enjoyed their round. It’s very gratifying and, at times, a bit humbling. We understand how much this place means to our players.”

Landa Park Golf Course recently added a new fleet of carts and over the past year purchased new mowing and maintenance equipment to make

Alexander explained. “None of our success growth as a facility would have been possible without a total team effort from the men and women on our staff.”

Alexander offers private and group sure the course is kept in pristine condition and the staff has the right tools to do the right job.

Part of the appeal of Landa Park GC is its consistent excellent condition, a hallmark of a group of working professionals that understand how to make the course shine.

Alexander understands the topto-bottom need for excellence in customer service and credited his staff for their role in making Landa Park Golf Course one of the region’s best places to play golf.

“The group as a whole take great pride in what we have here at Landa Park Golf Course and continue to take ownership in the process and the facility,” lessons for juniors and adults. His approach is to keep it simple and fun for his students and he tailors his instruction to each individual’s needs. With 25 years of teaching experience, he’s had the opportunity to work and teach with Hank Haney, Chuck Cook, and Bill Rogers.