Centerpiece of Hyatt Regency’s acclaimed Lost Pines Resort and Spa takes advantage of natural setting to create on-course “Audubon Experience,” while helping protect the environment and preserving golf’s natural heritage.
(BASTROP, TEXAS) — Like any talented golf course superintendent, Wolfdancer Golf Club’s John Crall was aware of the distinct honor that comes when a golf course receives Audubon Sanctuary certification. He was equally cognizant of the stringent regulations and detailed guidelines Audubon’s select body of golf courses must meet before receiving certification.
Wolfdancer GC is centerpiece of the Hyatt Regency’s renowned Lost Pines Resort and Spa, which roared onto the Austin golf scene in 2006 and earned GOLF Magazine’s “Top 10 New Courses You Can Play” designation. Given the resort’s locale adjacent to McKinney Roughs Nature Preserve — a 1,100 acre nature park housing hundreds of plant and animal species within the rolling box canyons, wildflower meadows and lazy river bends of the Texas Colorado River — the Lost Pines developers knew pursuit of Audubon designation was a foregone conclusion.
“Like everything else, if we were going to do it we wanted to do it the best we could,” Crall said. “Once we started rolling, I realized what a gold mine we had here at Wolfdancer.”
What Crall and the Wolfdancer team uncovered not only earned their resort its prestigious Audobon Sanctuary Certification — achieved by fewer than 25 Texas courses and 1,000 worldwide — it has also been transformed into an interactive “Audubon Experience” at Wolfdancer GC, where golfers are treated to 18 holes of subtly presented natural information via the resort’s on-cart GPS System and detailed informational plaques located around the course.
The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses is an award-winning education and certification platform that helps golf courses protect the environment and preserve the natural heritage of the game of golf. The program serves as a vital resource for golf courses by enhancing the valuable natural areas and wildlife habitats that golf courses provide, improve efficiency and minimize potentially harmful impacts of golf course operations. Golf courses from the United States, Africa, Australia, Canada, Central America, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia have achieved certification in the program.
To reach certification, a course must demonstrate that it is maintaining a high degree of environmental quality in a number of categories including: Environmental Planning; Wildlife and Habitat Management; Outreach and Education; Chemical Use Reduction and Safety; Water Conservation; and Water Quality Management.
Included on the golf experience at Wolfdancer are tasteful informational signs both on the golf course and presented by GPS before a golfer tees off on a particular hole. For instance, there is now a plaque describing the Texas Persimmons in a bed between No. 3 green and No. 4 tee, as well as an informational sign about Colorado River near the 18th tee box, while an informational posting appears on the GPS unit during the round alerting the golfer about the Cedar Elms (Ulmus crassifolia) on the golf course, the most widespread native elm in Texas.
“Being a golfer myself I was cognizant of making sure the GPS informational screens appeared at tees, or in between holes, or after putting out so as not to interfere with the primary function of the system — giving yardages during play,” said Crall. “The information is not disruptive, but if you want to know more it is there. We want to tell a story around the golf course.”
Designed by Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates, the 7,205-yard, par-72 Wolfdancer Golf Club was named after the land it occupies formerly belonging to the Tonkawa American Indian tribe, who performed ceremonial dances covered in wolf skin and imitating the behavior of wolves by dancing on all fours. A golf course is only as good as the land it sits upon, and the property at Hyatt Lost Pines is superb. The Hills layout rambles over a dramatic, 150-acre stretch of terrain dotted with oak, cedar elm and pecan trees and cut by the Colorado River, which dramatically frames the right side of layout’s memorable finishing holes.
Wolfdancer Golf Club features an unexpectedly large amount of rolling, wooded and flowing topographical variance resulting in one resort and one golf course, yet three entirely different experiences: A true cross-section of Texas Hill Country geography playing through three eco-systems. Holes one through four are set on covered rolling prairie land, five through 12 on a heavily wooded ridgeline and 13 through 18 along a shaded valley bordering the Colorado River.
Much of Wolfdancer’s front nine careens over bold, rolling ground where there was little earth movement required and featuring some jaw-dropping views of the countryside. The opening nine and the first two holes after the turn were built on a meadow above the Colorado River, meaning the speed and direction of the wind factors significantly, particularly on higher ground.
Hyatt clearly knows how to deliver the complete golf experience, and its Wolfdancer Golf Club creates a balance between maintaining the site’s natural beauty and designing a golf course that feels like it has been there forever. The massive landscape and topography are highlighted by this well conditioned course, which represents luxury in a beautifully rugged setting — and at times will take your breath away.
The centerpiece of an easy-to-arrange, one-stop resort destination that includes a world-class spa, premier accommodations, horseback riding and five friendly mascots, the sprawling, 405-acre Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa is a 491-room destination resort comfortably adjacent to a larger, 1,100-acre natural park. For those in the know, this resort offers an elegant, backwoods experience minutes away from the hustle and bustle of civilization. Hyatt Lost Pines is located 20 miles of east of the “Live Music Capital of the World” and just 13 miles due east of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Highway 71, yet feels completely secluded in its sleepy farmland surroundings buffered by the McKinney Roughs nature preserve.
The Wolfdancer golf experience also includes a 13-acre driving range, a full-scale practice facility featuring 10 target greens and eight tee boxes, and a short-game area with two chipping greens and bunkers, and GPS units in each golf cart. Visitors not wishing to travel with their golf clubs to the resort can take advantage of the Callaway club rental program.
A beautiful clubhouse features outstanding cuisine and beverage selection at Major Neighbor’s Grill — one of eight dining options along with Firewheel Café. Hyatt Lost Pines is also home to a variety of outdoor activities including horseback riding trails visible from points of the golf course, rafting on Texas’ Lower Colorado River, full-service Spa Django, live music and a water park featuring a 1,000-foot Crooked River with two-story water slide.
Learn more about Wolfdancer Golf Club by visiting www.WolfDancerGolfClub.com or 512-308-WOLF.
Contact: AmericanGolferBlog@gmail.com
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