Childress Hall (Upper Course)

In the desolate high plains of West Texas, Childress Hall has emerged as one of the world’s premier private golf destinations. The 2,400-acre site has diverse wind-blown dunes – courtesy of the Red River’s sandy riverbed – as well as deep canyon-like ravines that give the two golf courses on property immense character. Most times of the year only a fraction of the river basin has moving water, which allows the exposed sand to blow up onto the adjacent land. This phenomenon created the vast dune network where Childress Hall sits. What was once the Rocking Chair Ranch has become a golf playground, with designs from Tom Doak and Gil Hanse and loads of additional land for more courses.

Doak’s Upper Course – aptly named due to its prominence on the site – traverses smaller, rolling dunes on the front nine before encountering the Red River bank and towering dunes for the final eight holes. In his own words, Doak claimed this to be one of the most natural courses he’s designed. Plenty of built-in character required very minimal earth moving. Construction of the Upper was overseen by longtime Renaissance Golf Design associate, Eric Iverson, who completed a majority of the shaping on site. Most notably, the course exudes variety in all aspects of the game, and the ever-present winds in the Texas panhandle only further exemplify the course’s virtues and strategy. Players are met with many blind shots, oodles of fast-running short grass, and inventive green contours built out of the natural environment. The course is like a puzzle that continues to reveal its greatness with each subsequent play and alternate route taken. Early signs point to this being one of Doak’s very best designs due to his exquisite use of the eclectic terrain.

Take Note…

Careful consideration. During the routing process, Doak found six nine-hole loops on the topography map to maximize the amount of golf on the property. He ended up selecting the two southernmost loops for his course because of his admiration for the canyons that define the 11th and 12th holes, as well as the terrific variety in dune shapes.

‍Alternate. While never officially planned, the course was actually finished with 20 greens. The 11th and 13th holes – both par 3s – have two greens that play in different directions, which also affects how Nos. 12 and 14 are played. Both par 3s on the back nine feature a long and short option, which in turn gives the 12th and 14th holes alternate teeing locations, as well. This flexibility allows the four-hole stretch to differ dramatically day to day while still providing high-quality golf holes no matter the path taken.

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