Game Over 
Future Forum: Guilt, Innocence, and the Death Penalty 
Par Excellence
We asked eighteen of the biggest names in golf—Hall of Famers, tournament champs, up-and-comers, and coaches—to name their favorite hole in Texas. Presenting the course of their dreams. And yours.
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“It’s a great strategic par 4. Choosing the aggressive tee shot—if successful—leaves a great opportunity for a birdie with a short wedge approach. Playing a more conservative tee shot leaves a significantly more difficult second to the smallest green on the course. This hole provides many opportunities for birdies, but with at least two chances to hit balls in the water, it also provides the opportunity to mess up a good round of golf.”
Kite won the U.S. Open in 1992. He lives in Austin.
Hank Kuehne
Hole 1 Cottonwood Valley Course, TPC Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, Irving
Par 4, 448 yards
“Cottonwood, where they play the Byron Nelson Championship, is where I have some of my earliest memories of learning to play golf—I always love to go home to play the Nelson. There are trees to the left, a bunker to the right, and a lake short and right of the green. The green is the shape of Texas, with the bunker in the back being the shape of Oklahoma. I’m a Texas guy, so I have a lot of pride in my state.”
Kuehne won the 1998 U.S. Amateur championship. He grew up in dallas and now lives in West Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Kelli Kuehne
Hole 18 Dye Course, Stonebridge Ranch Country Club, Dallas
Par 4, 467 yards
“The hole doglegs around the course’s signature lake to the left. With the wind blowing left to right, it brings the lake into play, and with the high rough on the right you have to be right on your first shot. Then water comes into play, and with bunkers guarding the right side of the green, your short game had better be on.”
Kuehne, Hank’s sister, won the U.S. Amateur championship in 1995 and 1996. She lives in Dallas.
Justin Leonard
Hole 13 Royal Oaks Country Club, Dallas
Par 4, 475 yards
“I grew up playing this course and have always loved the challenge of number thirteen in particular. You have to hit a great drive, then a great mid- to long-iron approach to a green guarded by water in front and a bunker long. You really have to hit four quality shots to make par.”
Leonard won the 1997 British Open. He lives in Dallas.
Byron Nelson
Hole 15 Preston Trail Golf Club, Dallas
Par 5, 562 yards
“I helped build the course with Ralph Plummer, and it hosted the Nelson tournament for fifteen years. The hole runs west to east, with houses and rough on the left and a big lake on the right. You have to be sure not to go out-of-bounds either way. Even if you hit a good tee shot, you are faced with a sand bunker to the left of the green and also in the back right. If you go for two and miss, you are in a bad situation. One time, after tying the first five holes of the back nine in a playoff, Jack Nicklaus beat Arnold Palmer by birdieing the hole.”
Nelson won eleven consecutive tournaments in 1945, a record that stands to this day. He died at his home in Roanoke on September 26, 2006, less than two months after this interview.
Judy Rankin
Hole 6 Country Club Course, Stonebriar Country Club, Dallas
Par 3, 148 yards
“I think every great golf course needs to have a tiny hole. Here, you hit off an elevated tee where it plays downward to the green with water on the front and to the left of the hole. It’s a wedge hole for just about everybody.”
Rankin was the LPGA Player of the Year in 1976 and 1977. She lives in Midland.
Sherri Steinhauer
Hole 3 Original Eighteen, Onion Creek Club, Austin
Par 4, 337 yards
“This is a hole in which golfers may be greedy and test their skills off the tee with a longer club and then have a shorter club into the green, possibly setting themselves up for birdie. However, if a player takes this aggressive route and is errant off the tee, disaster could follow. The rolling creek is lurking on the right, a visual obstacle to test the golfers’ nerves.”
Steinhauer won the 1992 du Maurier Classic and the 2006 British Open. She attended the University of Texas at Austin from 1981 to 1985 and now lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Lee Trevino
Hole 4 Cypress Creek Course, Champions Golf Club, Houston
Par 3, 221 yards
“There is only one bunker next to the large green. You can’t go right or left—you have to go long. A ravine lies to the left of the green. I played it with Ben Hogan during the 1970 Houston Open. The next year I heard he hit two or three balls into the ravine and got so mad that he withdrew from the tournament.”
Trevino is a two-time winner of the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship. He lives in Dallas.
Lanny Wadkins
Hole 16 Preston Trail Golf Club, Dallas
Par 4, 415 yards
“I would have to consider it the signature hole of Preston Trail. I birdied the hole on my way to win the Byron Nelson tournament in 1973. I really like how there are no bunkers, but there is still trouble to the right and the left with trees. The key is putting it in the fairway. White Rock Creek runs right before the green, so the longer the drive you have, the shorter the iron shot will be.”
Wadkins won the PGA Championship in 1977. He lives in Dallas.
Tell us about your favorite hole in Texas.
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