Fountains Sparkles With Ponds

Fountains, the newest of our four courses, opened in 1995. This 6,800-yard course is a miraculous match for its beautiful setting. Doug Grove, head golf professional at Garland Resort, notes that this course is loaded with water challenges; it has water on nine of its holes, mainly sparkling ponds enhanced by fountains.                                           

This course with six par-5s, six par-4s and six par-3s is a favorite with players because it features bent grass from tee to green and elegant white sand bunkers.

The opening hole is a straightaway par-4 that measures 391 yards from the back tees and 269 from the forward. “It’s slightly uphill,” Grove said, “and you can hit a driver or a 3-wood off the tee. Par is a good score here because the green is narrow in front and narrow and undulating in the back. You might get to the green in two, but this is still a tough hole to putt.”

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On the way to the second hole, you cross a beautiful log-style bridge that carries you through a natural area that really shows off the wooded wilderness you’ll find all around you at Garland.

No. 2 is a memorable and reachable par-5 (517 yards from the back and 388 from the forward) where a lake threatens on the left hand side, about 160 yards away from the green. Two bunkers on the right-hand side also help to narrow the approach to the putting surface. Golfers playing from the middle tees, said Grove, usually try to hit their drives as close to the water as possible. But to make the green in two at that point, you have to carry your ball over the pond almost the entire way to the green. “Even if you go to the right where there is a little bit of dry land, you still have to cross a little bit of water,” he said. “A lot of balls end up in the pond here.”

The middle holes at the Fountains, starting at No. 7, provide the best opportunity for low scoring. The seventh is the first of four par-5s in a six-hole stretch and measures 580 yards from the back tees and 430 from the forward. This is a long fairway for even the best golfers, but it’s also a dogleg left, offering the chance to cut the corner on the inside edge of the dogleg. However, you do have to carry some bunkers on the left. More bunkers and a pond pinch the approach to the green into a narrow throat.

No. 8 (526 yards from the back tees and 420 from the forward) is an extremely scenic par-5 that is known for its green complex where a pair of ponds divided by a sliver of fairway lap up to the edge of this small, angled green. This sliver looks like a peninsula and plays like one as well.

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You’ll face water again on the par-3 No. 9 (186 yards from the back and 82 from the forward). “But it’s not a very long hole and the green is very wide, so it makes for a good finishing hole for the front nine,” said Grove.              

Another par-3, No. 11 (184 yards from the back tees and 101 from the front), doesn’t have water and doesn’t have bunkers, but is still extremely challenging. “The green sits on a shelf on the side of a hill,” said Grove. “The area left of the green falls way down the hill, leaving you a difficult chip shot if you land there. There’s also a big slope up on the right. A lot of players hit onto the hill on the right and let the slope carry the ball to the green.”     

You’ll face your hardest approach shot on No. 14, a par-4 measuring 412 yards from the back and 285 from the forward, according to Grove. “There’s a very large swamp that covers most of the front of the green,” he said. “The flag is partly hidden by a huge expanse of cattails, so you’re making a blind shot. You’ll want to hit driver off the tee and then take a mid-iron over the swamp.”

No. 15 is a 485-yard par-5 (316 yards from the front) that offers a good chance at a birdie if you can avoid two water hazards. The green forms a peninsula, open only from the front but allowing running shots into the narrow entrance. “Trying to use a mid-iron to get onto the green in your second shot is difficult,” Grove said. “You’re probably better off to lay up just short of the green and chip on.”

You’ll finish with a par-3 (196 yards from the back and 88 from the front) where you need to loft your shot over a pond. “You have to pick the right club,” Grove said, “usually from a long- to mid-iron. You’ll be hitting to a green that narrows toward the back.”

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Distances, ratings and slopes on the Fountains: 6,760 yards (73.0/130); 6,401 (71.5/127); 5,853 (68.7/121); 4,617 (74.1/128). Click on the hole number below to view the hole.