Kerrville's Comanche Trace Adding Another Nine

The Club at Comanche Trace, one of the best golf courses in Texas, is getting a new nine holes.

The new nine is scheduled to join the existing 18 in Fall 2007. Construction is under way now, and photos of the construction are being posted on the Comanche Trace Web site at www.comanchetrace.com/golfcourse_ThirdNine.htm.

I like the photo above (taken in November) because it shows why building golf courses in the Hill Country can be a challenging and expensive proposition: all that rock to deal with.

Interestingly, the new nine is being designed by Jay Morrish & Associates, and not the designers of the original 18, Tom Kite, Randy Russell and Roy Bechtol. There's certainly nothing wrong with hiring Morrish's company - Jay Morrish is among the first rank of golf course architects. (It's my understanding that Jay Morrish is mostly retired these days, with his son Carter Morrish taking the lead on most designs, although the Comanche Trace Web site makes it sound like Jay and Carter will be collaborating.)

But the Kite and Bechtol-Russell team did such a fantastic job with the original 18, you'd think the club's first inclination would have been to go back to them for the addition. Assuming the club did check first with the original team, the reason for their not doing the job could be any number of things (too busy with other projects, for example).

At any rate, look for the new nine to one of Texas' best layouts next year.