Golf in Hot Springs is Cold...and then Hot, but good

I ventured to Hot Springs, Arkansas last week for a handful of rounds at venues ranging from a good semi-private track (Belvedere Golf Club, below), to private and venerable (the Hot Springs Country Club) to four invite-only courses at Hot Springs Village.



The first part of the week sported weather that was cold (in the low 40s, drippy and windy) and made three of the tracks all but unfun (is that a word?) to play. There was alot to like about Belvedere (holes 1-7 were great, holes 8-15 are head-scratchingly difficult and the closing stretch gives you a chance to recover) and even more to enjoy about HSCC's Arlington course (below) -- which has welcomed golfers to its hilly and challenging layout since 1898.



The round at the Cortez Golf Course at Hot Springs Village could have been so great - the routing by Tom Clark is both interesting and demanding -- if I could just have felt my hands and the golf ball (which was often knocked down by the frigid wind and got no roll on the saturated fairways) could have traveled a little better. That's how cold it was folks.

The final two days of the trip sported great weather and tours around HSV at the excellent Diamante Golf Club (the village's true private track, below), all 27 holes at the Isabella Golf Club (I played 45 holes that day, readers) and a final round at the stellar Granada Golf Club. These were the trip's halcyon rounds and based on the final two days, I would run back to Hot Springs for a chance to tee it up again.



If you've never been -- or even if you have -- you have to go and enjoy.