Back in April, wildfires ravaged the area around the lake and consumed about 148,000 acres in Stephens, Young and Palo Pinto counties. The fire destroyed 166 homes and two churches. Possum Kingdom State Park was closed as 90 percent of the park was involved in the fire. More than 450 firefighters, three helitankers and three helicopters fought the fire along a 270-mile fire line.
After reading about all the carnage, I set sail for the area and The Cliffs Resort, which -- by the grace of God -- was not damaged by the fire.
After a night at the comfortable Inn and a good dinner, I teed it up on the devilish von Hagge-Devlin-designed 6,796-yard golf course. There are plenty of forced carries, starting with the 196-yard par-3 third and ending with the over-a-canyon and uphill, then hard-left-turn 555-yard 16th. Then there are two holes (No. 8 -- a 555-yard par-5 (below) -- and 9 -- a 195-yard par-3 on a ledge) placed on the ridge with views of the lake far below. The capper might be the stunning 162-yard par-3 15th, which drops 100 feet from tee to postage-stamp green, with a ledge on the left and a pond on the right. Wow!
I had heard a bunch about the difficulty of The Cliffs course, but I have to say that the course -- if played conservatively and with some modicum of management -- is more fun than punitive. It's not for the faint of heart or those not comfortable with shots over canyons, but it's a blast and very much worth the trip west.
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