FORE SURE:
by jennifer roolf laster
photography by al rendon
Last year, when Carrie Friesenhahn and her family were thinking about going on vacation, they ran into a little problem; nowhere they considered going was quite as nice as home. “We didn’t really want to go anywhere,” says Friesenhahn, a resident of Oak Hills Country Club. “Everything was so nice here.”
Ah, the life of a golf community resident. Lush views, impromptu cocktail parties, roaming wildlife, comfy clubhouses and, of course, all the golf you can shake a putter at.
“It’s like living in a resort,” says Friesenhahn of her life in the home she and her husband, John, moved to nine months ago.
It’s no wonder golf communities are hot, hot, hot — even by San Antonio meteorological standards. Families are turning to golf course living as never before. With their combination of breathtaking vistas, clubhouse communities and custom homes, golf courses in San Antonio offer consumers a unique lifestyle — and then there’s the golf itself.
“I like being out there in the evenings when it starts to get dark and everything’s quiet,” says Nancy Meadows, a Fair Oaks resident who’s building a home at Cordillera Ranch. “I just like seeing how many shots you can get in before it’s time to go in. It’s a nice time.”
Carter Speer knows exactly why people want to live on the golf course:
“You have a great backyard, and you don’t have to mow,” says the president of Briggs Ranch Realty. Briggs Ranch is an exclusive community in west Bexar County.
“You can live on two and a half acres and feel like you’re living on 25 acres,” he says. “It’s like living on a greenbelt.”
The peacefulness and open space at Oak Hills were a big draw for Friesenhahn and her husband, John. The parents of two boys, John Henry, age 3, and Jackson, age 2, the young couple was looking for a place where the family could enjoy the outdoors. They also like the fact that they can all jump on a golf cart at a moment’s notice and run up the road for a quick dinner at one of many dining establishments the community has. Oak Hills offers a variety of dining options for families, along with supervised childcare. It’s those family benefits that draw as many families to golfing communities as would-be golf professionals.
The Meadows’ family is looking forward to the close proximity to the clubhouse for their son, Taylor, who doesn’t yet drive, and also the added fun of kayaking in the Guadalupe River. The Cordillera community’s River Club offers water-sports equipment and drop-off/pick-up services along the Guadalupe River. “Access to the river was a plus,” Meadows says. “We like the outdoors a lot.”
Meanwhile at Tapatio Springs, Denny Portz and his wife, Paula, make the most of not only the golf course, but the weight room … and the sauna … and the dining facilities … and so on, and so forth.
The pair moved to Tapatio five years ago, attracted by the scenery and the golf. Soon they found an added perk they hadn’t anticipated: free golf balls! “I do find golf balls in the yard,” Portz says cheerfully. “That’s a nice amenity.” And — year five and counting — the couple has yet to lose a window to an errant ball.
Some San Antonio golf communities are by invitation only, but those who live there swear you’ll never find more welcoming folks. It’s a community feeling that’s hard to beat, Meadows says. “I don’t know if it’s because of the clubhouse or not, but you really get to know your neighbors,” she comments.
The lifestyle also allows for more family time, Friesenhahn says. “It’s slowed down our pace of life,” she says. “We’ll go out for a walk in the evening and see everyone sitting out drinking wine or lemonade. Everyone’s very friendly.”
And the shared interests of its residents create a sense of community not easily duplicated. Carter Speer agrees: “There’s a social aspect to these communities,” he says. “You see your neighbors on the golf course in the morning, and in the evening, you’ll see them at the Spurs, at Paesano’s and at the grocery store.”
Still, the heart of living in a golf course community lies in the land itself, in its scenic vistas and quiet evenings. For example, golf had nothing to do with the decision to live at Olympia Hills for the Mitchell family; they just fell in love with the dignified beauty of the Texas countryside.
“Neither my late husband nor I played golf, but we loved the lot and the marvelous view,” Roberta Mitchell says. “It is so serene and peaceful here, and I look out on the lovely greens and feel as though my lot is secluded — even though it’s really not. And I enjoy watching the golfers play late in the day.”
Janet Key, a Realtor with Kuper-Sotheby, has heard something similar many times. When prospective homebuyers come to look at The Dominion, they all exclaim on the beauty of the landscape. “They like the lushness of the area when they come in,” Key says. “It’s green; there are lots of flowers, and everything is well cared for. It’s the nicest place in San Antonio to live.”
Art and Pam Burdick of Burdick Custom Homes also enjoy living on a golf course and the beautiful views they have: “We’re not golfers, but just love it here” says Pam of the couple’s fabulous custom home overlooking the golf course at The Dominion where they’ve lived now for three years. “We like to sit by the pool and look out over the lush, green expanse."
Pam says that the surprising thing about life on the golf course, and the thing that nobody realizes, is that it's so private. “Life overlooking a golf course is tranquil and absolutely lovely. There’s such a grand sense of spaciousness that you feel. Living in a home on the edge of a golf course makes it feel as though we live on a big English estate with lush, impeccably-kept grounds all year round. There are also trees that dot the course and add to the greenery here. It’s outstandingly beautiful," says Pam.
Whether renovating an existing home or buying into one of the new developments going up around San Antonio, golfing enthusiasts — just like all homebuyers — are enjoying the chance to create their dream house.
Meadows and her husband, Floyd, are building their home with the family in mind. In addition to their golf-playing son Taylor, a freshman at Boerne High School, they considered the lifestyle of their golfing daughter, Randi. She travels on the Futures Golf Tour for women golfers about six months out of the year, and then she spends the other six months in San Antonio with them. The family fell in love with the lot at Cordillera a year ago, drawn by its trees and ideal course proximity, and then designed a home that offered private wings for the young golfers and a made-to-be-lived-in game room for everyone. They broke ground in October and plan to be living there by August.
Meadows also took advantage of the ability to plan a home by creating space for a large outdoor kitchen/patio area. “We love to cook outdoors,” she says. “We use it as an opportunity to get together.”
When people call Speer about building at Briggs Ranch, he takes them through a series of questions — How close do you want to be to the course? Do you want to see the sunrise or the sunset? What kind of view do you want? — before setting up an appointment to scope a lot at any time of day. (If you want to see the sunrise from your bedroom window, he wants you to view your lot at sunrise time.) “If I’m not a good listener, I’m not a good seller,” Speer says. “We want people to start out here right.” He’s seeing a lot of Mediterranean style homes going up, but Briggs Ranch is also home to Hill Country rock homes and Dallas-style brick and columns, he says. And the community is also planning an establishment of villas for folks wanting a second residence or vacation get-away.
And while many would never dream of selling their golf hideaway, it’s a comfort to owners that the value of golf community property is steady.
Deer and turkey may look at a golf course as so much lush space in which to parade, but community planners know a well designed and maintained course is the way to a duffer’s soul.
“Briggs Ranch is for, I would say, the golf purist,” Speer says. “Every hole is a signature hole. Every game is a new challenge.”
A golfer himself, Speer says his favorite hole at Briggs changes — depending on “the last one I birdied.” And with San Antonio’s temperate winters, he’s out playing as much as he can.
“We need to do a better job of marketing San Antonio as a genuine, year-round golf destination,” Speer says. “There are probably 35 days a year when you really can’t play,
as compared to other areas where it’s between 60 and
90 days.”
Living on the course allows those Mike Weir wannabes to take advantage of shifts in the weather, teeing up for 18 holes on a sunny December afternoon or squeezing in the back nine on a breezy July evening.
“We’re close enough to go out and play golf in the evening,” Portz says. “You tend to play more when you’re out there.”
Whether playing golf or sitting on a patio overlooking the greens, the peaceful golf course lifestyle has its own, special appeal. Carrie Friesenhahn agrees: “I wake up every day here and it’s beautiful. You feel like you’re on vacation.”
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