Jimmy Clay Golf Course

I’ve played this course a few times over the last year. It’s in exceptional shape. For the price, you can’t beat it. It can play slow at times, but if you pick an off day you can finish in under 4 hours. Great South Austin muni.

I love this course. I have played it for over 10 years. They are going to close it in stages in 2015 to fix the greens. I remember them redoing the greens a few years ago but honestly they made them worst. There are bathrooms out on the course and water at almost every hole. Great public course. I can’t wait for it to open again in September 2015. There are drink girls but there is only one and doesn’t come around that often. There is a little snack bar to get food and drink between 9 & 10. Cost around $ 35 to play and that includes a cart. Great price. Driving range and putting greens to warm up. Thank you City of Austin for keeping up your public courses.

Played the course this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it. In excellent condition for a public course and the burger and fries at the 19^th were excellent! The fact that the senior citizen rate is available from age 55 was the icing on the cake!

«Woohoo! As good as it gets!» 5 star review? You might be thinking this guy is nuts. That is your right to think this of me. You might be saying there are MUCH better golf courses in the Austin area. Good for you, go to whatever community course it is you think is a better place to play, hit your ProV1s into some a-hole’s backyard and leave me in peace at my favorite venue. I enjoy the layout of both Jimmy Clay and Roy Kizer courses and the challenges each provide.

This place is great especially for golfer trying to improve your game. There are two courses and a full practice facility.
Staff is incredibly friendly. If you play a twilight round they let you play as long as there is daylight. Drives me nuts when course tells me carts need to be in by 7:30 when its July… plenty of light left. Understand the golf course employees want to go home too but I appreciate the management here recognizing how much that 30 minutes means to those of us that daydream about getting out on the course all day!
Kizer is slightly more expensive and gets better love from the groundskeepers. Conditions on Clay are consistently above average for a course in it’s price bracket though.
Seems to be a common complaint among playing partners that the greens on Clay are no good. They aren’t great and if you’re in the single handicap range it would probably affect your score. But if you’re a single handicap you have probably played a lot of golf and understand this is a municipal course with high traffic and brutal weather. Groundskeeper can only do so much with those $ 23 greens fees.

As far as Municipal golf courses go this is probably my favorite in Austin. The greens are usually in above average shape and unlike most courses they don’t pack people on top of each other.
The facilities are outdated but are kept pretty clean.
The one downside is there is usually only one beverage kart girl working both courses– nothing worse than a OB slice and not having a beer to console you.
Cheers!

This review is for the Roy Kizer course. I played a foursome there last Saturday and it was a pretty good course, except for all the BIRD POOP covering about 50% of the greens! There was big black bird droppings everywhere when you’re trying to putt — it was disgusting!
I’m not saying there was a little bit here and there… I’m saying that you didn’t even want to putt half the greens because you literally couldn’t miss all the land mines everywhere. It made for some terrible putting conditions and a golf towel that ended up getting thrown away.
I understand preserving wildlife and all, but it wouldn’t be so hard to sweep the greens once every couple hours. With what they charge, they should be able to afford to pay a high school kid $ 10 an hour to clean the poo. Shoot, just offer someone a free round and you’d get someone interested, I’m sure.
Other than the high price for a muni-​course and bird poop — it was a good course. We were backed up at the start, but it really opened up and we weren’t waiting on the group in front, nor did we feel rushed by the group behind. It’s a good looking golf course as well.
If no poop, they’d get 3 stars. If they had no poop and charged closer to what a muni should be (around $ 30 – 35 instead of $ 46.50) they would get 4 stars… possibly 5.

Let’s invent a word — «fungly». I don’t care about the condition of my golf stakeouts as long as I can knock off a tidy carpet chunk with my six iron one in a while. Mostly grass… mostly.
The greens need help. My personal favorite is hole 14, or as I call it, Daytona. Compared to the other Austin public courses this particular green is supersh*tty, and that’s saying something.
Pro shop is useful and friendly. The carts, well, they ramble along just fine.
Overall, a wide open space next to McKinney Falls State Park isn’t the worst place to spend a Saturday.

This review is for the whole 3 course complex:
Very nice courses. The four hole par 3 short course is really well maintained for a practice course. While not the fault of the management, there are some douchebags that go on it and try to treat it like a chipping green, hitting up to 10 balls a hole… That sucks. But for a novice, the short course is very nice to get a feel for the game without feeling like you are on display on a main course.
The main courses here are pretty well maintained for a Muni course. I like Lions too, just different. Kizer/​Clay is pretty forgiving, more so than Lions.

CLARIFICATION!!!
On 3÷27÷2012 Judge R. wrote about a marshal names Carlos… NOT ME, my name is Carlos Lopez Sr and the owner of Playem Again Pardner. I did marshal at Lions for 6 years and enjoyed every bit of it
The Clay/​Kizar complex has always been a great place to not only play but also practice. The staff from the pro shop, maintenance, marshals and snack bar, all make it and enjoyable experience

Very nice course situated dead smack in the middle of the hood. The course and greens are well kept. It’s a little pricey for a muni course but the staff are friendly and the course itself is challenging yet fun. The only drawback is this place get’s easily backed up. There are lot of golf teams and group players here constantly. Come at a peak time on a weekend during a PGA major and you’re looking at a 4−5+ hour round. Ouch.

Marshals are seriously aggressive, rude, and arrogant. they do not listen to the customers when we say the teams in front were slow, not us. I believe similar reviews are posted? I used to love this course but never going back because of the disrespect. By the way I am a 20 handicap and played with scratch golfers at that time.

Next to Roy Kizer, Great staff two great golf courses. Players style hamburgers.

I like this municipal course a lot. I go to Lions more often b/​c it’s closer, but this course is much nicer. Weekend is about 27+ 12 dollar cart fee I think. It’s real crowded and slow on weekends though (18 holes last week was projected to be 5.5 hours… Ouch). Muni course so BYOB also which is awesome.
I will be frequenting here more often. Funny I played 2 days in a row here. 1^st day par and bogey golf for first 9 holes. Next day, +4 per hole. Argh, why is golf so frustrating?

This course that I attend about twice a week to play and practice on my game really let me down. I had a group with a beginner and was on pace to finish the round in about four and a half hours (I know a little long). She was so excited to be learning the game, until the marshal Carlos showed up. He was a constant harassment and showed us nothing but disrespect. They get one star for the attention and time that the Superintendent Nick Smitham gave us after we were so moved to anger by this man Carlos, we quit our round. Just want to say thanks to you Carlos for being a great ambassador for the game. If the course does not want beginners or ladies trying to learn then say so from the get go. I may be a Austin course but they sure do not have a Austin vibe. Stay clear of this one.
For the price you pay you are better off going to Plum Much nicer greens and a more accommodating staff.

This is the course I grew up on here in Austin. I have played this all my life, and actually have pictures of me hitting my first golf ball here.
Cheap green fees, can usually find some online for 25 and under with cart, cant beat it! Recently played, and it was a bit long from the tips, seemed longer then before. Greens were like rocks, but its been 60+days off 100+ degrees so I understand that. Fairways have always been well taken care of. Overall well maintained.
Pro shop guys, I will say these are some of the nicer guys around. Not saying others are mean, but these guys are always really friendly and even upgrade range balls to large sometimes. Not to strict on tee time when slow, and really give a sense they enjoy being there. I applaud that as I have dealt with some gruffer types before. Always nice to know if you are running a bit late you wont get barked at and they will work with you on tee time.
I would give them a 5 if it weren’t for the island par 4. I am definitely not a fan of it and think it was better before. Just my honest opinion. Other then that, I love this course and hope to one day have my son/​daughter hit their first ball here.

This is my first year in Austin, and having moved from Jersey (where amazing county courses are the norm) I expected the heat to cause the county courses here to be neglected.
Not the case at the Roy Kizer/​Clay complex. I’ll keep this to the Clay side since that’s what this page is for…
Right now, they are having trouble with two of the par 5’s greens. That being said, they have COMPLETELY torn them up and replanted. I applaud this decision as so many courses will attempt to just rope off sections and re-​seed. Hopefully they fill in, until then, temporary greens and short par 5’s!!!
As for the course itself, from the whites this course is not very hard. From the blues and blacks, strategically placed trees, wind, and tricky greens will make the round fun.
Some notes:
Hole #1, tough hole to cut corner as LARGE trees stand in the way, you need a nice draw to be within 150 off the blues.
Hole #3, I think the toughest hole on the course. If you go left, you’re in the woods, and it is VERY EASY to drive through the fairway. If you hit it straight or with a slight slice (like me) you should be able to go up the right side and have a decent look in.
Hole #6, gimmicky hole — SHORT hole with danger on both side which will prevent par. You need a good 210 – 220 shot off tee to have a good look at green, any further back, this green doesnt hold well.
Hole #18, great finishing hole, tough, tight, LONG. Par here is a great score.
Good course, not bad shape for a muni.

Only 3 reviews? WTF.
I would venture to guess that there have been at least that many holes-​in-​one on par 4’s here in the courses long history.
Great little course for dirt cheap. Not much of a practice area but a great place to grab some cold-​beers and play some golf. Never too crowded and doesn’t play too slow (ie Lyons).

While I live closer to Lions Municipal, I think the Jimmy Clay course is much, much better. I walked on a weekday, so the rate was not too bad ($ 24).
For a public muni, this course was in great shape and the greens were fantastic. The course was not too long, but had some challenging shots — especially the island green on a par 4 and a 98-​yard par 3 with a very small postage stamp-​like green.
It’s a fairly wide open course and I played the same ball through my entire round, which is not a common occurrence for me. I thought the bunkers were in great shape (relative to Texas conditions). Sure, there was a smattering of ant mounds, but it was not that bad.
Overall, I would recommend this course to anyone who wants to play 18 holes for under $ 40. If you live in North Austin and were considering a short drive to Lions, it is worth the longer drive to head out to Jimmy Clay

This is a great golf course, all things considered. It’s a public muni, so you can get on for a fair price. It’s $ 17.50 on the weekdays and a mere 20 bucks on the weekends. (cart is extra).
The course is relatively flat and can be considered «links» style, although you won’t be facing the winds of Scotland or the sandtraps of the Old Course here. However, if you like to grip it and rip it with little adverse consequence, I’d recommend heading to Jimmy Clay.
As a note, the grass is always so green because the course is built on top of an old landfill, where years of decomposing materials have infused the soil with nutrients.