A trip to the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & Spa just east of the Texas capital city of Austin lulls you into a splendid bliss, thanks to its call for serenity and relaxation and a feeling you’re far off the beaten path.
The combination of the resort’s Texas-themed hotel, its lavish spa, an unmatched lazy-river pool and the overall environs create a menu of amenities that can recharge one’s battery. For golfers, there’s also an outstanding golf course that commands and demands attention.
Here in the rolling hills along the banks of the Colorado River is Lost Pines Golf Club, a 7,304-yard, par-72 course designed by Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates that’s recently added four holes, subtracted four others and rerouted its layout to accommodate growth at the burgeoning and uber-plush getaway.
The course (formerly called Wolfdancer Golf Club) opened in June 2006 and makes the most of the region’s terrain and natural beauty by occupying about 150 acres of the expansive 405-acre resort footprint, which is located about halfway between the Austin airport and the town of Bastrop.
The Hyatt Lost Pines Resort is two miles off the main road, and it feels secluded, thanks to it being surrounded by sleepy farms and the 1,100-acre McKinney Roughs nature preserve, set just east of the resort further down the Colorado River.
The Lost Pines region in Bastrop is separated from the better-known East Texas Piney Woods by some 80 miles. While nearly all of the “lost pines” grow in a narrow, 13-mile strip on either side of the Colorado, a stand of 38 acres in McKinney Roughs sits 10 miles further west of the main forest. These woods are the westernmost tract of the country’s great Southern Pine belt.
At Lost Pines Golf Club there are plenty of pines but even more ancient oaks, cedar elms and pecans. The trees affect play but not so much as you feel you’ll need an axe for your 14th club.
On many golf courses, an architect is lucky to have two desirable golf environments in which to create distinct golf holes. At Lost Pines Golf Club, Hills and Forrest had three: high prairie, forested ridgeline and a sparsely wooded floodplain in the river valley.
Most of the fairways at Lost Pines Golf Club are fairly wide, while much of the challenge comes in the approach shots. There are lots of randomly scattered steep-faced bunkers just waiting for your ball, and No. 8 sports the 15-foot-deep “Big Mouth” that guards the fairway. The greens are large and undulating and kept quick but fair.
The fairway at the 603-yard par-5 third seems nearly as wide as it is long, with the view from the tee creating a dilemma. Fifteen randomly scattered fairway bunkers accentuate the heathland quality on this ridge-top hole while also creating a dozen different lines of play. Perched at the terminus of this broad ridge on the property’s highest point and surrounded by long strips of deep, flat-bottomed, grass-faced bunkering, the scythe-shaped, elevated third putting surface offers a 360-degree view of the course and surrounding countryside.
A leaning oak overhangs the front-right corner of a comma-shaped green on the tough, 594-yard par-5 fifth, and No. 6 (a 166-yard par-3) brings you firmly back to Earth, thanks to its smallish green framed by bunkers on the right and a cascading waterfall on the left.
Hole Nos. 10-13 are the new offerings at Lost Pines GC, replacing four holes downhill in the river valley on which the hotel will expand its popular lazy river attraction and construct casitas for upscale lodging. Of the new quartet, the 11th and 13th are true standouts. The former is a reachable 352-yard par 4 with an island green surrounded in front by forest and on the left by a pond; the latter is a true three-shot par 5 carded at 636 yards that meanders downhill to a green fronted by a creek.
No. 16 at Lost Pines is one of the prettiest and most challenging holes in Lone Star State. The 155-yard, drop-shot par 3 features a putting surface that seems to cling to the side of a mountain and looks like a tabletop from the tee. The hole is started atop a ridge with a 180-degree view looking down on the remainder of the course, the Colorado River, the entire resort and far into the distant horizon.
Then things change – and get a lot harder – when you leave the 16th green and descend to the river valley below. The final pair of holes run back and forth in the flatlands and are cut through the old, broad-canopied oak, cedar and pecan trees.
First up is the long (470-yard) dogleg-right 17th, which takes two great shots to reach in regulation and an even better performance on its elevated green to make par. The round is completed on a 586-yard par 5 in the shadow of the clubhouse.
Lost Pines Golf Club offers five sets of tees. The track has garnered honors as the No. 6 on the “Best Courses You Can Play” in Texas and No. 56 “Top 100 Resort Golf Courses for 2009,” both by Golfweek magazine.
Lost Pines satisfies off the course as well
Away from the golf course, relaxation is the M.O. at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort & Spa. The experience is highlighted by the Spa at Lost Pines, the resort’s full-service 20,000-square-foot spa.
There are also six separate dining options, including the sublime Sushi By Scratch, an exclusive 10-seat omakase journey where guests can enjoy a playful assortment of delicacies from both land and sea.
Recreational amenities include the aforementioned water park with multiple pools, including a 1,100-foot flowing river pool and water slide; Camp Hyatt children’s program; as well as bike riding, an equestrian program, kayaking, rafting and fly-fishing on the Colorado River, and more than 16 miles of hiking trails.
The resort also offers more than 60,000 square feet of indoor function space and 230,000 square feet of outdoor function venues.
