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Look-Alike Links
Can't Make It to Augusta or St. Andrews? Not a Problem
Larry Olmsted
From the Print Edition:
Raquel Welch, Jul/Aug 01
(continued from page 4)
Tour 18
Dallas and Houston, Texas
Houston:281-590-6363,Dallas:817-430-2000, www.tour18golf.com
Everything is bigger in Texas, and these two courses were the first to embrace the concept of blatantly copying a full slate of great holes. Now owned by Arnold Palmer Golf Management, Tour 18 is poised for growth, and you may soon see one near you. While the layouts are quite different, both re-create the island hole at TPC Sawgrass and all of Augusta's Amen Corner, holes 11, 12 and 13. This holy trinity of golf closes out the Dallas layout and is sandwiched into the front nine in Houston.
Surprisingly, both courses replicate only domestic holes, boldly selected more for quality than fame. Even the Dallas version, which has more household-name courses like Winged Foot, Augusta, Riviera and Pine Valley represented, gets daring with great but less well-known holes such as the first from Cherry Hills, the 15th from Crooked Stick and the 16th from Oakland Hills.
Houston is even more eclectic, featuring the sixth from the Magnolia course at Walt Disney World, the fourth from La Costa and the eighth from Oak Tree, holes only the most die-hard fans will recognize from television. Ironically, with the demise of the most famous course on the Las Vegas Strip, Houston is now the only place in the world where you can play the 10th hole from the Desert Inn. Between the two, the Tour 18 courses represent 27 courses, including heavy hitters such as Pebble Beach, Shinnecock, Doral, Muirfield Village, Firestone, Harbour Town and Colonial.
World Tour Golf Links
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
877-377-7773, www.worldtourmb.com
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