AUSTIN, Texas — Spend enough time around Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa and you’re bound to hear the same reaction from visitors.
They didn’t know Texas looked like this.
Set among 4,000 acres of rolling Hill Country about 20 minutes west of downtown Austin, Barton Creek hardly fits the stereotypical image of flat Texas. There are limestone hills, winding creeks, native oaks and enough elevation change to get the attention of anyone showing up with golf clubs.
And now a much bigger audience is getting a look.
With the PGA Tour bringing this week's Austin Championship presented by Compliance Solutions to Barton Creek, a resort that traditionally draws much of its business from Texas is getting a chance to show itself off nationally.
"Any national
type of exposure, such as partnering with PGA of America and having a championship here, definitely puts us on the map from a national perspective more than we already are," said Heather Hagelberger, director of marketing at Omni Barton Creek. "We love all four of our golf courses. They're all award-winning, and they all have incredible, renowned designers. Being able to visually showcase that to a much larger audience is where we're hoping to expand and elevate the brand."
For visitors coming from outside Texas, Hagelberger said the surprise often begins almost immediately.
"I actually think the moment they walk through the lobby and see that Hill Country view is when people say, 'I thought Texas was flat,'" she said. "Being only 20 minutes from downtown Austin, you feel so close to everything, but you also feel worlds away."
Four courses, with Fazio Canyons getting the spotlight
The PGA Tour isn't playing just outside the resort's back door. Tournament play is being held about three miles away at Fazio Canyons, a Tom Fazio design carved through the Hill Country with plenty of elevation changes, oak trees and limestone creeks.
And Max Homa quickly discovered there is a right place and a wrong place to begin a round there.
"The back is significantly harder than the front. Starting early when you're on that wave is tough. 10 and 11 are brutal beginning holes," Homa said after Thursday's round. "You've got to eat it up on the front."
Homa compared the course to TPC San Antonio, home of the PGA Tour's Valero Texas Open, and came away impressed with the greens.
"It's a really good golf course," he said. "Greens are unbelievable. Has some goofy greens, but they're big, so I feel like if you can keep the ball on grass, you can figure your way to pars and obviously some birdies."
Fazio Canyons is only part of the golf operation.
Omni Barton Creek has four courses and 72 holes in all. Fazio Foothills, another Tom Fazio design, sits immediately behind the main resort and features dramatic elevation changes and waterfalls.
Coore Crenshaw Cliffside, designed by Bill Coore and Texas golf legend Ben Crenshaw, takes a different approach, using the natural contours of the Hill Country with wider fairways and plenty of strategic options.
Then there's Palmer Lakeside, an Arnold Palmer design about 30 minutes from the main resort that sits above Lake Travis and offers another distinctly Central Texas setting.
The logistics are a little different during tournament week. Spectators use off-site parking and shuttles to reach Fazio Canyons, while resort guests have shuttle service from the main property.
Plenty to do when the golf is over
The resort itself has 493 guest rooms along with six four-bedroom resort homes. A major expansion completed in 2019 added another guest tower, more event space and a full-service spa.
The timing wasn't exactly ideal.
The expansion was barely finished before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down travel in 2020.
Years later, one part of that project has become one of the property's biggest draws: Mokara Spa.
The spa has 17 treatment rooms, but Hagelberger said the surprise for many guests comes with everything else. Booking a full-service treatment also provides access to an adults-only rooftop pool, hot tub, sauna, steam room and cold plunge, all overlooking the Hill Country.
"I keep emphasizing the spa, but it is, low-key, one of our top-praised amenities," Hagelberger said. "Once you're in there, you don't realize everything you're doing with a view. You're sitting in a hot tub with a view, you have a sauna, steam room, cold plunge."
For a resort getting its biggest PGA Tour showcase, that scenery is ultimately the selling point.
"Everything we do here is with a view," Hagelberger said.
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor of Golfweek and the golf coordinator of the USA Today Network.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Inside Omni Barton Creek, the Texas Hill Country home of the Austin Championship
