David McLay Kidd built the first course at Bandon Dunes, the Castle Course at St Andrews and Gamble Sands, the one we keep talking about from our Pacific Northwest trip. Until last October he had never built anything in Texas. Now he has, about 25 miles west of downtown Austin, on the limestone cliffs above the Pedernales River in Spicewood.
Loraloma is a private residential club inside the 2,200-acre Thomas Ranch development, and the course opened to its members in October 2025. Over half the holes run along the river cliffs, the whole thing is grassed in zoysia from tee to green, and the turn stand is a 1958 Airstream. It is the most interesting new golf near Austin in years.
It is also not ours to play. The club says golf memberships are for Loraloma residents only, with no plans to open them up. We cover public golf first, so take this as a look over the fence: what Kidd built, the holes people are talking about, the small touches we like, and how it fits into an Austin golf scene that keeps growing west.
Why this ground is not typical Texas golf.
Loraloma sits on more than two miles of frontage where the Pedernales meets the Colorado, a few minutes from Lake Travis. The club’s own pitch is short: you will be hitting over ravines more than 100 feet deep. Kidd’s course covers about 120 acres of it. More than half the holes trace the cliffs above the Pedernales, and the rest climb to ridges that look out over the Hill Country and the Balcones Escarpment.
Kidd is known for big, wide, firm golf that lets the land do most of the talking, and the club describes this one the same way, calling it “the art of restraint.” It plays from 4,407 to 7,222 yards across five sets of tees, according to the club’s golf FAQ; the opening release rounds the tips up to 7,400. There are forced carries from the back tees, but every hole has a forward tee with a straight path to the fairway, so a 20-handicap is not spending the day reloading.
The other thing that sets it apart is the grass. Loraloma is zoysia everywhere: Stadium zoysia on the tees and fairways, Zeon in the rough, and Lazer zoysia on the greens, a variety developed at Texas A&M. The opening release says it is only the second course in the country with Lazer greens. Zoysia plays tight and firm, which suits a Kidd course.
The three the club and the early reviews keep coming back to.
Kidd sets the tone early. The second plays to an enormous double green, the kind you see on old links and almost never in Texas, where the flag can be a long walk from where your ball finishes. The club’s own photos pair it with the 13th. Before you tee off here, stop at Tipsy’s Wellhouse, a historic wellhouse where players pin a dollar to the ceiling with a note, a bit of advice or a thank-you.
The eighth rises along the cliff edge above the Pedernales, and it is the hole in almost every photo the club puts out. The opening release calls it a dramatic cliffside par 5, with views over the river and the Hill Country, and the aerials explain why: there is fairway, there is a long drop to the water, and not much in between.
The closer is a long par 5: 573 yards on the scorecard Golf Today published, 590 in the opening release. Director of Golf Spencer Scheeler says the tee shot looks scarier than it is, and the real question comes on the second, where an arroyo cuts across. Big hitters can get home in two with the wind behind them. Everyone else has to pick a line that leaves the best angle into a 5,036-square-foot green.
A course says a lot in the bits between the holes.
The Airstream. Between nine and ten, a retrofitted 1958 Bambi Airstream works as the turn stand, with a mural by local artist Soledad Fernandez-Whitechurch, cocktails and club merch. A permanent comfort station on nine is scheduled for fall 2026.
The wellhouse. Tipsy’s Wellhouse, by the second tee, is the kind of tradition a new club usually takes 50 years to grow: leave a dollar on the ceiling with a note for whoever comes next.
The practice ground. A range of more than 400 yards with a variety of targets, a short-game area built to mimic the course, and plans for covered TrackMan bays plus a training building with five indoor bays and two simulators.
The water. The club says the irrigation uses 20 to 30 percent less water than comparable courses and will eventually run entirely on recycled effluent. Loraloma is also working toward International Dark Sky Community status, which matters out here, where the stars still show up.
The name, by the way, means “lore of the hills.” The developer, Areté Collective, made it up.
The honest answer.
Not unless you live there, or know someone who does. Loraloma’s own FAQ says golf and social memberships are not available to people outside the community, and that the club does not plan to offer them, while keeping the right to change that. The golf house, with a pro shop, restaurant and bar, is slated for fall 2027, and more of the community’s amenities follow through 2030.
So why is it on our radar? Because it raises the bar for what gets built around Austin. A world-class architect chose the Hill Country, chose firm zoysia over soft overseed, and built something with the bones of his best work on ground few people would have called golf country a few years ago. That tends to change what comes next, public courses included. If you get the invitation, take it. If not, the eighth hole alone is a good reason to make a friend in Spicewood.
Want Kidd you can book yourself? Gamble Sands in Washington is public, and it is on our 2027 Pacific Northwest list. Closer to home, our Austin Golf Guide covers the public courses in town.
Course photography by Evan Schiller, courtesy of Loraloma
Loraloma Private Club & Estates is a private residential club inside the 2,200-acre Thomas Ranch development in Spicewood, Texas, about 25 miles west of downtown Austin. Its 18-hole golf course was designed by David McLay Kidd and opened to members in October 2025.
David McLay Kidd of DMK Golf Design, the Scottish architect behind the first course at Bandon Dunes, the Castle Course at St Andrews and Gamble Sands. Loraloma is his first course in Texas.
No. The club's FAQ says golf and social memberships are not available to people outside the Loraloma community and that it does not plan to offer them, though it reserves the right to change the membership structure.
It is a par 72 that plays from 4,407 to 7,222 yards across five sets of tees, according to the club's golf FAQ. The opening release gave 7,400 yards from the back tees.
Yes. Loraloma sells homesites and turn-key residences, including golf-front lots along the 15th hole, and owning there is the route to golf membership. TGI editor Lenny Harrington is an Austin real estate agent with Keller Williams and can help.
Zoysia throughout: Stadium zoysia on tees and fairways, Zeon zoysia in the rough and Lazer zoysia, developed at Texas A&M, on the greens.
