Onion Creek Club

Onion Creek Club was founded in 1974 by Austin businessman Jimmie Connolly and three-time Masters champion Jimmy Demaret, who designed the course and declared "Nature put it here, all I did was manicure it." It is the only golf course Demaret ever designed. The routing follows the namesake Onion Creek waterway through 225 acres of Texas Hill Country terrain.

In 1978, Demaret and television producer Fred Raphael launched the Legends of Golf at Onion Creek — a televised best-ball tournament featuring retired golf legends. The 1979 edition became a pivotal moment in golf history: Roberto De Vicenzo and Julius Boros birdied the final four holes to force a playoff on national NBC television, demonstrating overwhelming public appetite for senior golf competition. The PGA Senior Tour was formally established in 1980 directly as a result. Onion Creek is recognized as the birthplace of what is now the PGA Tour Champions.

The club added nine holes designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore in 1996 at higher elevation — creating a 27-hole facility with three 18-hole combinations. In October 2013 a catastrophic flood crested the creek at its highest level in 92 years; the $5–7 million in damage was restored under Coore and Crenshaw's oversight, with the original Demaret holes reopening in August 2014.

Onion Creek plays as a classic Texas parkland course threading through mature live oaks and cedar elms, with the creek as the dominant strategic element. The original Demaret holes follow the creek bottom; the Crenshaw/Coore nine runs at higher elevation with more exposure and modern par-4s stretching to 450 and 461 yards.

The course rewards accuracy over power (par 70, under 6,500 yards from the tips) but the small, tightly guarded greens, penal rough, and six consecutive holes alongside the creek on the front nine make it genuinely challenging. Water affects play on 11–13 holes depending on the 18-hole combination.

Access is private, members and guests only.

Accuracy over distance. The small greens and penal rough reward a 200-yard shot in the fairway over a 280-yard shot in the rough. Do not grip it and rip it.

Holes 3–8 on the original course: Onion Creek runs continuously on the right side. Make the left side of the fairway your target throughout this stretch — errant shots right are rarely safe.

Hole 12: trust the elevation. The 50-foot drop makes the drive feel effortless but distance control on the approach is tricky. Commit to your line — the creek on the right punishes the bail-out.

Hole 17: one more club than the yardage suggests. Target the correct tier of the tri-level green — a putt from the wrong level can be a three-putt.

Bunker play must be clean. Some greenside bunkers have four-foot-tall front walls requiring a full, aggressive swing with complete follow-through.