Central Texas-- Golf and BBQ (chap 2)

Resumed a pursuit of small town golf courses in Central Texas with Mario, my buddy in this endeavor. He suggested we add a barbecue element to our Central Texas golf tour. Yesterday, we went to Luling, Texas-- a town about 50 miles south/southeast of Austin. Luling is actually much most famous for its City Market barbecue restaurant and the summertime Watermelon Thump celebration than for golf. I like the look of the oil jacks dotting its grassy fields. The smell of oil, something like the odor of natural gas from your kitchen stove, hits as soon as you approach the city limits.

The Luling Golf Club runs adjacent to the San Marcos river, a feature of the first golf course on our tour-- the San Marcos golf course. I had my breakthrough experience on the San Marcos course, that maybe I could actually enjoy this game. Zen meets brightly colored polo shirts . The key would be going to obscure golf courses, inexpensive and remote, and always going with Mario, my non-judgemental friend. And it worked again-- and the weather even cooperated, providing an overcast September day instead of Texas heat.

The first four holes run in almost a straight line. There are almost no sand traps to worry about and the fairways are wide and fairly well trimmed, or is that just the effects of the prolonged drought? So you can have fun driving the ball and working on your irons. The greens on these small time golf courses seem tiny so getting to the green is really most of the battle. The seventh hole of the course uses the San Marcos river and a grove of trees as a feature, an obstacle to be driven over or around. We should have gone around the trees rather than trying to hit over the river. Mario and I wasted at least five balls apiece trying to go over the river but that didn't dampen our spirits. You get the double entendre on "dampen"...  kerplunk! Nine holes of golf are perfect for our level of play. Playing a full 18 holes would only rub our faces in it... The golf gods must always be respected.

Luling's City Market barbecue restaurant is known far and wide. The RoadFood.com review offers a good summary and photo of the trifecta-- brisket, ribs and sausage. 

I went wild for the ribs and brisket and passed on the sausage. Mario went for the sausage. We found the meat to be succulent. I like going through the smoke room-- a Dante-esque domicile with walls darkened deeply, truly an homage to smoke. You have to walk through the smoke room to order your food. They immediately cut the order on brown butcher paper, and the paper quickly becomes grease-stained butcher paper. This ain't the Whole Food Market! The dining room is great for people watching. We saw some military guys in camo at one table and mostly locals there on a Tuesday afternoon.

The second stop on our tour kicked the small town golfing experience up another notch-- and I'm really enjoying the trip across the countryside. And we got to take the 130 TX Tag toll road-- the one with the unbelievable 85 miles per hour speed limit. Mario kept things mellow at around 70 miles per hour.

That's it for Chapter 2 on the tour. Thanks for reading!