Vaquero - Texas - USA

Established in 2001, Vaquero is an exclusive private course laid out within a large gated estate to the north west of Dallas where membership is by invitation only. The chances of ever getting one of the uniformed caddies to carry your bag here are pretty remote but then there’s always the prospect of sitting next to some big oil executive with the right connections on a flight into nearby Dallas/Fort Worth sometime.

Discovery Land Company, which has a portfolio of over a dozen select private golf and residential developments around the country – from Estancia in Arizona to Iron Horse in Montana – is the organisation behind Vaquero and it has formed a partnership with architect Tom Fazio’s design company to deliver top spec golf courses at all of these locations.

Laid out on a former cattle ranch, the 18 holes at this par 71 track play from between 5,349 and 7,064 yards, depending on which of the four tees golfers select at every hole. With three of the five par threes on the card played on the back nine, it might seem the inward half is the easier of the two nines. Bear in mind though that only one of the other holes on that circuit (the 13th) measures less than 400 yards from any of the three gents tees so the route back to clubhouse is no pushover.