Before the skyscrapers, before the multi-million dollar homes, there was Ben Carpenter, a 5,000-acre ranch, a lot of cattle and a dream.
In this place, Carpenter envisioned a new downtown area with modern, glass buildings and a modern tram to get from one place to the next. There would be modern new homes to house all the people that worked here and of course, a place for them to play golf.
This was 1963. This would be Dallas' new frontier, and Carpenter called on architect Joe Finger to help tame it.
Finger would never forget the day when he was out on the property checking to make sure the greens at Las Colinas Country Club were coming in smoothly when he looked over a hill and saw a herd of angry Brahma steer coming at him being chased by several of Carpenter's ranch hands.
"Capenter wasn't a golfer so his cattle came first," Finger said. "I'm just glad none of them got hurt while running over my golf course." Some four decades later, Carpenter's dream city is a reality and the cattle have been replaced by people who live and work here.
In 1968 Las Colinas Country Club hosted the U.S. Women's Amateur, where Cathrine Lacost defeated Shelly Hamlin in the 36 hole final, 3 and 2.
Finger took advantage of the undulating terrain to create a balanced combination of uphill, downhill and side-hill holes and produces a layout that measures 6,809 yards but plays to a par 71 and a rating of 73.0
"We built Las Colinas Country Club in the style of that era," Finger says "We didn’t do all the mounding and contouring that we did 20 years later down the road such as Hackberry Creek. But because of the terrain we didn’t really need to."
The most difficult holes are a pair of long par fours, the 437- yard fifth and the 423 yard sixteenth. Number five is a slight dogleg right over a creek off the tee. The creek then runs down the right side of the fairway with a grove of trees to the green.
The sixteenth is another long uphill dogleg right with fairway bunkers pinching the landing area from both corners of the fairway. On the approach, players are required to hit a long iron through a chute of trees to an uphill green.
Number fifteen is a finesse par four 401 - yards, in which players must carry their approach shots over water to a peninsula green protected by water on three sides and sand on the other.
Water comes into play on all three shots into the 550 - yard par five eighteenth. A creek runs in front of the tee, but than golfers must be wary of the lake that cuts into the landing area and protects the front and right sides of the green on the approach shot. Justin Leonard said "this is a tough finishing hole with good second-shot opportunities, where par can be a real premium with all the danger areas factored in/" "Las Colinas has the one best collection of finishing holes in the Metro-Plex."
Las Colinas Country Club is truly a sight to behold. 
Standing atop the No. 1 tee box, it seems as if the entire world is spread out before you, a carpet of treetops and rooflines rolling all the way down to the Dallas skyline. The par four holes could be the best collection of driving holes around. The course offers a real challenge for golfers of all skill levels. Water comes into play on eight holes, and the fetching hills make for some severe uphill approach shots.
"Driving into this Club is like going back in another era-a wonderful setting plus an unforgettable ambience as you journey back in time."
