Eating Disorders: Brackenridge Park

Wednesday, 21 November 2012

Brackenridge Park

The San Antonio Springs are located mostly in the Incarnate Word community near Broadway and Hildebrand Avenue. There are several major spring outlets and thousands of small springs extending north into the Olmos Basin, and many still flow during wet times. The largest spring, known as The Blue Hole, and many of the smaller springs are now protected in a nature preserve called the Headwaters Sanctuary, established by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in 2006.First opened in early 1916, Brackenridge Park was the first 18-hole "public" golf course in Texas. The City fathers then wanted something special for San Antonio so they retained noted and colorful architect A.W. Tillinghast to design and build her. She was one of his few public courses. Old Brack was an immediate hit.In 1922, Old Brack hosted the first Texas Open professional golf tournament. That Texas Open had the largest purse of any tournament in those years ($5000), including the U.S. Open. She was the home course for that event until 1959. All the greats won the Texas Open through the years at Old Brack including Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, and others. In fact, several TOUR records were set at Old Brack that lasted for decades. In 1955, Mike Souchak set the four round record for the TOUR - a record that lasted 42 years. In addition to the Texas Open, Brackenridge Park played host to the Texas State Junior Championships where Ben Crenshaw, Bruce Lietske and Tom Kite won.