FROM:
The Marathon News Leader.Lajitas now closer to
middle class golf resort
By MARK GLOVER
Marathon News Leader
LAJITAS – Golf clubs still reign at the Lajitas Resort and Spa but, under new owner Kelsey Warren, the green fees at their 18 + 1 hole Ambush Golf Course won’t cost an arm and a leg.
“We’re a lot more middle class than we used to be,” Director of Sales and Marketing Angie Thompson said. “Green fees range from $45 to $55 depending on the day.”
That’s down from $400 last year.
Known as the “Ultimate Hideout” during the Steve Smith era, room rates at the resort ranged from $600 to $800 a night.
Warren, a Dallas oilman, bought it at auction last December for $13.5 million and immediately turned over the management to Houston entrepreneur Edwin Leslie.
“Edwin dropped the room rates to $149 to $239 a night,” Thompson said. “And we’re still a five star resort.”
Jets still land at the resorts 7,500-foot runway but they’re more likely to be charters than privately owned.
“Companies out of Dallas and Houston who use our resort for special events generally charter planes to bring their people in,” Thompson said.
The house that Bill Ivey of Alpine grew up in was converted to one of four dining rooms in the Ocotillo restaurant under Steve Smith’s time at the resort.
It was not uncommon to see $50 entrees and $500 bottles of wine.
“We closed the Ocotillo,” Thompson said. “Now you can get fajitas for two on Wednesday night at our other restaurant – The Candelia – for $15.99.”
Lajitas, an age old river crossing, was once the southern tip of the Comanche War Trail and was used by Poncho Villa as an outpost during the Mexican Revolutionary War.
“Bullet holes can still be seen at the Trading Post,” Thompson said. “It’s supposed to be bullet-proof. We’re converting it to the Pro Shop later this year.”
“My dad used to own the Trading Post,” Bill Ivey said. “In fact he owned all of Lajitas until the 1970s.
“I grew up there,” he said. “The bathroom of our house faced the river and he had the window built up high so that when the bullets started flying we could get down low.”
The resort is sponsoring a Labor Day championship golf tournament this year. For $300, you receive three nights at the hotel, entry fee, golf cart and a chance to win some big money.
The Ambush Golf Course is international. Hole 11A is a par one and requires a 160-yard shot across the Rio Grande into Mexico.
Of course you never get your ball back unless you want to go down to Presidio and cross legally.
But, more importantly, if you sink your shot in the Mexican hole in one swing – they’ll pay $100.
Sign me up. I’ll use an old ball.
