Texas is a lot of ground to cover! From the Gulf Beaches, to the Hill Country, to the rugged Bend National Park, through the panhandle, then eastward toward Dallas and onward to the pine forests dotted with lakes and filled with green expanses along the Louisiana border, Texas has diverse terrain, temperatures and cultures. We created a list of the top 15 courses based upon reviews by Golf.com, GolfDigest, Golf Advisor, DallasNews and TexasOutside using their rankings and averaging the scores. Here is the results of our tabulations:
1. Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa - Austin
Located in the heart of tranquil Texas Hill Country, yet with the action of Texas’ vibrant capital city just minutes away, this resort features four distinct courses that make for an excellent golf getaway.
2. The Rawls at Texas Tech
Located in Lubbock, TX is a most unlikely place for a top rated golf course. Legend course deigner Tom Doaks turned a flat cotton field in on the high plains of the West Texas panhandle into one of the finest university courses in the country. A new landscape emerged through moving 1.3 million yards of topsoil, sculpting a course under the big blue West Texas sky, where the wind is unabated and the land is dry. Golfers will experience the great plains that suddenly fall into valleys and canyons that lead to a Caprock region.
Phone: 806-742-4653
Cost: $36-$65
3. Lajitas Golf Resort, Black Jack's Crossing
This 27,000-acre resort is bordered to the South by the Rio Grande river. Black Jack’s Crossing was designed by winner of the 1977 PGA Championship, Lanny Wadkins, also an eight-time member of the US Ryder Cup team, and inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Named after U.S. Army General, "Black Jack" Pershing who pursued Pancho Villa across the Rio Grande, the golf course combines the historical features of the land with the stunning setting of Big Bend National Park. Several breathtaking mountain holes set against spectacular mountain vistas make this course a true work of art.
Phone: 877-525-4827
Cost: $125
4. TPC San Antonio
The two 18-hole championship golf courses of TPC San Antonio are ranked in the top 15 for the state. Designed by two of golf’s most innovative architects: Pete Dye and Greg Norman the AT&T Oaks Course hosts the PGA TOUR’s Valero Texas Open and the AT&T Canyons Course is the site of the San Antonio Championship. TPC San Antonio is a private resort, only accessible to our club members and their guests as well as guests of the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa. In addition to two challenging golf courses, TPC San Antonio features a 23-acre practice facility with two putting and short game practice areas as well as the best in golf instruction in San Antonio..
5. Pine Dunes Resort and Golf Club
Peaceful, that is the word best used to describe this Par 72 layout tucked away in the Piney Woods of East Texas. Carved through majestic, century old pine trees with contoured fairways & rolling terrain, Pine Dunes provides the most peaceful setting you'll find for a world-class round of golf.
6. Westin La Cantera Hill Country Resort - Palmer Course
Designed by Arnold Palmer, the course is carved into the rolling hills north of San Antonio with some of the most magnificent scenery in Texas and a breathtaking panoramic view of San Antonio. This course will give you an eyeful of color with limestone rock outcroppings, live oaks, natural streams, dramatic waterfalls, lush greens and fairways, and creek beds. The course is very fair but is demanding with thick roughs, forced carries, blind shots, challenging green complexes, wind, elevation changes, water, and strategically placed bunkers. You'll find plenty of variety at each hole, with dog legs left and right, ups and downs, dramatic elevation changes, fun risk reward opportunities and several blind shots.
7. Butterfield Trail
Named the #3 Municipal Golf Course 2009-2015 by GolfWeek, Butterfield Trail offers an exciting golf adventure in a convenient setting not too far off the beaten path. The par 72 daily fee golf course is highlighted by natural sand dunes and native flora and fauna. Butterfield Trail features more than 55 feet of elevation changes and the drama of vertical transitions, making each hole a ‘signature hole’. The 18-hole design emphasizes natural topographical features to keep the golfer’s ball in play and manages El Paso’s formidable wind with ‘uphill holes, downhill holes, and carvings into the ground.’
8. Horseshoe Bay C.C. (Ram Rock), Horseshoe Bay
Ram Rock, known as the “Challenger”, has narrow fairways and rolling Crenshaw Bentgrass greens surrounding 62 deep bunkers, ten water hazards and natural dry creeks on six holes. With dramatic elevation changes, Ram Rock offers length and difficulty to challenge even the scratch player in your group. Lookout for an especially demanding island green par 3 hole (No. 4).
9. Cowboys Golf Club
Cowboys Golf Club is distinguished as the first and only NFL-themed golf club in the world, and one of the region's only all-inclusive world-class resort golf properties. Thick stands of mature trees frame gently rolling fairways and immaculately-maintained greens, with dramatic elevation changes, dense forests, beautiful natural waterways and an abundance of indigenous wildlife creating both strategic diversity and a stunning natural backdrop for golf.
Phone: 817-481-7277
Cost: $80
10. Old American The Colony
Designed by Tripp Davis abd Justin Leonard, Old American Golf Club began with the natural beauty of Lake Lewisville. Preservation of the wildlife and resources surrounding the course were innate to the design. The Lake makes a stunning appearance on several holes, providing challenging natural water hazards and a beautiful backdrop. Native grasses, trees and plants are used in order to preserve water while creating wildlife habitats. An abundance of animals make their home on the course, including wild turkey, deer, coyotes and numerous birds including the Red Tail Hawk. Davis and Leonard created a course design that is representative of classic American golf, using naturally formed bunkers and native grasses, as well as strategically designed holes that leverage varying wind conditions. Old American demands strategic play. It is a course that intrigues the golfer with ever changing elements that create a different experience each time it is played.
Phone: 972-370-4653
Cost: $125
11. TPC Four Seasons at Las Colinas Irving
TPC is a par 70 with yardages ranging from 5030 to 7166 yards and is regarded as a shotmaker's course. The challenging green complexes will test a pro's skills but provide a fun round for the less skilled player. TPC offers cascading water falls, lush fairways, huge majestic homes, strategically placed bunkers, contoured fairways, berms and swales, water hazards, minor ups and downs, dog legs, and top notch service.
12. Wolfdancer Golf Club
Located just 13 miles from the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort, Wolfdancer is named in honor of the traditional wolf dance of the Tonkawa Indians who once inhabited this area. World-renowned golf architect Arthur Hills designed Wolfdancer to take full advantage of the natural lay of the land in the heart of the Texas wilderness. Enjoy the wildlife among native grasses, trees, wildflowers, even a flock of egrets as you play through the rolling prairie, heavily wooded ridgeline and the river valley plain. The dramatic layout is also cut by the Lower Colorado River, which runs alongside the course’s memorable finishing holes.
Phone: 512-308-4770
Cost: $119 - $149
13. Golf Club of Houston's Tournament Course
The Tournament Course hosts the Shell Houston Open, where top players compete on the Rees Jones/David Toms-designed course. Enjoyable to play and beautiful, this course has abundant native plants and wildlife, providing a sense of serenity and solitude just minutes from downtown Houston. Amid finely groomed fairways, well-engineered greens and challenging bunkers, you can gain an appreciation for pros who play this course to under Par.
14. The Quarry G.C., San Antonio
You will find yourself challenged and rewarded in many ways at The Quarry Golf Club in San Antonio. The front nine is a links-style format, featuring rolling hills, native grasses and immaculate greens. The back nine is inside a 100-year-old quarry pit. You will enjoy your golf experience with elevated tee boxes and shots that will fly over large expanses.
15. Brackenridge
Brackenridge Park Golf Course is the original home of The First Texas Open! The Valero Texas Open is the 6th oldest professional tournament in golf world-wide, the 3rd oldest on the PGA Tour. From the event's inception until 1940 it was played at Brackenridge Park Golf Course. Even after 1940 it was still played sporadically until 1959. Come play history at Brackenridge and relive the victories of Byron Nelson (1940), Sam Snead (1950), Jack Burke, Jr. (1952), and Mike Souchak (1955).
Phone: 210-226-5612
Cost: $50 - $60
