Whispering Pines, a private club in the East Texas pines, is the highest-ranked course in the state on Golf Digest’s national list, and nearly everything near the top of Texas golf is private. Of the best golf courses in Texas you can book, start with Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco (reported at about $277 to $330), Memorial Park in Houston and the Rawls Course in Lubbock.
Texas golf is a big-city game. With more than 800 courses and a million-plus golfers, the state’s best public golf is concentrated in and around Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, and the best value in all four is the city-owned courses, where a round can cost less than a movie ticket and a drink. That’s the pattern to keep in mind: the famous names are mostly private clubs you’ll never see, the public headliners are few and pricey, and the municipal systems are among the best-value golf in America.
How we built this. The rankings come from Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses (2025-26), its America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses (2025-26) and GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the U.S. (2024-25). We compare those lists in our guide to every major national ranking. Golf Digest’s Texas state page blocks automated reading, so we don’t quote its state positions. Green fees come from each course’s or city’s own rate page where one is published, dated September 2026. Several Texas courses price dynamically or block automated reading, and for those we give the range reported by third parties and say “reported”. We haven’t played every course here. Where a note leans on the rankings, published data and the architecture rather than our own scorecards, we say so.
At a glance
- Best golf course in Texas: Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, private, No. 66 on Golf Digest’s 2025-26 America’s 100 Greatest
- Best course you can book: Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, No. 34 on Golf Digest’s public list, reported at about $277 to $330, walking with a caddie
- Most famous public course: Memorial Park in Houston, home of the PGA Tour’s Houston Open, reported at roughly $90 to $140 for non-residents
- Best value: the City of Austin’s courses, including Lions Municipal, at $35 Monday to Thursday and $44 at weekends
- Cheapest good round: Cedar Crest in Dallas, an A.W. Tillinghast course that hosted a PGA Championship, from $26 on weekdays
- Best course outside the big cities: the Rawls Course at Texas Tech in Lubbock, a Tom Doak design, reported at $48 to $79
- Best months: March to May and October to November; summer means 6 am tee times and 100-degree afternoons
The best golf courses in Texas at a glance
The table lists the nationally ranked private clubs first, then the best public and resort courses by region. “Access” is what a golfer without a membership can expect: private means members and their guests only; resort guests means you need a room; resort/public means anyone can book, often with better access for hotel guests; public means anyone can book; and “muni” marks a city-owned course.
| Course | Region | Access | Architect (year) | Green fee (Sept 2026) | Ranking or note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whispering Pines | East Texas | Private | Chet Williams (2000) | Members’ guests only | Golf Digest U.S. No. 66 |
| Dallas National | Dallas | Private | Tom Fazio (2002) | Members’ guests only | Golf Digest U.S. No. 96 |
| Trinity Forest | Dallas | Private | Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw (2016) | Members’ guests only | GOLF U.S. No. 96 |
| Colonial Country Club | Fort Worth | Private | John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell (1936) | Members’ guests only | PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge |
| Champions (Cypress Creek) | Houston | Private | Ralph Plummer (1959) | Members’ guests only | 1967 U.S. Open, 1969 Ryder Cup |
| PGA Frisco (Fields Ranch East) | Frisco | Public | Gil Hanse (2023) | About $277-$330 (reported) | Golf Digest public No. 34 |
| PGA Frisco (Fields Ranch West) | Frisco | Public | Beau Welling (2023) | Not published | Carts allowed |
| Memorial Park | Houston | Public (city) | Tom Doak redesign (2020) | About $90-$140 non-residents (reported) | Houston Open |
| Gus Wortham Park | Houston | Public | Not verified | $38-$47 walking | Best Houston value |
| Omni Barton Creek (Fazio Foothills) | Austin | Resort guests | Tom Fazio (1986) | About $275 (reported) | Four courses |
| Lions Municipal | Austin | Public (city) | Not verified | $35-$44 | Historic muni |
| Horseshoe Bay (Slick Rock, Apple Rock, Ram Rock) | Hill Country | Resort guests | Robert Trent Jones Sr. | Not published | Lake LBJ resort |
| TPC San Antonio (Oaks) | San Antonio | Members and resort guests | Greg Norman with Sergio Garcia (2010) | About $180 for guests (reported) | Texas Open |
| The Quarry | San Antonio | Public | Keith Foster (1993) | $39-$79 plus tax | Best SA daily fee |
| Brackenridge Park | San Antonio | Public (city trail) | A.W. Tillinghast (1916) | $56-$87 | First Texas Open venue |
| Old American | The Colony | Public | Tripp Davis and Justin Leonard (2010) | About $85-$150 (reported) | Lake Lewisville |
| Cowboys Golf Club | Grapevine | Public | Not verified | About $110-$195 with food and drink (reported) | NFL-themed |
| Cedar Crest | Dallas | Public (city) | A.W. Tillinghast (1919) | $26-$30 | 1927 PGA Championship |
| The Rawls Course | Lubbock | Public | Tom Doak (2003) | About $48-$79 (reported) | Best in West Texas |
| Black Jack’s Crossing | Lajitas | Resort/public | Lanny Wadkins | Not published | Big Bend border country |
Rankings: Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses and America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses (2025-26); GOLF Top 100 Courses in the U.S. (2024-25). Fees checked September 2026 from each course’s or city’s rate page except where marked “reported”. Most fees exclude tax.
Three things stand out. First, the gap between private and public golf in Texas is as wide as anywhere in the country: only two Texas courses make Golf Digest’s national top 100, both are private, and so are nearly all the historic tournament venues. Second, the public golf that competes is new. PGA Frisco opened in 2023, Memorial Park was rebuilt in 2020, and the Rawls Course dates to 2003. Third, Texas cities run their golf courses better and cheaper than most. Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio all have municipal courses with real history, and none charges more than about $90 to walk on a weekday.
What is the best golf course in Texas?
Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, a private club north of Houston, is Texas’s highest-ranked course on Golf Digest’s 2025-26 America’s 100 Greatest, at No. 66. Dallas National is No. 96. The best course you can book is Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, No. 34 on Golf Digest’s public list.
The top of Texas golf is private, and most of it has no public access of any kind. We don’t list green fees or ratings for these clubs: none sells tee times, so the notes lean on the rankings, the clubs’ histories and their architecture. If a member invites you, go.
Whispering Pines Golf Club
Trinity · private · Chet Williams (2000) · Par 72, 7,473 yards · Golf Digest U.S. No. 66 · members and their guests only
Whispering Pines is about 90 minutes north of Houston, on the shore of Lake Livingston, and it’s the course that proves Texas golf isn’t all flat prairie and wind. It’s cut through tall East Texas pines with real elevation change, creeks and a lake, and it was built for a very small membership. There is no public access.
Dallas National Golf Club
Dallas · private · Tom Fazio (2002) · Golf Digest U.S. No. 96 · invitation only
Dallas National sits on unexpectedly hilly ground southwest of downtown, and Fazio used the limestone ridges and ravines to build a course that doesn’t look like anything else in North Texas. It is one of the most exclusive clubs in the state, with a small, very wealthy membership and almost no outside play.
Trinity Forest Golf Club
Dallas · private · Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw (2016) · GOLF U.S. No. 96 · members and their guests only
Trinity Forest was built on a capped landfill in south Dallas, and Coore and Crenshaw turned the treeless, windswept site into a links-style course, with firm, fast fairways and huge greens where the ball runs along the ground. It hosted the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson in 2018 and 2019. It’s the most interesting modern design in the state, and it’s private.
Colonial Country Club
Fort Worth · private · John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell (1936) · host of the PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge since 1946 and the 1941 U.S. Open · members and their guests only
Colonial is Ben Hogan’s club, and its tournament, now the Charles Schwab Challenge, is one of the oldest on the PGA Tour at a single venue. The famous stretch is the “Horrible Horseshoe”, holes 3 to 5, where the course runs along the Trinity River. It’s a tight, tree-lined, old-fashioned course that rewards accuracy over power.
Houston’s private clubs have the same kind of history. Champions Golf Club, founded by the Tour pros Jack Burke Jr. and Jimmy Demaret, hosted the 1967 U.S. Open and the 1969 Ryder Cup on its Cypress Creek course, a Ralph Plummer design from 1959. Beyond it, Bluejack National in Montgomery, Tiger Woods’s first course in the U.S., opened in 2016; the Clubs at Houston Oaks, Austin Golf Club (a Coore and Crenshaw design near Spicewood), Boot Ranch in Fredericksburg and Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, the A.W. Tillinghast course that has hosted the Texas Open many times, are all private.
Which of Texas’s best courses can you actually play?
Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco is the only Texas course on Golf Digest’s 2025-26 public top 50, at No. 34, and it’s open to anyone, walking with a caddie. Memorial Park in Houston, the Rawls Course in Lubbock and the Quarry in San Antonio are the other public courses worth building a round around.
The reason for that short list is history. Texas golf grew up in country clubs in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, and the high-end public course, the kind that anchors golf in Arizona or the Carolinas, arrived late. What the state does have is excellent municipal golf, a handful of resorts in the Hill Country and a new flagship in Frisco.
The sections below go region by region. Every course with its own heading gets a data line: location, who can play, architect and year, par and yardage, course rating and slope from a named tee where one is published, the green fee with the date we checked it, and walking and booking details. Course rating is what a scratch golfer is expected to shoot; slope measures how much harder the course plays for a bogey golfer, on a scale where 113 is average. The USGA explains both.
Dallas-Fort Worth: PGA Frisco and the North Texas munis
North Texas has the most golf in the state and the widest price range, from a $16 round at a Dallas city course to a caddie-and-walking round at the PGA of America’s new home. The metro’s public courses get a fuller treatment in our guide to the best public golf courses in Dallas-Fort Worth.
PGA Frisco (Fields Ranch East and West)
Frisco · public · East: Gil Hanse (2023); West: Beau Welling (2023) · Rating and slope not published · Green fee not published by PGA Frisco; East reported at about $277 to $330 plus caddie (September 2026) · East walking only with a caddie; West carts allowed · book up to 7 days ahead, or 10 days for Frisco residents · closed Wednesdays
PGA Frisco is the PGA of America’s headquarters campus, 30 miles north of downtown Dallas, and its two 18-hole courses are the most important new public golf in Texas. Fields Ranch East is the championship course: a big, rumpled Gil Hanse design on open prairie along Panther Creek, with wide fairways, deep bunkers and large greens full of contour, built to host major championships. The PGA of America has scheduled men’s and women’s majors here for years to come, and it is already No. 34 on Golf Digest’s public list. Fields Ranch West, Beau Welling’s course, is gentler and allows carts, and it’s the better round for a high-handicapper.
Which tees: East is built for major championships, and on a windy North Texas afternoon it plays every yard. A 10-handicap should be around 6,400 yards, an 18 around 5,900 and a 25 on the forward tees. The width means you’ll find your ball; the greens are where the strokes go.
Verdict: the best public course in Texas and worth it once for any serious golfer, even at a reported $330 plus a caddie. The seven-day booking window is tight, so plan the date before you plan the trip. Our PGA Frisco green fee guide goes through the rates, caddie costs and booking rules in detail.
Old American Golf Club
The Colony · public · Tripp Davis and Justin Leonard (2010) · Par 71, 6,920 yards · Rating and slope not verified · Green fee reported at about $85 to $150 (September 2026)
Old American sits on the shore of Lake Lewisville, and Davis and Leonard designed it to look and play like a course from the 1920s, with pushed-up greens, rugged bunkers and a clubhouse built to match. It’s a thoughtful, fun course with lake views on several holes, and it doesn’t rely on length.
Verdict: the best-value “designer” round in Dallas-Fort Worth and the one to play if you can’t get a Frisco time.
Cowboys Golf Club
Grapevine · public · Rating, slope and architect not verified · Green fee reported at about $110 to $195, including food and non-alcoholic drinks (September 2026)
Cowboys Golf Club is the Dallas Cowboys’ themed course near DFW Airport, with team memorabilia around the clubhouse and course. The all-inclusive price covers lunch and drinks on the course, which makes it more of an experience than a straight round.
Verdict: great fun for a Cowboys fan or a corporate outing. For golf alone, Old American is better for less.
Cedar Crest Golf Course
Dallas · public (City of Dallas) · A.W. Tillinghast (1919) · Rating and slope not published by the city · Green fee $26 on weekdays and $30 at weekends, with twilight rates of $18 and $21 and sundown rates of $13 and $15 (September 2026, official) · book 7 days ahead
Cedar Crest, in south Dallas, is one of the great bargains in American golf. A.W. Tillinghast, the architect of Winged Foot and Bethpage Black, designed it, and it hosted the 1927 PGA Championship, won by Walter Hagen. It’s hilly for Dallas, with mature trees and some genuinely good holes, and while conditioning is municipal rather than resort, the bones are special.
Verdict: a Tillinghast course with major-championship history for $26. There’s nothing like that price for that pedigree anywhere else in Texas. Walk if you can, and manage expectations about the greens.
Dallas’s other city courses are just as cheap. Tenison Highlands, par 72 and 7,078 yards, is $41 on weekdays and $47 at weekends; Stevens Park, a shorter par 70 in Oak Cliff with skyline views, is $30 and $42; and Tenison Glen is $16. All book seven days out.
Houston: Memorial Park and the city’s golf belt
Houston is flat, humid and full of golf, and its best public course is right in the middle of the city. Our guide to the best public golf courses in Houston covers the full list.
Memorial Park Golf Course
Houston · public (City of Houston, operated with the Astros Golf Foundation) · Tom Doak redesign with Brooks Koepka (2020) · Par 72, 7,164 yards · Tour tees 73.0/122 · Green fee reported at about $38 to $65 for Houston residents and $90 to $140 for non-residents; sources conflict, so check before booking (September 2026) · resident rates verified through ID.me · walking allowed
Memorial Park opened in 1936 as a city course and was rebuilt in 2020 by Tom Doak, with Brooks Koepka consulting, to host the PGA Tour’s Houston Open. The result is a strategic, wide course with big greens, tightly mown chipping areas around them and few trees in play, so the challenge comes from angles and short-game options rather than rough. For the pros it’s a long test; for the public it’s a fair, fun round in a big urban park.
Which tees: a slope of 122 from the Tour tees means this is a course a 10-handicap can play at close to full length. An 18 should play around 6,200 yards and a 25 around 5,500.
Verdict: the best public course in Houston and the best-value Tour venue in Texas for a resident. For a visitor paying the top of the non-resident range, it’s still worth playing once. We have a separate guide to Memorial Park’s rates and tee times.
Gus Wortham Park Golf Course
Houston · public (Houston Golf Association) · Par 71, 6,388 yards · 69.5/113 (tee not stated) · Green fee $38 walking on weekdays and $47 at weekends, no resident surcharge (September 2026, official) · walking allowed
Gus Wortham, in the East End, was restored by the Houston Golf Association, the organisation that runs the Houston Open, and it’s a short, old-school parkland course with mature oaks and sensible prices. The slope of 113 is exactly average, which makes it ideal for a beginner or a quick round.
Verdict: the best-value round in Houston, and a pleasant walk. Not a course to test your game, but a good one to enjoy it.
Wildcat Golf Club, south of downtown, has two courses, with $52 to $125 green fees depending on the day and time. Tour 18 Houston, in Humble, is a replica course copying famous holes from around the country, reported at $49 to $99.
Austin and the Hill Country
Austin sits at the eastern edge of the Texas Hill Country, where the land rises into limestone hills, live oaks and clear rivers, and it has both the state’s best municipal system and its best-known golf resort. We cover the city’s courses in more detail in our guide to the best public golf courses in Austin, and the resorts west of town in our guide to the best golf courses in the Texas Hill Country.
Omni Barton Creek Resort (Fazio Foothills, Fazio Canyons, Coore Crenshaw)
Austin · resort guests · Fazio Foothills: Tom Fazio (1986); Fazio Canyons: Tom Fazio; Coore Crenshaw: Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw · Ratings not published · Green fee reported at about $275 for the Fazio courses and $225 for the Coore Crenshaw course (September 2026)
Barton Creek is Austin’s golf resort, in the hills west of downtown, with courses by Fazio and by Coore and Crenshaw. Fazio Foothills is the best known, with limestone cliffs, waterfalls and big elevation changes; Fazio Canyons is newer and quieter; and the Coore Crenshaw course is shorter, with huge greens and a lot of fun around them.
Verdict: a very good resort for a golf weekend, but only if you’re staying. The reported $275 is fair for a Fazio resort course, but you can play three rounds at Lions Municipal for less than one here.
Lions Municipal Golf Course
Austin · public (City of Austin) · Rating, slope and architect not published by the city · Green fee $35 Monday to Thursday, $41 on Fridays and $44 at weekends; nine holes $28; cart $18 extra (rates effective October 1, 2025, official) · walking allowed
“Muny”, as Austin calls it, is the city’s most beloved course and one of the most historically important municipal courses in the country. It’s widely credited as one of the first public courses in the South to integrate, in the early 1950s. It’s short and tree-lined, with small greens, set on land owned by the University of Texas, and local golfers have fought for years to keep it open.
Verdict: a round with real history for $35. Walk it, and play the other city courses, Roy Kizer and Jimmy Clay, which charge the same, when you want something longer.
Austin’s nine-hole Hancock Golf Course, near the university, is even older: it opened in 1899 as the city’s first country club and is now a city course.
Horseshoe Bay Resort
Horseshoe Bay · resort guests (Summit Rock is members only) · Slick Rock, Apple Rock and Ram Rock: Robert Trent Jones Sr. · Ratings and green fees not published (September 2026)
Horseshoe Bay, on Lake LBJ an hour northwest of Austin, has three Robert Trent Jones Sr. courses built through pink granite outcrops and cedar-covered hills. Ram Rock is the hardest of the three; Apple Rock has the lake views; and Slick Rock is the most forgiving. Summit Rock, the Jack Nicklaus course, is reserved for members.
Verdict: a genuine Hill Country golf resort, worth a weekend for a group. It’s not a place for a one-off round, because you need to stay.
Also in the Hill Country, Wolfdancer Golf Club at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines, east of Austin on the Colorado River, is a resort course geared to hotel guests that doesn’t publish a rate, and Tapatio Springs in Boerne, north of San Antonio, is a resort course in the hills that sells tee times to the public.
San Antonio: TPC, the Quarry and the Alamo City Golf Trail
San Antonio has Tour golf at TPC San Antonio, an unusual daily-fee course in an old limestone quarry, and a city golf system, the Alamo City Golf Trail, with some of the oldest public golf in Texas. The city’s public courses get their own guide to the best public golf courses in San Antonio, and the trail has a separate page on the Alamo City Golf Trail.
TPC San Antonio (Oaks and Canyons)
San Antonio · members and JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort guests · Oaks: Greg Norman with Sergio Garcia (2010); Canyons: Pete Dye with Bruce Lietzke (2010) · Ratings not published · Green fee reported at about $180 plus tax for resort guests, with a military rate of about $139 (September 2026)
The Oaks Course is home of the PGA Tour’s Texas Open, one of the oldest events in professional golf, and it’s a long, demanding course through Hill Country scrub, with lots of bunkers and not much room off the tee. The Canyons, by Pete Dye, is the more fun of the two for most golfers, with more variety and less brute length.
Verdict: worth it if you’re staying at the JW Marriott and want to play a Tour course. Don’t book the hotel just for the Oaks; it’s a hard, unsmiling test for a mid-handicapper.
The Quarry Golf Club
San Antonio · public · Keith Foster (1993) · Par 71, 6,740 yards · 72.4/128 (tee not stated) · Green fee $59 Monday to Thursday, $79 Friday to Sunday and $39 twilight, plus tax (September 2026, official)
The Quarry is exactly what it sounds like. The front nine is an open, links-style layout on the flat land above, and the back nine drops into a former limestone quarry, with sheer walls around the holes and a lake at the bottom. It’s one of the most distinctive public courses in Texas, and it’s minutes from the airport.
Verdict: the best daily-fee round in San Antonio, and great value at $59 on a weekday. Play it before TPC.
Brackenridge Park Golf Course
San Antonio · public (Alamo City Golf Trail) · A.W. Tillinghast (1916) · Ratings not published · Green fee $56 walking and $75 riding on weekdays, $68 and $87 at weekends (rates effective October 1, 2025, official) · walking allowed
Brackenridge Park is one of the oldest public golf courses in Texas and the site of the first Texas Open, in 1922. A.W. Tillinghast designed it in the park north of downtown, and a later restoration kept the old routing under huge pecan and oak trees. It’s short by modern standards, but the small, tilted greens are a proper test.
Verdict: a Tillinghast course where the Texas Open began, for $56 on a walk. Worth it for anyone who likes golf history. The Players Club discount makes it cheaper still for regulars.
La Cantera, in the hills northwest of the city, now has one course, the Resort Course, a Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish design from 1995 that hosted the Texas Open for years before TPC; its second course, the Palmer, closed in 2021.
West Texas and Big Bend: the Rawls Course and Lajitas
West Texas is a long way from anywhere, and its best golf is built for the people who live there or for travellers who have already made the trip for other reasons.
The Rawls Course at Texas Tech
Lubbock · public · Tom Doak (2003) · Ratings not verified · Green fee reported at about $48 to $79 (September 2026)
The Rawls Course is Texas Tech University’s course, and Tom Doak built it on flat West Texas farmland by moving enough earth to create a sunken, rolling landscape that feels like it belongs in the plains. It’s big, windy and firm, with huge bunkers and wide fairways, and it plays like nothing else in the state.
Verdict: the best-value designer course in Texas. If you’re anywhere near Lubbock, play it; at under $80, it would be a bargain in any city.
Black Jack’s Crossing (Lajitas Golf Resort)
Lajitas · resort/public · Lanny Wadkins · Par 72, 7,413 yards · Black tees 74.3/131 · Green fee not published; call the pro shop (September 2026)
Black Jack’s Crossing is on the Rio Grande at the edge of Big Bend National Park, surrounded by desert mountains, and it’s the most remote resort course in Texas. Wadkins, a former PGA Champion, built it through rocky canyons and arroyos, with views into Mexico.
Verdict: worth playing if you’re visiting Big Bend. It’s a long way to drive just for golf.
How does golf in Texas play?
Texas golf plays on bermudagrass in heat and wind. Summer afternoons regularly top 100 degrees, and a 15 to 25 mph wind is normal across the plains and around Dallas and Lubbock. The ball runs on firm summer fairways, and most courses offer early tee times in July and August.
A few things matter more here than in most states.
Wind. From Frisco to Lubbock, the wind is the main hazard. A course like Fields Ranch East or the Rawls Course can play four clubs differently from one day to the next. Keep the ball low, and take more club into the wind than you think.
Heat. From June to September, afternoon temperatures are brutal in Austin, San Antonio and Dallas, and Houston’s humidity makes it worse. Play before 10 am, carry water and use a cart if you’re not used to it.
Grass. Most Texas courses have bermudagrass fairways and either bermuda or bentgrass greens. Bermuda greens are grainy, especially in summer: putts break toward the setting sun and run faster down-grain. In winter, many courses let the bermuda go dormant and brown, which firms up the fairways; some overseed with ryegrass.
Terrain. North and East Texas are gently rolling; the Hill Country is hilly, rocky and full of cedar and live oak; Houston is dead flat with water hazards and drainage ditches; West Texas is flat and open, unless an architect moved the earth.
Which tees should you play in Texas?
In the wind, play one set forward. On courses with a slope of 130 or more, a 10-handicap should be at 6,200 to 6,500 yards, an 18 at 5,700 to 6,100 and a 25 at 5,000 to 5,500. On gentler courses like Memorial Park (slope 122 from the Tour tees) or Gus Wortham (113), you can move back a set.
Are Texas municipal golf courses any good?
Yes, and several have real history. Cedar Crest in Dallas is an A.W. Tillinghast course that hosted the 1927 PGA Championship, from $26. Brackenridge Park in San Antonio, also Tillinghast, held the first Texas Open, from $56 walking. Memorial Park hosts the Houston Open, and Austin’s Lions Municipal charges $35.
Texas’s four biggest cities run their own golf systems, and in each of them the city course is the best-value round in town:
| City | Course | Weekday | Weekend | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas | Cedar Crest | $26 | $30 | Tillinghast (1919); 1927 PGA Championship |
| Dallas | Tenison Highlands | $41 | $47 | Par 72, 7,078 yards |
| Dallas | Stevens Park | $30 | $42 | Par 70, skyline views |
| Austin | Lions Municipal | $35 (Mon-Thu) | $44 | Cart $18 extra |
| Austin | Roy Kizer and Jimmy Clay | $35 (Mon-Thu) | $44 | Same rate card as Lions |
| Houston | Gus Wortham Park | $38 walking | $47 walking | Slope 113 |
| Houston | Memorial Park | About $38-$65 residents; $90-$140 non-residents (reported) | Higher | Houston Open |
| San Antonio | Brackenridge Park | $56 walk / $75 ride | $68 / $87 | Tillinghast (1916) |
Regular rates from each city’s rate page, September 2026, except Memorial Park (reported). Twilight rates are lower.
Two things to know. First, not all Texas cities charge non-residents more: Austin’s published rate card applies to everyone, while Houston’s Memorial Park has a resident rate verified online. Second, city courses are busy, especially on weekend mornings, so book the day the window opens, usually seven days out.
When is the best time to play golf in Texas?
March to May and October to November are best, with mild temperatures, good bermuda conditions and less wind than winter. Summer golf is fine before 10 am. Winter is playable in Austin, San Antonio and Houston but brings dormant brown fairways and the occasional freeze in Dallas and Lubbock.
- Spring (March to May): the best overall, with bluebonnets in the Hill Country, green fairways and the PGA Tour’s Texas swing. Storms and hail are the risk.
- Summer (June to September): hot everywhere, humid in Houston. Prices at resorts can be lower, and early tee times are busy.
- Autumn (October to November): the second-best season, and usually the driest and calmest.
- Winter (December to February): playable most days in the south of the state, with firm, fast dormant bermuda. North Texas and the Panhandle get cold snaps and occasional ice.
For a comparison with other warm-weather golf states, see our guides to Arizona’s best courses and Florida’s best courses, where the seasons run very differently.
How much does it cost to play the best courses in Texas?
At the top, Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco is reported at about $277 to $330 plus a caddie, and the Barton Creek courses at about $225 to $275 for resort guests. Good daily-fee courses such as the Quarry and Old American cost $59 to $150, and the city courses cost $16 to $56.
Texas is one of the cheaper golf states in America. GOLF’s analysis of Supreme Golf booking data put the average Texas round at about $53, well below Arizona, California and Florida, and our guide to how much a round of golf costs explains the national picture.
| Price band | Courses (green fee, September 2026) |
|---|---|
| Over $250 | Fields Ranch East, about $277-$330 plus caddie (reported); Omni Barton Creek Fazio courses, about $275 (reported, resort guests) |
| $150-$250 | Omni Barton Creek Coore Crenshaw, about $225 (reported); TPC San Antonio, about $180 (reported, resort guests); Cowboys Golf Club, up to about $195 with food (reported); Old American, up to about $150 (reported) |
| $75-$150 | Memorial Park, about $90-$140 for non-residents (reported); Wildcat, $52-$125; Tour 18 Houston, $49-$99 (reported); the Quarry, $79 at weekends; Brackenridge Park, $75-$87 riding |
| Under $75 | The Rawls Course, about $48-$79 (reported); the Quarry, $39-$59 on weekdays and twilight; Brackenridge Park, $56 walking; Gus Wortham, $38-$47; Tenison Highlands, $41-$47; Austin city courses, $35-$44; Stevens Park, $30-$42; Cedar Crest, $26-$30; Tenison Glen, $16 |
Three money rules apply. First, walk the city courses: carts add $18 in Austin and about $19 at Brackenridge. Second, twilight rates are real savings in Texas, because the heat drives golfers off the course in the late afternoon; at Cedar Crest the sundown rate is $13. Third, if you want a resort experience, a stay-and-play package at Barton Creek or Horseshoe Bay is usually the only way to get on, so compare the total package with separate rounds at the daily-fee courses nearby.
How do you book a tee time at Texas’s best courses?
Book directly with the course or city. PGA Frisco opens seven days ahead, or ten for Frisco residents; Dallas’s city courses open seven days ahead; Barton Creek, Horseshoe Bay and TPC San Antonio need a resort stay. For Memorial Park’s resident rate, verify through ID.me before booking.
- Decide which city you’re in. Texas is too big to drive between metros for a round. Build your golf around where you are.
- For PGA Frisco, set a reminder for seven days out. Tee times on Fields Ranch East go quickly, especially at weekends. Budget for the caddie on top of the green fee.
- Check whether you need a room. Barton Creek, Horseshoe Bay and TPC San Antonio are effectively resort-guest courses. Compare packages rather than room rates alone.
- Book city courses the day the window opens. Dallas opens seven days ahead, and weekend mornings at Cedar Crest, Lions Municipal and Memorial Park fill fast.
- Verify residency early if it applies. Memorial Park uses ID.me for its resident rate, and Frisco residents get three extra days at PGA Frisco.
- In summer, book the first tee time. You’ll finish before the worst of the heat and play faster.
- Ask about twilight and walking rates. They’re often half the headline price at city courses.
How to choose which Texas course to play
- For the best public golf in Texas: Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco. Walk it with a caddie.
- For a Tour venue on a budget: Memorial Park in Houston.
- For golf history: Cedar Crest in Dallas and Brackenridge Park in San Antonio, both Tillinghast courses, both under $60 walking.
- For value with character: the Quarry in San Antonio and the Rawls Course in Lubbock.
- For a golf weekend with a group: Omni Barton Creek or Horseshoe Bay in the Hill Country.
- For a beginner or a 25-handicap: Gus Wortham in Houston, Fields Ranch West at PGA Frisco and Austin’s city courses. Avoid TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course.
- For a Cowboys fan: Cowboys Golf Club, lunch included.
If you’d rather see a longer list of Texas courses anyone can book, including the dozens of good daily-fee courses outside the rankings, we have a separate guide to the best public golf courses in Texas, and a guide to the best golf courses in East Texas for the pine country around Whispering Pines. For the national picture, see the best public golf courses in America.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best golf course in Texas?
Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity is Texas’s highest-ranked course on Golf Digest’s 2025-26 America’s 100 Greatest, at No. 66, followed by Dallas National at No. 96. Both are private. The best course you can book is Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, No. 34 on Golf Digest’s public list.
What is the best public golf course in Texas?
Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, a Gil Hanse design that opened in 2023, is the only Texas course on Golf Digest’s 2025-26 public top 50. It’s open to anyone, walking with a caddie, and is reported at about $277 to $330. Memorial Park in Houston is the best public course in the south of the state.
Can the public play PGA Frisco?
Yes. Both Fields Ranch courses at PGA Frisco are public, with tee times released seven days ahead, or ten for Frisco residents. Fields Ranch East is walking only with a caddie; Fields Ranch West allows carts. The courses are closed on Wednesdays.
How much does it cost to play Memorial Park in Houston?
Memorial Park’s rates are reported at about $38 to $65 for Houston residents and about $90 to $140 for non-residents, but published figures conflict, so check the course’s booking page before you go. Residents verify through ID.me to get the lower rate.
Can you play Colonial Country Club?
Not without a member. Colonial in Fort Worth, home of the PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge since 1946, is private, as are Champions in Houston, Dallas National and Trinity Forest. The Texas Tour venues you can play are Memorial Park in Houston and, if you stay at the JW Marriott, TPC San Antonio.
What is the cheapest good golf course in Texas?
Cedar Crest in Dallas, an A.W. Tillinghast course that hosted the 1927 PGA Championship, costs $26 on weekdays and $30 at weekends. Austin’s Lions Municipal is $35 Monday to Thursday, and Gus Wortham Park in Houston is $38 walking.
What is the best golf resort in Texas?
Omni Barton Creek in Austin, with courses by Tom Fazio and by Coore and Crenshaw, is the best-known. Horseshoe Bay, on Lake LBJ, has three Robert Trent Jones Sr. courses. Both are effectively for hotel guests, so plan a stay rather than a single round.
When is the best time to play golf in Texas?
March to May and October to November, when temperatures are mild and bermuda fairways are in good shape. Summer golf works if you tee off before about 7 am, and winter is playable in Austin, San Antonio and Houston, with dormant, firm fairways.
Our verdict
The best golf courses in Texas are mostly private, and the public headliners are few. But the state’s public golf is better than its reputation, and much cheaper than Arizona’s, California’s or Florida’s.
If you can play only one course, make it Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, and walk it. If you want value, play Cedar Crest, Brackenridge Park or Lions Municipal, all under $60 walking and all with more history than most resorts. And if you’re near San Antonio or Lubbock, don’t skip the Quarry or the Rawls Course; they’re the kind of courses that make a trip.
Sources
- America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses, 2025-26, Golf Digest
- The best golf courses in Texas, Golf Digest
- Top 100 public golf courses: state breakdown, GOLF
- What exactly are Course Rating and Slope Rating?, USGA
- PGA Frisco
- Memorial Park Golf Course
- Gus Wortham Park Golf Course, Houston Golf Association
- Wildcat Golf Club
- Golf ATX, City of Austin
- Omni Barton Creek Resort
- Horseshoe Bay Resort
- Golf, Dallas Park and Recreation
- Old American Golf Club
- Cowboys Golf Club
- TPC San Antonio
- The Quarry Golf Club
- Alamo City Golf Trail
- The Rawls Course, Texas Tech Athletics
- Lajitas Golf Resort
- Texas golf, Travel Texas
- How much golf costs in each state, GOLF, September 21, 2024
Image credits
| Image | Photographer | Licence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas, Irving (featured image) | Mang9 | CC BY-SA 3.0 | Wikimedia Commons |
| Oak Hills Country Club, San Antonio | Zereshk | CC BY-SA 3.0 | Wikimedia Commons |
| PGA of America headquarters, Frisco | Jackilometresan | CC0 | Wikimedia Commons |
| Lions Municipal Golf Course clubhouse, Austin | Larry D. Moore | CC BY 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons |
| Hancock Golf Course, 9th hole, Austin | Larry D. Moore | CC BY 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons |
| Brackenridge Park Golf Course clubhouse, San Antonio | Pauliedigi | CC BY-SA 3.0 | Wikimedia Commons |