Top 25 courses in Texas, according to Golf Advisor reviews in 2015

The Lone Star State is well known for its exclusive private courses (Colonial, Whispering Pines, Dallas National), but rest assured the public golf scene here is plenty deep, with highly-rated options, both high-end and very affordable.

Texans love their private golf facilities, and there are tons of great ones. In fact, Golf Digest's list of the top 30 courses in Texas has just one daily-fee course, The Quarry Golf Club. (The other publicly accessible resort courses, Horseshoe Bay, Barton Creek, Four Seasons and TPC San Antonio all require a stay at their resorts to play the courses, and didn't receive enough reviews over the year to qualify for this Golf Advisor ranking). Resort courses that offer daily-fee access fared well here, including La Cantera, Palmilla Beach, Hyatt Regency Lost Pines and Hyatt Hill Country Resort.

According to those of you who submitted reviews on Golf Advisor (more than 70,000 reviewers and 121,000 reviews nationally), the top 25 golf courses in Texas, all open to the public, scored at about a 4.5/5 average for their overall and subcategory ratings.

In the top 25 below, you'll see the major destinations are all well represented: San Antonio, Galveston-Corpus Christi, metro Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. There are a handful of courses a little more off the beaten path, like Pine Dunes, always a favorite pick from panelists at the Dallas Morning News, who produce a well known, yearly top 100 ranking for the state.

You can view the full top 25 below, and click on each course to view detailed ratings information and read full reviews from everyday golfers like you.

Top 25 courses in Texas


San Antonio
Architect: A.W. Tillinghast


Cypress
Architect: Peter Jacobsen, Jim Hardy


Grand Prairie
Architect: Jeff Brauer


San Antonio
Architect; Arthur Hills


Lubbock
Architect: Tom Doak


Fredericksburg
Architect: Jeff Brauer

San Antonio
Architect: Jay Morrish, Tom Weiskopf


Denton
Architect: Gary Stephanson


Weatherford
Architect: Wes & Stan Mickle


Euless
Architect: Keith Foster


Kingsland
Architect: Leon Howard, Jerry Slack


Frankston
Architect: Jay Morrish, Carter Morrish


Cleburne
Architect: John Colligan


San Antonio
Architect: Keith Foster


Arlington
Architect: Gary Panks


Galveston
Architect: Peter Jacobsen, Jim Hardy


Glen Rose
Architect: Jim Colligan


Lipan
Architect: Phil Lumsden


Port Aransas
Architect: Arnold Palmer


Blanco
Architect: Mike Lowry, J.R. Newman


Lost Pines
Architect: Arthur Hills


Lake Jackson
Architect: Jeff Brauer


Burnet
Architect: Dave Axeland, Dan Proctor


Canton
Architect: Robert Hay


San Antonio
Architect: Arnold Palmer


*Denotes 36-hole facility.

Brandon Tucker is the Sr. Managing Editor for GolfPass and was the founding editor of Golf Advisor in 2014, he was the managing editor for Golf Channel Digital's Courses & Travel. To date, his golf travels have taken him to over two dozen countries and nearly 600 golf courses worldwide. While he's played some of the most prestigious courses in the world, Tucker's favorite way to play the game is on a great muni in under three hours. Follow Brandon on Twitter at @BrandonTucker and on Instagram at @btuck34.
6 Comments
Default User Avatar

Ridiculous to not include some great courses because they didn't receive enough reviews. A course is either top quality or it isn't based on the merits of the course; not on how many people rated it.

Default User Avatar

How did Max A. Mandel not get on this list? I'm from San Antonio, where we are fortunate enough to have great courses, and I will easily take an offer to drive over 2 hours to play at Max. Other note able courses not mentioned that I enjoy: Canyon Springs, The Republic of Texas, and when I make the drive up to Dallas: Cowboys Golf Club.

Canyon Springs and Falconhead were in the "next 25" so to speak rankings-wise (two courses I personally like in the upper-public realm). Cowboys, somewhat surprisingly, was even further below them (maybe it has to do with the price point). Max Mandel, meanwhile, is batting 1.000 with five-star reviews, but only has three reviews thus far, not making it eligible. http://www.golfadvisor.com/courses/32306-max-a-mandel-golf-course/

Default User Avatar

Forgot to mention Falconhead in Austin! R.I.P. Pecan Valley.

Default User Avatar

don't know who "voted" for these, but there are a number of courses that have no business being in the top 25 in the state of Texas.  while these are OK golf courses, they are not even close to being in the top 25 (Wildhorse, Twin Lakes, Cleburne).   never heard of a number of these, and I've lived and played golf all over Texas for my whole life (in my 60's).

Which publics are your favorites in the state? I'm a huge fan of Black Jack's Crossing but being in Lajitas, just doesn't receive enough reviews. Some of the better stay-and-plays like Barton Creek/Horseshoe Bay/TPC just didn't receive enough reviews this year. 

Now Reading
Top 25 courses in Texas, according to Golf Advisor reviews in 2015