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
24. BlackHorse Golf Club*
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.
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.
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/
Forgot to mention Falconhead in Austin! R.I.P. Pecan Valley.
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.