JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa

Beautiful course! From the time we got there until we left staff was unbelievable great! Course is great also. Lots of great holes and course conditions were .

This course was a fantastic test of golf. This course had some very difficult holes but it also had some birdie holes. Course was in fantastic shape. Greens rolled very well and the grass was in pristine condition.

Played 2 rounds at the Canyons course during my stay at the resort. Booked online and was pleasantly surprised by the twilight rate at 1pm that was not advertised on the site. Played one round as a single, didn't see another person on the course, and did a loop in 2:45. The second round was a planned 5 some, still didn't see anyone else, and got around in 4 hrs. Beautiful condition of everything. Punishing approaches to greens. Would definitely consider playing up a set of tees. Really nice practice facilities, including short game/bunker area.

Lots of pros.

1) Me and my military veteran buddies from out of town received amazing green fee discounts. Greatly appreciate that this course can be affordable for us.
2) The layout is fantastic, a bit more scenic than neighboring TPC Oaks. More elevation changes than its neighbor as well, which makes it a hill country gem.
3) Great facilities, loved the snack/drink shack at the 9th.
4) Pace of play, fastest round I've ever played in the past couple of years. (3.5 hours total)
5) Best resort in the area, nothing tops the JW Hill Country.

The only minor cons
1) greens had been aerated a few days ago, nonetheless putts rolled decently fast and smooth
2) weather in the summer in San Antonio is brutal, nothing can't be done about that though

Bottom line, me and my buds are hoping to return to this course and try out the TPC Oaks over and over and over... Thanks TPC San Antonio for taking care of the military!!

I was lucky to have played in a course that's part of the PGA tour. I played a week after the Valero Texas Open and was pleasantly surprised at how pristine the entire course was. I figured that after the pro's went through, that it'd be a mine field of divots the week after, but that was not the case at all. This course plays long and it is super challenging with lots of sand traps. It has a lot of elevation changes, typical of a Texas hill country course. The fairways and greens are gorgeous. I've never seen fairways this pretty, they almost looked fake to me how smooth and green they were. Perhaps the best thing that complements this course is the JW Marriott resort, with its awesome pools, slides and lazy river. This course is a must for a weekend getaway with your family. Get a round of 18 while you're family is enjoying the pool and other amenities.

While the dead patches in the fairway were very impressive, I was even more impressed by the superintendant's choice of crafty pin placements. The Valero Texas Open was played well over two months ago, and I got the impression the grounds crew wanted to treat ME like a pro!! I mean, who doesn't love seeing most of the pin placements on steep ridges? I really enjoyed seeing my putts that missed by a few inches travel 30 feet from the hole. I got bonus putts--for free!! Thanks, TPC San Antonio!!

Now I don't want you to think I got bonus golf for free, because I'm pretty sure the $4 Gatorade I purchased was no different from the $2 Gatorade I am used to drinking (but I could be wrong?).

Sarcasm aside, the staff were friendly, and the layout is a good test. I wish they would understand there are lots of choices around San Antonio for my golfing dollars. Fair pin placements make the golf more fun, and good conditioning is a must when the greens fees are $$$. Given my experience today, I think I will spend my discretionary golf dollars elsewhere.

I live around the corner and finally got a chance to play TPC San Antonio.. It was a pleasure and I really enjoyed the course.. The practice area was unbelievable.. Being able to work on 50 yard wedge shots on perfect fairways and greens was a treat.. The course itself was in pristine condition.. Everything was green because of the rains and there were wild flowers everywhere.. The course is tough for average golfers.. I was strutting my stuff as I was even par after 5 including a birdie on #5.. I racked up a ton of double bogies after that and only managed a 92.. The greens are slick and as the day went on I found them hard to handle.. It was hard to get the first putt close.. We did play the forward tees (6200 yards).. I'm no pro and there are way too many folks that think they are good enough to play the tips out here.. Enjoy the course by playing a yardage that gives you a chance.. I am a local and would like to see more affordable rates in the late afternoon.. Right now, most of us are priced out of this course..

Having been able to play this course multiple times since it first opened up, it is wonderful to see some of the changes they have made, especially to the greens. With some tough tee and approach shots, it definitely takes some shot making skills to play this course well. On more than one hole, the landing area for the tee shot is a narrow part of the fairway that depending on the day could roll your ball an extra 20 yards forward or straight into the rough which is usually very high and thick. For the more novice of golfers, the course does offer some more welcoming landing areas for tee shots, you just have to sacrifice score for lie.

Now open about five years now, the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio is really starting to settle into its groove. The fields just keep getting better at the Valero Texas Open and the course is maturing beautifully. That improvement is reflected in the fact it was rated at No. 68 on Golf Digest's most recent Top 100 public after not being on it at all the previous time.

The Oaks, designed by Greg Norman, is absolutely a Top 100 course and a real joy to play, even if you're a mid- to -high-handicapper and the layout dutifully slices and dices up your game. It's a gorgeous piece of Hill Country property with some nice roll to the land, but the larger hills are saved for the Canyons. It's a wonderfully walkable layout to boot, and hoofers were out in abundance on the brisk spring day I played.

I enjoyed playing the Oaks more than TPC Sawgrass -- architecture buffs can go ahead and skewer me with that statement. I can take it -- because of the two short par 4s, a fine collection of par 3s and artful shaping of the property that just oozes "Hill Country" at every turn. (Okay, maybe the 18th is a little over the top, but that's Texas, for ya) There are some devilish pin positions out there, and there really isn't an easy approach shot on the course, but TPCs are meant to be a supreme examination of your game, which this course absolutely is. But in spite of the inevitable scorecard carnage, it's still such a pleasant walk from No. 1 to 18.

Fun "resort-style" course. Not what you'd expect from Dye, but that's not a bad thing. Very fair with room to bail out. Bunkers aren't as deep as most Dye designs. Really enjoyable, fantastic views of the nature preserve and surrounds. Open off the tee, greens protected but not brutal. Great practice facilities but they charge you $16 for them on top of a hefty green fee. Best deal is to the stay and play package for sure (we did not). Great 19th hole at 18 Oaks. Great service there. Blue cheese olives in the martinis finish a great day.

Course was in "tournament shape." Completely overseeded with rye grass. Deep green and beautiful. Really significant rough and most firm, fast greens I have played in many years. Green complexes are raised and run off into closely mown collection areas and deep bunkering. This is not a course for beginners or very high handicaps. I am a 7 hdcp and got beaten up badly. Hit some 9 irons to centers of greens that bounced and released over (with premium ball, not a rock). Not nearly as scenic as sister course Canyons, but 5x the test. Conditions were among best I have ever played. Price is brutal but this gives you the real feel of playing a PGA Tour venue. 18 is an outstanding hole to finish a match. Highly recommend the drinks and food at the restaurant (18 Oaks).

Pro: Since this course hosts the Valero Open Tournament this course was in really great conditions. Bunkers were to be a challenge. The course was green all around. This is a must play course if you are around the San Antonio area. TPC courses are usually very good courses like this one. Rough was thick all the way around.

Con: The greens were rolling smoothly but tended to be slow. The walk from the parking lot is a big uphill walk. Overall I really like the course a lot.

Pro: This course hosts a tournament for the Senior Tour. The course was a nice Pete Dye design. The tough finishing hole number 18 had a lot of bunkers that made the hole challenging. I played there in a college tournament with some bad weather conditions that made the course tough. Bunkers were in excellent shape.

Cons: The greens were rolling smoothly but there were some Poe Anna grass growing on the Bermuda greens. They looked like weeds but overall the course was in nice shape.

Rare is it when a Pete Dye course is considered to be the "easier" of two courses at a resort, but the Canyons is just that, sitting next to the famed Oaks Course that hosts the Valero Texas Open. Dye's effort here is a good one, full of elevation changes, water and dramatic shots. Do I like it more than Norman's offering next door? Probably not, since I find the Oaks a little more artistic compared to Dye's more rugged look here. Both courses are certainly different from one another in look and playability, and the JW Marriott here, all 1,001 rooms of it, is a pretty incredible property to stay-and-play at (only members and guests of the resort can play here, making tee sheets generally more open compared to some of this golf town's more accessible courses).