For such a dry state, Texas is lush with golf courses that amateurs and professionals recommend and love. These days, it’s a good idea to plan ahead by booking a slot online for you and guests. Here are six courses that are beautiful, unique, and particularly welcoming to their visitors that you should consider visiting this year.
Visit These 6 Great Public Golf Courses In Texas
1. Olmos Basin Golf Course - San Antonio
Located a few minutes north of the San Antonio Zoo and just off an exit on Highway 281 is Olmos Basin Golf Course, part of the larger group of greens called Alamo City Golf Trail, which includes other locations like Brackenridge Park and Cedar Creek and provides package-deal membership options for those courses and others. Olmos Basin, at $26 a player during the week and $31 on weekends and holidays, is consistently praised for its great value and enjoyability. The flat greens have “U.S. Open-style” rough (a lot of it) and does not have a driving range. If you’re visiting, check out the Alamo Quarry Market, a pretty open-air mall with plenty of choices for shopping and dining, including the independently-owned Italian restaurant Piatti.
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2. Butterfield Trail Golf Club - El Paso
This desert oasis is right next to El Paso International Airport, in case you can’t wait to hop off the plane and start golfing. Butterfield, only a decade old, is luxurious and has a driving range that looks nearly identical to a postcard against the endless Rio Grande sky, which makes it a popular location for weddings. The course was crafted by superstar golf course architect Tom Fazio, and thus playing it is going to be at least a little bit tricky—the layout is built for seasoned professionals, after all. Green fees Monday through Friday are at most $65 a player and $80 on weekends and holidays at most (discounts apply to active duty military, seniors, El Paso residents and residents of El Paso, Hudspeth and Culberson counties), a great deal for a swanky day. On site is the club’s restaurant, Salida del Sol, which has Tex-mex food, cold wraps and hot sandwiches.
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3. Bluebonnet Hill Golf Club - Austin
In the suburbs of east Austin, near the Walter E. Long Lake reservoir (popular for fishing) and Capitol City Trap and Skeet Club, Bluebonnet Hill Golf Range offers patrons a paradise of rolling hills, fairways and many chances for impressive drives. The facility goes above and beyond with its amenities, including practice areas for specific skill honing, all for $32 or less on weekdays and $42 a person on weekends (but discounts apply at certain hours, so check beforehand). Bluebonnet also has golf lessons at $40 per adult and $35 per “junior” golfer. Note that the sprawling course itself is most appreciated by intermediate-level players.
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4. Grover C. Keeton Golf Course - Dallas
Surrounded by the Great Trinity Forest, Grover C. Keeton Park Golf Course takes advantage of water traps galore to keep players on their toes. Starting out at $33 per person in the morning and dropping steadily in price to $26 in the evening, as well as hosting the teaching pros at the Tony Martinez School of Golf on site, year round definitely leaves a generous mark on customers, as well as the pleasant scenery of a forest clearing. Looking to eat? The course doesn’t have much, but not far from Keeton is plenty of good Mexican food, like El Palote Panaderia and El Pollo Pollo.
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5. Iron Horse Golf Course - Fort Worth
About 15 minutes from Fort Worth’s city center—located in the suburb of North Richland Hills—Iron Horse Golf House makes use of the land around Interstate 820 for an unexpected burst of putting-ready Champion Bermuda grass. Public rates, like other courses, go down as the day moves on, from $46 in the morning to $18 per person at night. The famous architect who designed Iron Horse (built in 1989), Dick Phelps, earned the establishment many accolades, like a “4-Star” rating from Golf Digest. Iron Horse’s restaurant also caters the events hosted on the premises and is a big step up from a mere snack bar.
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6. BlackHorse Golf Club - Cypress
BlackHorse Golf Club, right in the heart of Cypress, an outer suburb of Houston, snakes around Cypress Creek, which runs through the middle of the estate. It’s a building with a classic beauty, not limited to the beautiful trees, fencing and terrace, where people sit and eat food from Jake’s Grill, the on-site restaurant with nine TVs for sports fans. Online reservations start at $69 per golfer and go down to $34 by the end of that day. Of course, this gem has a teaching center and 36, rather than 18 holes. This establishment also has a multiple-award-winning gift shop, making it a point of interest in its own right!
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This article was written by Juliana Cohen.