When you think of sports in Texas you naturally think of football from the traditions of Friday Night Lights to college game days to NFL Sundays. The Lone Star State also has plenty of baseball, basketball, soccer, racing, and rodeo fans.

Golf may fly under the radar for some in Texas like a Lee Trevino low-power fade back in the day, but the Lone Star State is home to some of the most famous golfers in history, hosting top-notch professional tournaments, and a growing golf destination with new courses opening each year.

Golf Digest lists four Texas courses on its America’s greatest courses rankings — Whispering Pines (No. 51) in Trinity, Dallas National Golf Club (No. 83), Bluejack National (No. 139) in Montgomery, and Colonial Country Club (No. 184) in Fort Worth — and that list should grow with the likes of new courses such as Field Ranch East at PGA Frisco, which will host the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June 2025 and the first men’s major in Texas in 60 years with the 2027 PGA Championship.

“A surge of new courses and developments could very easily alter that equation as some of the profession’s top designers have been getting to work here. There’s no shortage of land or exciting golf properties in Texas, and if the right concepts and architects can take advantage of them, the future of Texas golf looks as radiant as it’s ever been,” according to Golf Digest..

Texas Has a Long, Proud Golf Tradition

Texas has a made-for-Hollywood golf tradition dating back to 1912 when two legends of the game — Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson — were both born in the Lone Star State and in the 1920s, they both were caddies at the Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth.

“Chartered in 1912 with only nine holes and sand greens, Glen Garden added the back nine a year or two later, and by the forties, it was hosting PGA Tour events, despite a curious layout that featured an electrical tower straddling the twelfth fairway,” according to Texas Monthly.

Hogan (nine majors) and Nelson (five majors) would go on to combine for 14 major tournament wins but before they were professionals they battled in the 1927 Christmas caddy tournament at Glen Garden with Nelson edging Hogan by a single stroke in a 9-hole playoff.

“The State of Texas has provided the world of golf some of its greatest players, teachers, innovators, and courses. Our membership’s accomplishments are astonishing,” says the Texas Golf Hall of Fame.

Texas golfers have produced, according to the Texas Golf Hall of Fame:

• 997 PGA/LPGA Tour Wins
• 84 Majors Won
• 27 USGA Champions
• 10 Ryder Cup Captains
• 6 PGA Golf Professionals of the Year
• 25 World Golf Hall of Fame Members

Besides Hogan (born in Stephenville), Nelson (Fort Worth), and Trevino (Dallas), Texas golfers have included many big-name major winners such as Ben Crenshaw (Austin), Jordan Spieth (Dallas), Mark Brooks (Fort Worth), Justin Leonard (Dallas), and Tom Kite (McKinney) on the men’s side.

And on the women’s side, Texas has given golf such legends as Kathy Whitworth (Monahans), Sandra Palmer (Fort Worth), Sandra Haynie (Fort Worth), and one the greatest all-around athletes in history — Babe Didrikson Zaharias (Port Arthur), who not only won 10 major championships but also two gold medals at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics in track and field.

Texas Helped Forge Modern Professional Golf Game

Texas helped set the foundation for the modern professional golf game with the first Texas Open in 1922, held at Brackenridge Park in San Antonio. Opened in 1916, the oldest 18-hole public golf course in Texas is still open for tee times today!

Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) says the 1922 tournament — the brainchild of San Antonio newspaperman Jack O’Brien and golf architect John Bredemus — had the largest pro golf tournament prize money for its time at $5,000.

“The Texas Open set the pattern for lucrative professional events around the world,” says the TSHA.

Texas was the site of the 1927 PGA Championship where Walter Hagen won the last of his 5 PGA titles in Dallas at the Cedar Crest Country Club (now the Cedar Crest Golf Course).

The TSHA says one pro quipped that there was a time when “a team of Texans could beat a team from any country in the world” with five PGA champions from Texas in 20 years between 1937 and 1957.

Today, fans can still catch the best players in the world on Texas links — and if they are lucky enough — get a round of golf in at the following courses home to 2025 pro events — including two of the women’s major championships:

PGA

• Texas Children’s Houston Open (March 27–30): Memorial Park Golf Course
• Valero Texas Open (April 3–6): TPC San Antonio Oaks Course
• The CJ Cup Byron Nelson (May 1–4): TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney
• Charles Schwab Challenge (May 22–25): Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth

LPGA

• The Chevron Championship (April 24–27): The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands
• KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (June 19–22): Field Ranch East at PGA Frisco

PGA Tour Champions (senior)

• Insperity Invitational (May 2–4): The Woodlands Country Club

LIV Tour

• LIV Golf Dallas (June 27–29): Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton

Korn Ferry Tour

• Veritex Bank Championship (April 24–27): Texas Rangers Golf Club in Arlington

Play These Public Golf Courses in Texas

The great thing about Texas is that you don’t have to have Elon Musk’s bankroll to play some of the top golf courses in the state.

“You don’t need to belong to a country club, or even have especially deep pockets, to enjoy high-quality golf. Here we are blessed with plentiful daily-fee and municipal courses,” according to Texas Monthly. “According to recent National Golf Foundation statistics, Texas ranks fifth in the U.S. — behind only California, Florida, Michigan, and New York — in number of public courses, with some six hundred tracks across the state. That’s roughly the same as our number of Dairy Queens.”

Here are some golf courses to check out across the state:

Fields Ranch East and West Courses at Omni PGA Frisco Resort, Frisco

• Designed by Gil Hanse
• 18-hole, 72-par championship course
• Features:
  • Rolling topography and meandering Panther Creek
  • Smallish greens with gentle rolls and strong slopes
  • Naturally rough-hewn bunkers blending with prairie grasses
  • Ribbon tees for multiple setup options
  • Hosting KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2025 and Men’s PGA Championship in 2027

TPC San Antonio (Oaks Course), San Antonio

• Designed by Greg Norman with input from Sergio Garcia
• Features:
  • Large, rolling greens and tree-lined fairways
  • Cavernous bunkers strategically placed throughout
  • Water hazards on several holes
  • Challenging 591-yard par-5 closing hole
  • Hosts the annual Valero Texas Open PGA Tour event

Black Jack’s Crossing at Lajitas Golf Resort, Terlingua

• Designed by Lanny Wadkins
• Features:
  • Spectacular views of Big Bend National Park and the Rio Grande
  • Wall-to-wall paspalum turf to cope with desert conditions
  • Numerous elevated tees, including the par-5 8th and par-4 14th
  • Plays at an elevation of about 2,200 feet

The Rawls Course at Texas Tech University, Lubbock

• Designed by Tom Doak
• Features:
  • Created from an old cotton farm
  • 1.3 million cubic yards of topsoil moved to create challenging terrain
  • Undulating greens, wide fairways, and deep bunkers
  • Mimics the eroded features of the South Plains Caprock region
  • Links-style layout built mostly below grade

Omni Barton Creek Resort and Spa, Austin

• Fazio Canyons and Fazio Foothills designed by Tom Fazio
• Features:
  • Fazio Canyons feature scenic limestone cliff lines and natural waterfalls
  • Short Springs Branch Creek meanders through the course
  • Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary
  • Recently underwent a $5 million renovation
  • Fazio Foothills has dramatic elevation changes up to 75 feet
  • Both courses are ranked as top courses to play in Texas by golf publications

Ram Rock at Horseshoe Bay Resort

• Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr.
• Features:
  • 62 deep bunkers
  • Ten water hazards
  • Narrow fairways and swift elevation changes
  • Natural dry creeks incorporated into design
  • Signature hole: Par-3 4th with an island green (191 yards)

Golf Club of Houston Tournament Course

• Designed by Rees Jones and David Toms
• Features:
  • Former host of the Houston Open PGA Tour event
  • Well-manicured fairways and expertly crafted greens
  • Strategic bunkers throughout the course
  • Natural setting with native plants and wildlife

The Tribute Golf Links, The Colony

• Designed by Tripp Davis
• Features:
  • Modeled after legendary courses of Scotland with windswept dunes and sea-washed grasses
  • Challenging water hazards
  • Five different sets of tee boxes
  • Offers a links-style golf experience

Traditions Club at Texas A&M, Bryan

• Co-designed by Jack Nicklaus and Jack Nicklaus II
• Features:
  • Home course for Texas A&M Men's and Women's Golf Teams
  • Natural rolling terrain and large native trees
  • Turkey Creek incorporated into the design
  • Signature hole: 18th hole, 444-yard par 4 with Texas A&M logo behind the green

These are just a few of the golf courses to play in Texas with nearly 900 courses spread around the state including 600+ public and municipal courses.