Golf in Texas

Texas has 587 golf courses across 324 communities, a density and geographic range that reflects the state's scale: the second-largest state in the country by both area and population. The courses span from the subtropical Rio Grande Valley in the far south to the High Plains of the Panhandle in the north, from the humid Piney Woods of East Texas to the Chihuahuan Desert of the Trans-Pecos in the west, and from the Gulf Coast barrier islands to the Hill Country's limestone plateaus in the center. Each of these regions offers a fundamentally different golf experience shaped by terrain, climate, and vegetation.

The Texas Hill Country produces some of the most distinctive courses in the state, set on the limestone and granite terrain of the Edwards Plateau and the Llano Uplift. The Barton Creek resort complex near Austin, the Horseshoe Bay Resort on Lake Lyndon B. Johnson, and the TPC San Antonio courses in the northwest San Antonio Hill Country fringe represent the premium end of the Hill Country golf landscape, while city courses in Kerrville, Fredericksburg, and Marble Falls serve the communities of the central plateau. The Highland Lakes chain along the Colorado River (from Lake Buchanan to Lake Travis) has spawned a corridor of resort and residential golf in the distinctive granite and limestone country of Burnet County.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the state's largest golf market, with dozens of courses across Tarrant, Dallas, Collin, and Denton Counties. The spectrum runs from landmark clubs like Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth and Dallas Country Club in Highland Park to extensive city golf systems. The northern suburbs of Frisco, McKinney, The Colony, and Prosper have added significant new development as the Metroplex has expanded northward, and the Las Colinas area in Irving has maintained its place as a major professional golf venue through the AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Four Seasons.

Houston's golf landscape is defined by the flat coastal plain and the bayou system that drains it. From Memorial Park's long-serving city course to River Oaks Country Club to the suburban multi-course complexes in The Woodlands, Humble, and Katy, the greater Houston area serves one of the largest metropolitan populations in the country. Montgomery County's Lake Conroe corridor adds a resort and retirement golf zone north of the city.

West Texas, the Trans-Pecos, and the Panhandle offer sparse but varied golf in some of the most geographically dramatic and isolated settings in the country. The Lajitas Golf and Resort near Big Bend National Park is among the most remote courses in the state. Lubbock, Midland, Odessa, and Amarillo anchor the west Texas golf markets, each serving a regional population in the semi-arid and desert terrain of the High Plains, the Permian Basin, and the Panhandle.