The Alamo City is known for the Riverwalk, its missions, Tex-Mex and barbecue, theme parks and warm weather. It’s also arguably the best golf resort city in the state of Texas.
From the site of the Valero Texas Open to the former site of the PGA Tour event, the San Antonio area offers resort golf at its finest.
The city also has a nice collection of municipal and daily fee courses to go with some stellar private clubs. And did we mention great Tex-Mex and barbecue? After a round of golf in San Antonio, heading over to the original Rudy’s BBQ in Leon Springs or Rosarios Mexican Café Y Cantina near the Riverwalk is a great way to wrap up the day. But let’s take a hard look at the golf, as there are plenty of options.
Exceptional resort golf in San Antonio
There are two resorts that have played host to the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open since 1995. The JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa and TPC San Antonio have staged the event since 2009. La Cantera Resort & Spa had it in the previous 14 years. Both are luxury properties with 36 holes of memorable golf and so much more.
Greg Norman’s AT&T Course at the TPC San Antonio is considered one of the most difficult golf courses in Texas. One of the holes, the par-3 16th, features a bunker in the middle of the green, ala Riviera. The 18th is a terrific risk-reward par 5. The other course, the AT&T Canyons Course at the TPC San Antonio, used to host a PGA Tour Champions event and remains popular. It’s a linksy Pete Dye course that is actually fairly player friendly.
Both the TPC courses are private but open to resort play. So that’s incentive enough to stay at the resort, which (with more than 1,000 rooms) is the largest JW Marriott in the world. A PGA Tour Academy, spa, water park, several restaurants and pretty nice sports help complete the experience.
The Valero Texas Open’s previous home, the Benchmark Resort’s La Cantera, remains a pretty good choice as well, and the resort has been updated in recent years. Nowhere in San Antonio will you find better views, and the two, the original Resort Course, which was the host course for the tournament, and the Palmer Course — have plenty of dramatic elevation changes, lots of risk-reward scoring opportunities, and are, simply put, fun.
Beyond the JW Marriott and La Cantera, though, visitors have some other resort options in San Antonio.
The Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort, located near Sea World, offers a good strategic test. Designed by Arthur Hills, course management is a must as 27 holes are split into three nine-hole experiences. In addition, golfers will find wildlife, beautiful surroundings and a terrific resort, which has its own water park, top-notch dining and super comfortable accommodations.
Tapatio Springs Resort, located northwest of San Antonio in Boerne, is about as quiet and peaceful as it gets. Owned by Texas businessman and developer Tom Cusick along with friend and country music star George Strait, the resort has been upgraded in recent years, including replacing its clubhouse. The golf course is also better, having been reduced from 27 holes to 18. Architect Tripp Davis oversaw the work, which has also included new Billy Bunkers and much better drainage.Â
Follow the Alamo Golf Trail in San Antonio
The Alamo City Golf Trail is the brainchild of the nonprofit Municipal Golf Association, which was formed in 2008. Before then, San Antonio’s city courses were nothing to write home about, but that’s certainly no longer the case.
It starts with historic Brackenridge Park, which staged the Texas Open for decades. This is an A.W. Tillinghast design that was renovated and restored by the Colligan Golf Group. The restored square tee boxes, great conditioning and new turf as well as generally cleaning up underbrush and the canopies of the trees have produced a golf course that every golfer visiting San Antonio should play at least once.Â
But now there’s not only Brackenridge, but also two or three other courses that should be on your radar if you come to San Antonio to play golf.
At the top of that list are Cedar Creek Golf Course and Willow Springs Golf Course. In fact, both of them are certainly more difficult tests than Brackenridge, which measures just 6,500 yards from the tips.
Cedar Creek, a terrific Finger Dye Spann design, plays 7,000 yards from the back tees and winds through the edge of the Texas Hill Country on the northside of town.Â
Willow Springs, which uses recycled water, always seems to be in great shape. It’s also the longest of all the Alamo City Golf Trail courses at 7,200 yards, and it has the longest par 5 in the city at 663 yards. Like Brackenridge, it’s also in the heart of the city, right next to the AT&T Center, where the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs play.
And then there’s the city’s Olmos Basin Golf Course. It’s currently under renovation and scheduled to open in the Fall 2021, further strengthening one of the best municipal golf systems in the United States.
A nice collection of daily-fee golf courses in San Antonio
While the resort courses in the San Antonio area have great views, as do a couple of the munis, the daily fee courses in the area also have some nice elevated tees, making them memorable.Â
A great example is the Quarry Golf Club. Opened in 1993, it is still one of the most talked-about golf courses in San Antonio. The front nine is links-like, but it gets really interesting on the back nine, where architect Keith Foster carved out holes from an old cement quarry. The holes wind through and inside of giant rock walls and stones that sometimes come into play, even favorably if you get the right bounce. The clubhouse restaurant is also outstanding, and there are dozens of shops and restaurants nearby at the Alamo Quarry Market.
Canyon Springs Golf Club, located on the north side of town, is another solid choice. Even though the course winds through a community, the homes are set back far enough that they don’t detract from the experience. Built on an historic ranch and quarry, the course has a man-made waterfall behind the 18th green.
Silverhorn Golf Club is a Randy Heckenkemper design that is also a great value for the money. Heckenkemper worked with PGA Tour pros Willie Wood and Scott Verplank to build a course that’s a great test for the better players but friendly to higher handicappers.
And there’s also the Flying L Guest Ranch and Resort in Bandera, just west of Boerne. It offers rolling hills and towering oaks as a backdrop. The signature par-3 seventh hole features a green surrounded by water on three sides with a spectacular view of the Texas Hill Country.
And If you’re looking for a little history and a great value, check out 36-hole Fort Sam Houston Golf Club. It’s a military course open to civilians and has quite a pedigree. Many of the holes were designed by A.W. Tillinghast, and it remains the only military golf course to ever play host to a PGA Tour event.
Finally, The Bandit, though it’s not in San Antonio, is worth the short drive northeast of the city. Technically in the town of New Braunfels near Lake McQueeney, The Bandit is another terrific Foster design with plenty of great views. Long one of the hidden gems in the state of Texas, the nearly 7,000-yard, par-72 Bandit course features elevated tee shots and great conditions.