Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play: Texas

Even though Texas may be the Lone Star State, there’s more than one course that shines brightly in the massive state’s incredibly diverse terrain. But for every ranking list of greatest courses, there must be one at the top, and in Texas that is Black Jack’s Crossing.

Designed by PGA Tour legend Lanny Wadkins and opened in 2012, the mountainous layout sits near the United States’ border with Mexico along the Rio Grande River. The course was named for U.S. Army General “Black Jack” Pershing, who chased Pancho Villa across the river more than a century ago.

Golfweek ranks courses by compiling the average ratings – on a points basis of 1 to 10 – of its more than 750 raters to create several industry-leading lists of courses. That includes the popular Best Courses You Can Play list for courses that allow non-member tee times. These generally are defined as layouts accessible to resort guests or regular daily-fee players.

Black Jack’s Crossing at the remote Lajitas Resort is No. 1 on the list in Texas, as well as being No. 48 on Golfweek’s Best 2021 rankings of all resort courses in the U.S. The property is situated between Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park in what easily could be mistaken for a rocky lunar landscape, requiring as much skill with a camera as with a golf club.

Fazio Canyons in Austin, Texas (Courtesy of Omni Barton Creek Resort)

Fazio Canyons, designed by Tom Fazio, at Omni Barton Creek Resort in Austin is No. 2 in Texas on the Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list. The resort is also home to the Fazio Foothills layout, which is No. 7 in Texas, and the resort’s Coore Crenshaw Cliffside course ranks No. 12 in the state.

No. 3 in Texas among public-access tracks is the Rawls Course at Texas Tech in Lubbock, followed by No. 4 Pine Dunes Resort & Golf Club in Frankston. TPC San Antonio’s Oaks course rounds out the top 5, and that destination’s Canyons course ranks No. 15 in the state as well.

The Rawls Course at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. (Courtesy of Texas Tech)

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in Texas

1. Black Jack’s Crossing

Lajitas (m)

2. Omni Barton Creek (Fazio Canyons)

Austin (m)

3. The Rawls Course at Texas Tech

Lubbock (m)

4. Pine Dunes Resort & Golf Club

Frankston (m)

5. TPC San Antonio (Oaks)

San Antonio (m)

6. TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas

Irving (m)

7. *Omni Barton Creek (Fazio Foothills)

Austin (m)

8. La Cantera Resort (Palmer)

San Antonio (m)

9. Old American

The Colony (m)

10. Cowboys

Grapevine (m)

11. *Omni Barton Creek (Coore Crenshaw Cliffside)

Austin (m)

12. Brackenridge Park

San Antonio (c)

13. GC of Houston (Tournament)

Humble (m)

14. TPC San Antonio (Canyons)

San Antonio (m)

15. Wolfdancer

Lost Pines (m)

16. *Horseshoe Bay Resort (Slick Rock)

Horseshoe Bay (m)

17. *The Tribute

The Colony (m)

18. Texas Star

Euless (m)

19. Stevens Park

Dallas (m)

20. Quarry

San Antonio (m)

Golfweek’s Best Private Courses in Texas

1. Whispering Pines

Trinity (No. 21 m)

2. Dallas National

Dallas (No. 38 m)

3. Bluejack National

Montgomery (No. 52 m)

4. Colonial

Fort Worth (No. 73 c)

5. *Maridoe

Carrollton (m)

6. Austin GC

Spicewood (No. 88 m)

7. Boot Ranch

Fredericksburg (No. 91 m)

8. Brook Hollow

Dallas (c)

9. Club at Carlton Woods (Fazio)

The Woodlands (m)

10. Trinity Forest

Dallas (m)

*New to the list in 2020

(m): modern; (c): classic

Golfweek’s Best 2020: Top 30 Campus Courses

The rankings below reflect where these courses fall among the top 30 Campus Courses in the United States.

5. Rawls Course at Texas Tech, 6.53

Lubbock, Texas; Tom Doak, 2003

Golfweek’s Best 2020

How we rate them

The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state, or nationally, to produce the final rankings.