As part of GOLF’s rigorous ratings process for our newly released Top 100 Courses in the U.S. and Top 100 Courses You Can Play rankings, our fleet of 100-plus expert panelists identified the best golf courses in every state.
You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Texas. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.
GOLF’s other course rankings: Top 100 Courses in the World | Top 100 Courses in the U.S. | Top 100 Courses You Can Play | Top 100 Value Courses in the U.S. | America’s Best Municipal Courses | The 100 Best Short Courses in the World
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The best golf courses in Texas (2024/2025)
SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Top 100 Course in the U.S.
Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S.
V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S.
P = Public/Resort
Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.
1. Trinity Forest (Dallas) [#]
2. Colonial (Fort Worth)
3. Whispering Pines (Trinity)
4. Brook Hollow (Dallas)
5. Austin Golf Club (Spicewood)
6. Big Easy Ranch, The Covey (Columbus)
7. TX0 (Formerly Wolf Point) (Port Lavaca)
8. Dallas National (Dallas)
9. Omni PGA Frisco (Fields Ranch East) (Frisco) [Y, P]
The PGA of America’s 2022 move out of Florida was also a move up to extravagant new headquarters in Frisco, Tex. that cost more than half a billion dollars to build. Part of a sprawling complex that boasts two-18-holers, a lavish putting course and a lighted par-3 layout, the East Course is the big-boy of the bunch, a stout, walking-only design that rewards good shots but punishes misses to smallish greens ringed by firm, fast runoffs and tight lies. Slated to host a slew of PGA of America events in the coming years, including the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the 2027 PGA Championship, the course can be stretched to more than 7,800 yards but makes a compelling test from any distance in a nearly ever-present Texas wind.
10. Shady Oaks (Westworth Village)
11. Austin Country Club (Austin)
12. Champions – Cypress Creek (Houston)
13. Bluejack National (Montgomery)
14. Preston Trail (Dallas)
15. Vaquero (Westlake)
16. Memorial Park [Y, V, P]
Tom Doak, along with consultant Brooks Koepka, was chosen to take one of the most popular public golf courses in the Houston metropolitan area and turn it into a venue suitable to testing the best players in the world while housing upward of 60,000 fans. A successful combination of more short grass, fewer bunkers and better green-to-tee transitions led not only to a successful tournament setting but also a design in which the people of Houston can take great pride.
17. Boot Ranch (Fredericksburg)
18. Rawls Course at Texas Tech (Lubbock) [V, P]
Tom Doak’s general preference is to follow nature’s lead, but when given a flat site like the one here, Plan B was required. Instead, the job became a massive dirt-moving exercise in two regards: First, mounds were constructed around the perimeter so that the golfer’s attention is turned inward, opening up long, handsome views across the course. Second, Doak made sure that the holes themselves were blessed with many random, micro-contours. Pair the firm playing conditions that are fostered in this part of Texas with the area’s ubiquitous wind and the course plays — shockingly — like a links. Downwind, golfers might well need to pick a spot about 45 yards short of the reachable par-5 2nd green to land their second shots and then watch in delight as their balls bound on to the opening of the putting surface. No golf trail is near Lubbock so the Rawls Course is a bit of an outpost, but make sure it stays on your radar.
19. Spanish Oaks (Austin)
20. Barton Creek — Canyons (Austin) [P]
How we rank our courses
For our newly released Top 100 U.S. and Top 100 You Can Play lists — a process that helped us create 50 best-in-state rankings — each panelist was provided a ballot that consisted of 609 courses. Beside the list of courses were 11 “buckets,” or groupings. If our panelists considered a course to be among the top three in the U.S., they ticked that first column. If they believed the course to be among Nos. 4-10, they checked that column, followed by 11-25, 26-50, and so on out to 250+ and even a column for “remove.” Panelists were also free to write in courses that they felt should have been included on the ballot.
Points were assigned to each bucket; to arrive at an average score for each course, we divide its aggregate score by the number of votes. From those point tallies, the courses are then ranked accordingly. It is an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it historically has produced results that are widely lauded. Like the game itself, there’s no need to unnecessarily complicate things or try to fix something that already works so well.
The key to the process is the experience and expertise of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all the worldwide golf meccas, each of our 127 handpicked panelists has a keen eye for architecture, both regionally and globally. Many of our panelists have played more than 1,000 courses in 20-plus countries, some over 2,000. Their handicaps range from +5 to 15.
Because the nature of course rating is so intensely subjective, no one opinion carries the day. The only way, then, to build meaningful consensus is to incorporate this diversity of panelists and experiences into one ranking.
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