The best courses you can play in Austin

One of Texas' best golf resorts is the Omni Barton Creek, located just 25 minutes outside of Austin. The resort features four 18-hole designs, and the highest-ranked layout is the Fazio Canyons design, a former Golf Digest America's 100 Greatest Public winner. This signature Tom Fazio design, which offers scenic views of Austin’s Hill Country, recently underwent an extensive renovation.

Fazio Foothills is another former member of America's 100 Greatest Public, and the favorite among many at the Omni Barton Creek, though the Canyons course ranks slightly higher in our scoring criteria. The Foothills course, which used to host a PGA Tour Champions event and hosted the 2003 U.S. Senior Women's Amateur, underwent an update in 2017 to the layout, which tumbles and undulates down the rolling hills and around and over creeks.

Just 20 miles east of Austin, Wolfdancer Golf Club feels like two courses in one: The first 12 holes weave through the rolling prairie hills, while the last six are down in the river valley. With contoured greens and ample shot variety, this Arthur Hills design provides a memorable challenge.

Crenshaw Cliffside, completed in 1991, was just the second course Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw completed and represents the last project they'd work on in relative obscurity: soon after they began piecing together Sand Hills, no. 8 on America's 100 Greatest Courses, creating a wave of minimalism and big natural courses that has yet to abate. Though not on property particularly suited to good golf, Crenshaw Cliffside has all the hallmarks of what has made the architects' courses at once revolutionary and nuanced: large, heavily contoured greens that feel subtle; bunkers that have some of the most detailed edging in the game; a sense of elegance and restraint in the construction; and the discipline to take what the land gives, yeilding unconventional sequences like huge back-to-back par 5s along the edge of a river ravine followed by a pitch-shot par 3 into a shallow thumbnail green. Golfers tend to think more highly of Omni Barton Creek's two Tom Fazio-designed courses, Fazio Canyons and Fazio Foothills, and gravitate toward the flash and aesthetics of those designs. Each are listed among the top 40 in Texas's Best in State ranking, while Crenshaw Cliffside is not. Those who enjoy the work of Coore and Crenshaw, on the other hand, appreciate that the architecture takes the opportunities that were presented and works with them, creating a tight, connected layout that's different than it's peers but rhythmic and riveting in its own way.

A Jay Morrish design just south of downtown Austin, Grey Rock plays over 160 acres of rolling hills. Sprawling oak trees and large bunkers line most fairways, which are generally wide. Most fairway bunkers have low lips, but some around the green are quite deep, like at the par-4 fifth.

The Palmer Lakeside course is the only one of the four layouts at Omni Barton Creek Resort that is located off property. The course is about 40 minutes from the resort and is situated on a hilltop overlooking Lake Travis. Given the setting on the hilltop, there are scenic views of the lake down below and plenty of elevation changes. The signature par-3 11th plays over a pond to a green perched in front of an impressive stone-covered waterfall.

Lions Municipal has long been a historic part of the Austin public golf scene. When it opened in 1924, it became the first public golf course in Austin. In 1950, it became the first course south of the Mason-Dixon line to desegregate. Two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw grew up nearby and played Lions Municipal—known by the locals as “Muny”—as a kid. Some of golf’s biggest names have played at Muny, including Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Betsy Rawls and Tom Kite. In recent years, it’s not uncommon to see actor Matthew McConaughey on the driving range with his son. Each summer, Muny hosts Texas’ oldest amateur tournament, the Firecracker Open, which dates back to the 1940s and boasts Crenshaw and Kite as past champs. Situated in the heart of the city, it’s a quality, affordable layout with weekday rates running around $30. Crenshaw and his design partner, Bill Coore, have volunteered to renovate the course for nothing—and they're a part of fundraising efforts to generate the funds to be able to do the work.

Host of the Texas State Open on multiple occasions, this Hill Country course is a demanding test—so much so it used to be called “Challenger.” Designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., the par 72 is built in a counter-clockwise circle, causing several of the doglegs to favor a right-to-left-shape. Rugged rock outcroppings throughout the course, as well as an island green on the par-3 fourth, make Ram Rock a memorable place to play at Horseshoe Bay Resort, which features four 18-hole courses.

The most scenic course at Horseshoe Bay, Apple Rock is a rolling layout with the back nine playing down to the shores of Lake LBJ. There are plenty of elevation changes at this previous Texas State Open host, creating picturesque views of the lake below and the surrounding Hill Country. Unlike Slick Rock, which has generous greens, Apple Rock’s putting surfaces are much smaller and require far more precision. In 2019, new bentgrass greens were installed as part of a renovation that also included work on 50 bunkers.

Slick Rock, the easiest of the three RTJ courses at Horseshoe Bay, is a parkland design that plays over 170 acres. Playing through a tree-lined landscape with granite outcroppings spread throughout, Slick Rock presents generous targets off the tee and into the large greens. Opening in 1972, Slick Rock was the first course to open at the resort, and in 2016, it underwent an extensive renovation of the greens, bunkers and irrigation system.