12 Best Golf Courses in San Antonio, TX in 2023

June 8, 2023

The 7th hole of the Resort Course at La Cantera Hill Country Resort personifies the best golf courses in San Antonio: a dazzling elevated tee that shows off not only natural limestone rock outcroppings and hill country horizon, but the Six Flags Fiesta below. The Alamo City is the number one family destination in Texas thanks to such sights as the historic Alamo and Riverwalk, as well as amusement parks like Sea World and nearby Schlitterbahn.

It’s also the deepest city for notable public and resort golf courses in Texas. It can offer more golf resorts than neighboring Austin, as well as and a fine collection of municipal, daily-fee and semi-private facilities.

Some of the best golf courses in San Antonio are golf resorts, starting with La Cantera’s 36-hole facility (the newer Palmer Course is about a mile up the road from the hotel and features even more spectacular scenery and elevation changes). The Palmer Course (pictured above) was added to La Cantera in 2001 and features even more elevation changes and stunning scenery from high vantage points. When 36-hole TPC San Antonio opened in 2010, the Valero Texas Open moved to the AT&T Oaks, designed by Greg Norman and player consultant Sergio Garcia. The PGA Tour Champions moved their annual event from Oak Hills Country Club to Pete Dye’s AT&T Canyons layout. San Antonio’s largest hotel is also onsite, the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort, which features numerous dining and bar concepts and a water park.

San Antonio has a storied golf history of hosting top tournaments. Regrettably, San Antonio recently lost a historic public course, 1968 PGA Championship host Pecan Valley Golf Club to development. Fortunately, Brackenridge Park Golf Course, or “Old Brack,” received an extensive facelift in 2008. The A.W. Tillinghast design (modified when part of the property was lost to highway expansion) hosted many of Texas’ most prestigious events for many years. Today, it’s home to the Texas Golf Hall of Fame. Brackenridge is the most historic, but certainly not the only worthy and historic course on the city’s Alamo Golf Trail. Among the seven other city-operated golf courses are the popular and affordable Riverside, Willow Springs and Cedar Creek courses.

There are some smaller San Antonio golf resorts to seek out as well: Hyatt Hill Country Resort features 27 scenic holes designed by Arthur Hills. If you head north of the city on Highway 281, you’ll come to the small town of Boerne, which is home to the scenic and laid-back Tapatio Springs golf resort, home to 18 holes of golf that were recently renovated.

For more of the best golf courses in San Antonio, there are many notable picks in the semi-private realm that offer regular public tee times. Perhaps the most unique is The Quarry Golf Club, whose back nine is set within an old quarry, and makes for some of the most dramatic moments in the destination. Canyon Springs Golf Club is another neat pick. A large waterfall sits behind the 18th green, and two Texas steers greet golfers outside the clubhouse. The Republic is another popular value pick. Farther outside the city, River Crossing Golf Club has become a favorite member-for-a-day experience.

You won’t go hungry eating the Tex-Mex or barbecue, and there is always an available tee time somewhere on the fairways at the some of the best golf courses in San Antonio.