San Antonio's AT&T Oaks (hole 1, above) and Canyons are two new TPC golf courses you can play on golf vacations.
If you enjoy playing TPC golf courses (such as TPC Sawgrass), you’ll be happy to hear that there are two more you can play on your golf vacations…and still more on the way.
A month ago, the Blue Monster course at Doral Golf Resort in Miami, and the Stadium Course at PGA West resort near Palm Springs, Calif., officially became part of the network of TPC golf courses, which are owned, managed and/or licensed by the PGA Tour.
Next month (Jan 22), two brand new TPC golf courses will open in Texas at the TPC San Antonio, one designed by Greg Norman and the other by Pete Dye (with input from Sergio Garcia and Bruce Lietzke, respectively).
The AT&T Oaks Course, hole 11.
As we reported a couple years ago, the PGA Tour made a seemingly unprecedented move by selling the naming rights to these courses.
So, Norman’s course, which will begin hosting the Tour’s Valero Texas Open in May, is actually called the AT&T Oaks course. Dye’s design is called AT&T Canyons. Yuck.
To be sure, you can’t judge the quality of a golf course by its name, and according to an early review by Golfweek’s Brad Klein, it seems these TPC golf courses, both “unspoiled by home sites,” will be standout members of the family. These photos would seem to indicate the same.
Hole 16 of the AT&T Oaks Course, with a view of the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa beyond.
It sounds like the Oaks Course will be the far more challenging of the two, with its narrow fairways, ample rough, and greens effectively accessible by air only. Klein says Dye’s course is wider, has shallower bunkers, and greens which are conducive to run-ups.
Both courses will be available to club members, their guests, and guests of the 1,002-room JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa (the world’s largest JW Marriott) with green fees costing $131-$175.
Miami, Palm Springs, and now these two new TPC golf courses in San Antonio are apparently just the beginning of a new expansion strategy by the PGA Tour.
TPC Cancun is being built right now and, according to Golfweek, the Tour plans to license 10-15 more golf facilities, “adding between two to five annually for the next three years,” including possible international sites in Latin America and Asia.
Did you know? Golf Vacation Insider and Golf Odyssey are the world’s only golf publications that conduct “secret shopper” site inspections and do not accept advertising from golf courses, resorts or restaurants in order to provide you with expert, unbiased, and trusted advice.
Not already a subscriber to Golf Vacation Insider? Use this link to stay in the loop with our free tips and expert advice on which golf courses, golf resorts, discount golf vacations, and golf vacation packages are truly worth your time and money. As a bonus, we will send you a free copy of Planning the Ultimate Golf Vacation, a 40-page book filled with some of the best golf travel secrets from the editors of Golf Odyssey.
