Falconhead Golf Club

Falconhead Golf Club occupies rolling Hill Country terrain west of Austin, in the corridor between the city's suburban edge and the open ranch land beyond. The PGA Tour Design Center, with architect Chris Gray, designed the course, which opened in 2003 routing 18 holes through cedars and live oaks across enough elevation change to provide visual interest on every hole. At $75 weekday and $89 weekend, it's the most accessible full-length Hill Country course in the area.

You're playing 7,302 yards, par 72, slope 137. Fairways are reasonably wide by Hill Country standards, and the native vegetation framing them is dense enough to penalise significant misses without swallowing every ball that leaves the short grass. The rough is playable in most areas, which keeps pace moving and reduces frustration for mid-handicap golfers.

The 8th is the reason Falconhead enters conversations about notable Texas golf. It's a par 3 with the green set on a limestone ledge above cascading waterfalls, the tee shot playing over a natural ravine to a putting surface framed by rock and moving water. Club selection depends on wind, which funnels through the gap unpredictably, and the penalty for missing is real: the drop is steep and the recovery is difficult. Widely regarded as one of the finest short holes in Texas. Beyond the 8th, the rest of the routing offers solid Hill Country golf without the extreme elevation changes of Barton Creek or the canyon features of higher-priced courses.