San Antonio Golf Courses & Tee Times

Who runs public golf in San Antonio

The city owns eight golf facilities and has handed them to a nonprofit, the Municipal Golf Association-San Antonio, which runs them as the Alamo City Golf Trail under a deal City Council approved in May 2007. That means Brackenridge Park, Cedar Creek, Mission Del Lago, Northern Hills, Olmos Basin, Riverside, Willow Springs and the San Pedro range and par 3. There is no resident card. Instead anyone can buy a Trailpass for $84.95 a year, which knocks $20 off Brackenridge and $4 to $8 off the others, or a $3,900 Trailpass Pro for unlimited golf. Seniors 62 and up and active or retired military get lower rates; veterans don't qualify. Juniors with Youth on Course pay $5 to walk the 18-hole courses at set times. Rates effective October 1, 2025 run from $28 to walk Mission Del Lago on a weekday to $87 to ride Brackenridge on a weekend.

Public courses worth knowing in San Antonio

• Brackenridge Park Golf Course: A.W. Tillinghast course from 1916 and the first home of the Texas Open. John Colligan restored 15 of the original holes in 2008; it plays 6,243 yards, par 71, on 113 acres. The Texas Golf Hall of Fame is now in the clubhouse.
• Willow Springs Golf Course: A 1920s course by Emil Loeffler and John McGlynn, who helped develop Oakmont. It hosted the Texas Open in 1927 and 1928, has the city's longest hole (the 655-yard 2nd), and reopened in August 2025 with all 18 greens re-grassed.
• Olmos Basin Golf Course: George Hoffman layout from 1963 north of downtown, redone by Jeffrey D. Blume in 2021. The Trail's most-played course and a regular host of the city amateurs.
• Cedar Creek Golf Course: Finger Dye Spann design from 1989 on the northwest side, renovated by Jeffrey D. Blume in 2024. Hill Country elevation changes, tiered greens, and the annual San Antonio Open.
• Mission del Lago Golf Course: Denis Griffiths design from 1989 near Mitchell Lake, flat and windy with more than 100 bunkers. The Trail's cheapest 18.
• Riverside Golf Course: Front nine from 1929 on the ground where Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders trained in 1898, with the San Antonio River between the nines and a 9-hole par 3 called the Teddy Bear.
• La Cantera Golf Club: Resort course that hosted the Texas Open from 1995 to 2009. 7,001 yards, par 72, and No. 12 in Texas on Golfweek's 2026 Best Courses You Can Play list.
• TPC San Antonio: Two courses opened in 2010 next to the JW Marriott: Greg Norman's Oaks, home of the Valero Texas Open since 2010, and Pete Dye's Canyons.

Booking tee times in San Antonio: the local rules

Alamo City Golf Trail courses book up to seven days ahead, online or through the Trail. If you want a time 8 to 30 days out, the Advanced Booking option gets it for a small fee. Passes that came with an eight-day window are gone. You book online with a free account, pick your pass type or Public, and pay at the counter. Walk-ups go first-come, first-served, and singles shouldn't expect to go off before 1:00 pm on weekends. From March 9 to November 2, 2026, public twilight rates start at 2pm and super-twilight at 5pm.

Why tee times in San Antonio are hard to get

In San Antonio, the busiest months are spring and fall. In summer, everyone wants to finish before the heat, so early tee times go first.

Each course releases its tee times on its own schedule, commonly a week or two out, with residents of town and county courses often booking first. Leagues, outings and members claim chunks of the sheet in advance, and whatever prime weekend times are left tend to go on release day.

When tee time cancellations happen

A full tee sheet rarely stays full. Many courses let you cancel without a fee up to 24 or 48 hours before your time, so spots tend to reappear in the last couple of days. A bad forecast shakes more loose, and a foursome that drops to three opens a single. None of it is announced. The time just shows up again on the booking page, and whoever looks first gets it.

How to get a tee time in San Antonio

Doing it by hand? Here's what works.

1. Know the booking window. Find out how many days ahead each course releases times, and whether residents get an earlier window. Be ready the morning it opens.
2. Look again 24 to 48 hours out. That's when most cancellation deadlines pass and spots come back.
3. Be flexible on group size. Singles and twosomes fit into gaps a foursome can't.
4. Try twilight and weekday afternoons. They're the last to fill and often cheaper.
5. Keep a quicker course in your back pocket. Nine-hole and executive courses are easier to get on and play faster. Around here that includes Independence Golf Course and San Pedro Golf Course.

Read the full guide to getting a tee time when everything's booked