Last month I received an invite to play Briggs Ranch Golf Club. I am always on the lookout for a new course (shocking, I know) so I jumped at the chance to play one of the top private courses in Texas!

I golfed with my host one other time (back in May) and we ended up enjoying the day at Ballyhack Golf Club. And, our time at Briggs Ranch was just as good!

My host (turned friend) had a free night at one of the property’s newly built casitas, so we ended up staying in one of those Thursday night. Our golf cart was already parked in front of the casita so we just drove that over to the clubhouse in the morning. The accommodations were a nice step up from where I normally book myself on a golf weekend!

We teed off about 10am (after a short frost delay) and ended up playing 45 holes at Briggs Ranch! After the first round we had lunch and just kept playing until dark. I’ve had the opportunity to play a few more private courses recently and the pace of play always is a big advantage.

Briggs Ranch is a Tom Fazio design located on the west side of San Antonio, in a mostly undeveloped area. This part of town wasn’t as hilly as I expected, but you still get some gentle elevation changes throughout the course.

As I’ve come to expect from Fazio, there is plenty of eye candy here at Briggs Ranch, displayed mostly through the course’s beautiful bunkering. The bunkers are large, deep and have clean edges to them. I’d say they are the course’s defining feature. You want no part of hitting a golf ball out of them, that is for sure! I ended up in a couple my first round and did everything possible to avoid them in subsequent rounds.

Another thing you’ll notice about Briggs Ranch is the natural setting. Holes are separated from each other and there is a Spanish feel to the few surrounding buildings. If you combine all that with the semi-desert look of the area, then you’re likely to find the place very pleasing to the eye.

We played the black/white combo tees which are 71.3/127/6517. From there you’ll find larger fairways and a course that gets tougher as you get closer to the greens. There are some slopes you can use to feed the ball close to the pins, if you know what you are doing! On the other hand, you can end up with plenty of poor leaves around the greens. Overall though, I found the course quite playable.

The 4th at Briggs Ranch is one of those holes where you’ll need to summon some precision! It is a 323 yard par-4 with some options. You can lay up (as I did) or try to drive it close to the devilish green. The green has a large false front and anything short will leave an awkward chip.

The 13th is another one of those holes with a wacky-fun green. Most of the green is blind from the fairway and slopes hard from left to right, with three distinct tiers that step down the hillside. The green isn’t very deep so you’ll have to control the distance well.

As you’d hope to find at a top course, the conditions were great. You’re treated to zoysia fairways and bent grass greens here – probably my favorite grass combo! Things were starting to go dormant so you’ll see that reflected in the pictures.

Should you get the chance to play Briggs Ranch then I’d suggest it, as I walked away impressed. After six months of golfing in Texas, Briggs Ranch is near the top of my Texas list!

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):