TPC San Antonio - Canyons Course

Very overpriced for what it is. A very blah and uninspiring and unpicturesque design and course. The conditions were fine. Cart path only due to no rain sucked and slowed pace of play tremendously. Have desperately tried to play the oaks course two different times I have been in town to see if it's way better but haven't been able to get on.

Played the Canyons on a Friday when I was visiting San Antonio. Overall, it was a very nice round. I shipped my clubs, but they were delayed. The pro shop said “we aren’t going to charge you for rentals if they lost your clubs”. I really appreciate their flexibility.

I enjoyed the course. Typical Hill Country layout. You may find a shot that’s well off line, but you probably won’t like it when you find it. Bottom line, near misses are playable, big misses not so much. The course was in very good shape. Fairways provided some roll as well as good lies. Greens were smooth and consistent speed. Only complaint was the insistent sand in some of the bunkers.

Normally, you need to be a member or resort guest to play. My playing partner got us a time and a deal, despite not staying on property. That said. course is still good at the rack rate.

If you are I town and can get on, TPC Canyons is a good option in SAT.

First of all, this is not the Oaks and it slightly shows. The property is vastly different. If you’re spraying the ball just a bit, don’t play here. One side of the fairway always plays next to the Canyon. While beautiful, this can create a lot of problems for some amateurs. Bunkering is amazingly done though. Pete Dye is a masterful bunker created and it shows. Somehow, even though holes look like they fall off the map around the green, there is actually tons of room. The greens are smaller especially for a resort type course and have tons of slope in places. Miss, and you will be penalized heavily. Not sure there was a flat lie on the entire course. Conditions were great for mid winter, but this has been a very mild winter and the front of greens were still very soft, no running your ball up to greens. Most greens are highly elevated and found many holes played uphill. Par 3s are spectacular. 16 is beautiful with the scale of the Canyon below. Play the Oaks if you only can play 18 here, but if you want a place to play 36. This one provides beautiful hill country views without the blindness of the La Cantera Palmer. Nice, not sure 150-200 nice, but worth the play if you want something different.

Played this course in November 2018 as I was staying at the resort for work (the resort is fantastic) - was really wanting to play the oaks but they had the course shut down for some work so the canyons it was. The weather was cold and miserable (which I don't take into account in any ratings) but the course was still pretty packed and the play was slow. I was by myself and got paired up with three other guys who were all super nice. The course was very unmemorable and although it was in good condition, I probably wouldn't go back due to the blahnesss of the course and the crazy price. I believe it was around $220 and I would way rather play 3-4 different $80 courses in my own area in Missouri than this course.

The Oaks course comes with a steep green fee of 240$ but does not live up to the lofty price. The course is linked to a top notch resort and with it’s more popular big brother course the oaks. The course was designed by Pete Dye so I had high expectations for the Canyons. The course is set in the hill country with beautiful views throughout the course. The course itself is an average layout and doesn’t haven’t anything you haven’t seen before. The most disappointing part of the course was the green speed. They were very slow and I anticipate they were running around an 8 which is way too slow for a course you pay 240$. There is a certain standard for courses linked to a good resort that charge over 100$/round and this certainly did not live up to expectations.

$175 for an average layout in awful condition! Greens riddled with po- Anna grass - couldn’t putt properly. No warning no discount. Bad!

Putting green and chipping green closed - no discount.. no warning.

Pace of play was awful. They allowed 5-somes to play! 5 hour round

Course is quite different from its sister, the Oaks. While the Oaks is quite flat, the Canyons (as it's name implies) is a roller coaster. In January, the conditions were not quite up to TPC quality (the Oaks was tour quality). Compared to Oaks, the course had fewer bunkers, smaller greens and more wind. It was a fun round, but I'd play at the Oaks twice rather than place both courses.

The Canyons course is less heralded than it's PGA hosting big sister Oaks course, but it's still a fun course to play. Both courses share the same facilities, so it's all top notch. Staff is very friendly, and everything you need for a great golfing experience is right there... good food, good practice facilities, etc.

On this particular day, I started off playing the Oaks course for the third time, but took advantage of favorable replay rates to hop on Canyons for a second 18. I'm really glad we did!

The layout of the course is considerably more open than Oaks. There are fewer trees, fewer bunkers, fewer places to get into trouble... but that's not to say there aren't plenty of those things! I guess I'd say that on Canyons, the course is a little more in front of you, and there aren't as many hazards waiting to sneak up on you. The most obvious difference is the elevation changes are a little more dramatic on Canyons (as the name implies). There are some great hill country views as you make your way around the course.

The back 9 is particularly enjoyable. 12 is a really fun par 5 up a hill. 13 and 16 are cool par 3s. But 18 is my favorite hole. It looks great from the tee box, and is good challenge to end the round.

Conditions at Canyons are very good. I'd say the greenskeeping is less intricate than Oaks.. simpler bunker designs, less variation of rough, less sprawling native areas... but still enjoyable and well maintained.

If I was only able to play one of the TPC San Antonio courses, I'd probably pick Oaks the vast majority of the time. However, I highly recommend this course if A) you are staying at the resort and have time for two rounds, B) you have time for a second 18 after playing Oaks - this course is a good wind down after a tough round, or C) you're not the most skilled/confident golfer and want to have a good time without getting beat up.

As a final note, I just want to again compliment the staff at TPC San Antonio for being extremely friendly and professional. Truly excellent customer service.

This is an enjoyable strategic course routed wonderfully through hill country. Very fair with great risk reward strategy options. Quite a few long bunkers parallel to fairways typical of Pete Dye. Nice fairway movement and angles. Very nice interesting greens. Misses lead to challenging but not punishing shots. Wind and elevation are factors. Need a cart. My favorite of the San Antonio and Austin area courses.

Our group played from the Tournament tees 6700 yards 72.3/134. Started at 50 degrees and warmed up to 70 degrees with moderate winds that affected shots. First time for me playing at TPC San Antonio. First impression was great seeing Greg Hiller on the instruction tee. Nice to have a former tour player on staff.

The course appears to play short visually but is definitely longer. The course conditions are good. Playing dry and ball is running. Starter told us greens were 12 to 13 on the stimp. They were fast but played true. The green complexes did show Pete Dye bunkering but green size was a moving target. Some very small, some amazingly large. We played on a Monday so the greenskeeper had most pin placements on ridges. Made for some tricky putts.

The layout ran both sides of a gully (Canyon?) that will filled with live oak, wildlife, and cactus. I lost five balls but found a dozen more. The fairways are wide. A few have narrow openings off the tee. Several doglegs offer big hitters a chance to cut corners for easy scoring. The par 3 holes are all exceptional.

I enjoyed the course immensely. It was mostly empty. We did have two member twosomes play through us and we finished our round in slightly over 4 hours.

I look forward to playing the Oaks on my next visit.

Beautiful course! From the time we got there until we left staff was unbelievable great! Course is great also. Lots of great holes and course conditions were .

Played 2 rounds at the Canyons course during my stay at the resort. Booked online and was pleasantly surprised by the twilight rate at 1pm that was not advertised on the site. Played one round as a single, didn't see another person on the course, and did a loop in 2:45. The second round was a planned 5 some, still didn't see anyone else, and got around in 4 hrs. Beautiful condition of everything. Punishing approaches to greens. Would definitely consider playing up a set of tees. Really nice practice facilities, including short game/bunker area.

Lots of pros.

1) Me and my military veteran buddies from out of town received amazing green fee discounts. Greatly appreciate that this course can be affordable for us.
2) The layout is fantastic, a bit more scenic than neighboring TPC Oaks. More elevation changes than its neighbor as well, which makes it a hill country gem.
3) Great facilities, loved the snack/drink shack at the 9th.
4) Pace of play, fastest round I've ever played in the past couple of years. (3.5 hours total)
5) Best resort in the area, nothing tops the JW Hill Country.

The only minor cons
1) greens had been aerated a few days ago, nonetheless putts rolled decently fast and smooth
2) weather in the summer in San Antonio is brutal, nothing can't be done about that though

Bottom line, me and my buds are hoping to return to this course and try out the TPC Oaks over and over and over... Thanks TPC San Antonio for taking care of the military!!

Fun "resort-style" course. Not what you'd expect from Dye, but that's not a bad thing. Very fair with room to bail out. Bunkers aren't as deep as most Dye designs. Really enjoyable, fantastic views of the nature preserve and surrounds. Open off the tee, greens protected but not brutal. Great practice facilities but they charge you $16 for them on top of a hefty green fee. Best deal is to the stay and play package for sure (we did not). Great 19th hole at 18 Oaks. Great service there. Blue cheese olives in the martinis finish a great day.

Pro: This course hosts a tournament for the Senior Tour. The course was a nice Pete Dye design. The tough finishing hole number 18 had a lot of bunkers that made the hole challenging. I played there in a college tournament with some bad weather conditions that made the course tough. Bunkers were in excellent shape.

Cons: The greens were rolling smoothly but there were some Poe Anna grass growing on the Bermuda greens. They looked like weeds but overall the course was in nice shape.

Rare is it when a Pete Dye course is considered to be the "easier" of two courses at a resort, but the Canyons is just that, sitting next to the famed Oaks Course that hosts the Valero Texas Open. Dye's effort here is a good one, full of elevation changes, water and dramatic shots. Do I like it more than Norman's offering next door? Probably not, since I find the Oaks a little more artistic compared to Dye's more rugged look here. Both courses are certainly different from one another in look and playability, and the JW Marriott here, all 1,001 rooms of it, is a pretty incredible property to stay-and-play at (only members and guests of the resort can play here, making tee sheets generally more open compared to some of this golf town's more accessible courses).