Briggs Ranch Golf Club

The die-hard golfer always appreciates the old-school, machismo aura of a golf-only facility created solely for the purpose of offering the most complete golf experience possible. Briggs Ranch is one of those, the first and only in San Antonio, a $10 million project designed by Tom Fazio and an initiation fee upwards of $50,000 limited to only 300 men and women.

Along with Fazio, longtime San Antonio golf celebs Bill Rogers and Buddy Cook are part of the team that created the par-72, 7,308-yard layout, which happens to be one of the only solid-sodded courses in the country. Imagine sodding over 100 acres at around $15,000 per acre!

The course features bent-grass greens, fancy Zeon Zoysia fairways (the only one in Texas), and supreme Hill Country terrain that, despite being only 20 minutes from downtown San Antonio, is surprisingly void of urban sprawl.

Suffice it to say that this is one you'll want to pull the strings to get on. Pristine, private golf courses are the dreams of every golfer, especially when after-round festivities include cold beers at a giant 40-foot antique bar imported from "a famous South Texas ranch."

Getting there : Take 90 toward Castroville, then take exit 211 to the right. After another right the course entrance is across from the Golf Club of Texas.