What It’s Like To Play At The PGA’s New Home Of Golf (Forbes)
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When the ambitious Omni PGA Frisco Resort & Spa opened two years ago, it became the PGA of America’s new home. After hearing so many nice things about the destination, which lies about a half-hour from the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport, I finally had the chance to go visit last week.
The place is enormous, featuring two full-length golf courses, a 10-hole par-3 layout, America’s largest putting green that spans more than 200 yards, an upscale hotel, the PGA headquarters, restaurants, shopping, training centers, bars, indoor hitting studios, and endless country music piping over the loudspeakers. Hey, everything is bigger in Texas. Yet it’s all walkable.
After checking into the luxurious, 500-room-and-suite Omni hotel, our group met for an amazing barbecue dinner at Ice House, located across the property. Once the savory Dr. Pepper barbecue sauce was depleted at our table, we veered out of the picnic bench area and walked a few feet to play The Swing, which is the short course. Co-designed by Gil Hanse and Beau Welling, it’s a well-lit layout that was frankly a blast to play. All of the holes are less than 100 yards, and everything is in great condition. The tees are made of artificial turf, but everything else is well-manicured grass. Adjacent to us on one of the holes, screams momentarily drowned out the music as a young girl scored a hole in one – kind of cool. It was actually the second ace I witnessed during the week, but it wouldn’t be the last.
The following morning as our group was on the first hole of the Fields Ranch East Course, more loud yelling emerged from the nearby 8th green where yet another golfer holed out from the tee. Maybe I’m just good luck for other people this week. East is a Hanse-designed, championship-calibre course. It recently hosted an LPGA Tour event, among other pro tournaments. It will also host the 2027 PGA Championship, and PGA of America officials hope a future Ryder Cup. You have to walk it and hire a caddy, with a few exceptions. From the tips, it measures a whopping 7,863 yards. But the way it’s laid out, you pretty much need to walk the entire yardage and then some. Thankfully, the course is relatively flat – despite several holes ascending upwards toward the greens. It aims to maximize the terrain’s natural potential, providing a strategic challenge to golfers of every skill level. It includes smallish greens, blended-in bunkers and other organic natural features. We were lucky, because we played on a mild day with almost no wind. Every now and then, a pleasant breeze would pick up – but never enough to drastically affect ball flight. The front nine is a little tougher than the back, and the only water on the course in play is a creek on the 9th hole. It definitely helps to know where to place your shots, so the caddies at least in our group helped tremendously. My advice if you come: Play one tee box shorter than you think you need to play. It’ll still be a handful.
That night, our group had dinner at Trick Rider, which is the steak house adjacent to the lobby of the hotel. The steak was good, but I was pleasantly surprised by the seafood tower. The jumbo shrimp was outstanding. After that, we went over to check out one of the 10 on-property villas for drinks and desserts. This unit had four bedrooms, a full kitchen and spacious living room and backyard. I even sat out at the firepit for a few minutes, soaking in the atmosphere and making a s’more.
The following day, we played the 7,319-yard Fields Ranch West that is depicted more as the resort, player-friendly course. You can take a cart out on this one. Although it has the same visual feel as the East course, you can definitely tell it’s a little bit more forgiving. Unfortunately for me, I love putting from anywhere I possibly can. When in Texas, play a Texas wedge – or so I thought. That mentality destroyed my score on this course. That’s because the very difficult and physically hard greens are sloped in many directions. I had a frustrating time reading the greens, and it seems like every edge slopes off into an area of waste, thicker grass, or a bunker. I kept thinking the course would be so much more friendly to lesser skilled players if the greens were simply flat. But I predict what’s going to happen is the greens will mature and soften up over time, and this will be a fantastic course for every skill level at that point. From tee to green, I really enjoyed the layout. And I pretty much had to use every club in the bag, which is my barometer for determining a good challenge. Surprisingly for a Texas course, there were actually several elevation changes.
Omni PGA Frisco Resort & Spa is undoubtedly great for golf. Yet I’ve never really considered Dallas a golf destination. But as this new home of golf gracefully ages and gathers a lot of TV exposure through the high-profile pro events it will be hosting, I’m confident more golfers will add it to their bucket list.
Note: This story by Scott Kramer first appeared in Forbes on October 23, 2025.