As the placekicker for the Dallas Cowboys, Brandon Aubrey has leg enough for field goals of nearly 70 yards. In practice, though, he’s been known to aim at uprights from more than twice as far. That’s not on the gridiron. It’s at the driving range on a property unlike any other — Cowboys Golf Club, the only NFL-themed golf course in the world.
Like the famous franchise it celebrates, the club has ties to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who opened it in 2001, cutting the ribbon on a clubhouse filled with team memorabilia and a championship layout with white-sand bunkers and a giant blue star in one of its fairways.
Cowboys players past and present have enjoyed it from the start, as have golfers of all stripes. The facility, nestled in the Dallas suburb of Grapevine, is open to the public, and it has only gained in its crossover appeal.
Since acquiring the club in 2015, Arcis Golf, which owns and operates nearly 90 courses in the U.S., has refreshed the playbook with a series of improvements. But its latest project — a recently completed multimillion-dollar redo — represents the most dramatic upgrade yet, transforming a distinctive dailyfee course into a varied, familyfriendly entertainment venue.
The course itself has been re-worked by architect Beau Welling, who refined playing corridors, repositioned bunkers and rebuilt every tee and green. The giant blue star has been relocated too, moved from the center of the 4th fairway to a hillside behind the par-3 3rd, peering back across the green and the pond that guards it.
But the course is only part of the package now. Another star of the remake is the Huddle, an 18-hole putting course carpeted in Cowboysblue synthetic turf that loops past a silver Airstream serving frozen margaritas, barbacoa tacos, sausages and other Texas-inspired fare.
Inside, the clubhouse remains a well-lit shrine, with glass displays showcasing photos of Cowboys greats, the team’s five Super Bowl trophies, Tom Landry’s trademark fedora and other artifacts from the franchise’s history. From the Ring of Honor Bar & Kitchen, meanwhile, the view stretches across a fully re-imagined driving range, where 14 Toptracer bays overlook a 60-yard football field surfaced with turf from AT&T Stadium, complete with yard lines, hash marks and a regulation goalpost set 175 yards from the tee.
That’s beyond even Brandon Aubrey’s range with a football. With a golf ball, it’s little more than a wellstruck iron.
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