Champions Golf Club

About the club

The 36-hole Champions Golf Club is one of the most appropriately named clubs in America. It was founded by Texans Jackie Burke, Jr. (who turned 100 in 2023) and Jimmy Demaret. Between the two, they hold five major championships, including four Masters green jackets. A procession of the game's best professionals have tested their games at the vaunted Cypress Creek course (the club's second course, Jackrabbit, actually scored higher in our Best in State rankings), which has played host to the 1969 U.S. Open, a Ryder Cup, several PGA Tour tournaments including the TOUR Championship, and the 2020 U.S. Women's Open. When Cypress Creek opened in 1957, it was regarded as one of the finest new courses of the post-World War II era, ranked among the 100 Greatest courses from 1966 to 1988. It's a tight, treelined shotmaker's course with treelined fairways and big, well-protected greens--the fourth, bending around a crook of Cypress Creek, was long considered one of the toughest par 3s in the country. A 2018 renovation by Texan Chet Williams, designer of Whispering Pines, the 66th-ranked course among America's 100 Greatest, kept the features and shot demands updated and sharp without straying from Cypress Creek's noble heritage.