SAN ANTONIO, TX -- Things Texans learn early in life:

• Never kick a cow chip on a hot day, especially with brand-new white golf shoes.

• You are allowed to play golf with your boots and a Stetson on.

• The cattle drive was a historical prelude to today's mesquite-smoked BBQ.

• Texas is still a republic. Iced tea is the "national" drink. Shiner Bock is the choice of adults.

• If you don't live here, a pilgrimage to San Antonio is required once a year.

Today, Texans and visitors from all over the world, converge on the Hill Country and San Antonio in the spring to enjoy world-class golf. The Texas wildflowers -- bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush -- plus the lush green hillsides from heavy spring rains, are just added bonuses.

While Phoenix-Scottsdale and Myrtle Beach proclaimed themselves as the greatest golf destinations on earth, both with more than 200 area courses, San Antonio also became a golf destination. Twenty million annually visit the Alamo City.

Personally, I’d rather kick that cow chip than play golf in Myrtle Beach.

And now San Antonio has another world-class golf destination in the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort & Spa -- just 20 minutes from the airport and handy for a trip downtown for the River Walk and Alamo. It it is the largest JW Marriott in the world with 1,002 rooms and 85 suites spreading out with massive views of the Texas Hill Country’s Cibolo Canyons.

This is where crystal clear streams, oaks and cedar trees mingle with rocky rough, prickly pear cactus and rolling hills. And amongst all that beauty is luxury. The hacienda-styled hotel used native limestone in the brick work, and the resort includes the trademark Lazy River swimming experience, massive meeting space, countless restaurants and a spa. Guestrooms incorporate metals, tooled leather, carved wood, and hewn stonework.

And don’t forget 36 holes of golf. The Pete Dye-Bruce Lietzke-designed AT&T Canyons Course at TPC San Antonio rolls out to 7,106 yards at par 72 and could be the least penal course Dye has ever designed.

The difficult AT&T Oaks Course, home of the Valero Texas Open, is a 7,435-yard monster (par 72) which was designed to test the best players on the planet. Greg Norman with an assist from Sergio Garcia designed this beauty, part of the half-billion dollar resort. Play on both courses is limited to members or resort guests.

And it could be the most environmentally friendly golf resort ever built. A closed-loop irrigation system returns rainwater to the Edwards Aquifer, a precious source of water in an area parched from lack of summer rain. “Green initiatives” are prevalent throughout the massive grounds.

The old viewer-friendly TPC mounding was avoided for a more natural look and the bunkers were built to mimic the canopies of the area’s live oaks. Both courses have nary a house lining its rumpled, muscular-bunker infested fairways.

San Antonio: This ain’t a one-horse (golf) town

As awesome as the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort & Spa is there are two other world-class golf resorts in San Antonio. The Westin La Cantera Resort, done in Texas Colonial architecture and limestone rock is located in the northwest part of town, is next door to Six Flags Fiesta Texas and is former home of the Valero Texas Open on its Resort Course.

This beautiful enclave sits on a hilltop providing stunning views of the rugged land and downtown. The hotel has 508 renovated guest rooms, including more than 25 spacious suites and 38 rooms in an exclusive Casita Village. The resort also features six pools, three hot tubs, 36 holes of golf, unique dining, the spacious workout areas, spa services, tennis courts and a kids club.

The Tom Weiskopf-Jay Morrish 7,465-yard, par 72 Resort Course is a blast and also a contrast from the hilly Arnold Palmer Course. "The climate is just ideal here for year around golf," said Palmer, the PGA's legendary king. "Texas has always been home to lot of golfers and greats of the game. And the terrain is wonderful for golf."

The other not-to-be-missed stop is The Hyatt Hill Country Resort in the western part of town. Here you can walk land that was once the Rogers-Wiseman Ranch, but this version has lavishness. One gets Four-Diamond pampering, 27 holes of Arthur Hills championship golf, the Windflower Spa and four-acre swimming experience.

The encounter is like a Texas ranch house with grand beds, ultra-plush pillows, the softest of sheeting, and thick down blankets -- all piled atop pillow-top mattresses. Leather furnishings, Texas artwork and views of Hill Country gardens completes this vacation.

Set on more than 200 acres, The Hill Country Golf Club has a wide-ranging terrain with rolling meadows, steep hillsides, wooded ravines and tree-shaded plateaus, as well as the tranquil lakes and ponds.

Stop, look and listen. You will be amazed at the peacefulness.

Bluebonnets, windmills, barn wood, rocky creeks, and a cowboy theme are here.  You are close to the city, but it feels like the boondocks. No houses line the fairways that Hills designed with greens mimicking the rolling land. Be precise, avoid the dry creeks and flight your ball away from the low-hanging giant live oaks.

Just getting started: Other places to play in San Antonio

There's no golf history like Texas golf history. Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Ralph Guldahl, Jimmy Demaret, Babe Didrickson Zaharias, Jack Burke, Jr., Lloyd Mangrum, Harvey Penick, Lee Trevino, Don January, Miller Barber, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Scott Verplank and Justin Leonard, to name only a few, are names imprinted on Texas golf.

And San Antonio is at the heart of the history.

When you tee off at Brackenridge Park Golf Course you can't help but feel its one of the birthplaces of the PGA Tour. Built in 1915 by storied golf-course architect A.W. Tillinghast (also designed Baltusrol, Winged Foot and Inverness), it hosted one of the first PGA events in the formative days of the tour. It has been newly renovated, too.

Mike Souchak's 72-hole scoring-record of 257 in the 1955 Texas Open here was a long-standing PGA Tour record. And Nelson and Hogan came here in winter to fine tune their games.

Other area San Antonio daily-fee courses rank among my favorites in the Lone Star State: The Republic, Pecan Valley, The Quarry, Canyon Springs, Olympia Hills and Silverhorn Golf Club. The Bandit in New Braunfels, Tapatio Springs in Boerne, The Buckhorn in Comfort, The Golf Club of Texas at Briggs Ranch, and Comanche Trace Ranch in Kerrville are others to check out.

David R. Holland, Author, The Colorado Golf Bible

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