A few years back, I walked out onto a 660-acre ranch in North Frisco. The PGA of America, Omni Hotels & Resorts, and City of Frisco leaders talked about the future of the land. It included two championship golf courses, an Omni resort, the headquarters for the PGA of America, and an entertainment district. The value of the project? $550 million.
Fast forward to a few weekends ago, when I finally experienced the golf oasis—which officially opened in May 2023—in its entirety. My wife and I checked in to the 500-room resort on a Friday morning. Upon stepping in, I couldn’t help but feel as if I was in a place embodying the historic properties that run alongside the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland, the country-western warmth of Fort Worth, and the opulence of Dallas.
Our room overlooked the 10th fairway on the Fields Ranch East course. It will be home to the 2027 Men’s PGA Championship and likely the 2041 Ryder Cup provided certain financial metrics are met. The room featured plaid carpeting, grid-square wallpaper, and a collection of five art pieces.
Each guest room features a painting inspired by head of design Laura McKoy and her team’s conversations with the original ranch hands on the 660 acres. “[The land’s original owner Bert Fields] acquired the land by working in the oil fields, and people weren’t able to pay him back. So they were giving him land in return, and he had this truck that he was servicing. The truck was up there, so we photographed it, and it’s in all the guest rooms,” McKoy says. Read more about the art here, where D CEO dives into the entire resort’s design.
Luxury suites at the resort include the Chairman Suite—a 1,500-square-foot loft featuring a dining room, a king bedroom, and an entertainment room equipped with a pool table. tTe Presidential Suite is a 1,300-square-foot space with one king bed, a living room, floor-to-ceiling windows with panoramic views of the golf courses, and a game room. Omni PGA Frisco also offers ten four-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot Ranch Houses for a more private residential stay—which come with private in-home chef experiences.
First up for my wife and I was an all-day reservation for a semi-private cabana at the adults-only infinity pool overlooking the entire property. It was the perfect place for us to kick back, unplug, sip on some drinks, and enjoy a view that transported us from the hustle of Dallas. Each pool throughout the property has its own cocktail menu. Here, my wife and I enjoyed a few Coco Berry Mojitos. The Rays for Days, which features High West Bourbon, Grand Marnier, fresh lemon, golden turmeric syrup, orange bitters, and club soda is also a must-try.
For dinner and entertainment Friday night, my wife and I made a reservation at the Topgolf Lounge in the Monument Realty PGA District. The lounge features five golf simulator suites—big enough for groups of a dozen—featuring Toptracer technology. You can choose between playing a virtual course or other games like dodgeball against zombies.
For our meal, we started with the burrata adorned with torched tomato, arugula, blueberries, and spiced vinaigrette and the Butcher Board, which features fennel sausage, smoked sausage, and ranch beans topped with cotija. For mains, the lounge features classic bar foods like flat breads, burgers, bratwurst, and tacos. Or you can opt for something a little more elevated like the Arctic salmon or the filet banh mi, a flat iron steak sandwich on a baguette.
The Monument Realty PGA District is bustling in the evenings. For some free fun, the Dance Floor—a 2-acre putting course—is where families and friends can casually competing against each other as they make their way around the designated holes. Think mini golf without windmills on an actual putting green. For shopping, the district offers a toy shop, a PGA merchandise shop, a boutique featuring women’s cowboy boots, hats, and luxury leather goods, and a women’s boutique selling collections of resort wear.
The evening is also the perfect time to play The Swing, the 10-hole, lighted par 3 course with holes ranging between 50–100 yards. There’s also the Ice House, which has a handful of tech-infused indoor hitting bays to launch golf balls onto the driving range—you can enjoy local barbecue and an expansive drink list there, as well.
Saturday morning is when I hit the course for 18 holes. I opted to play Fields Ranch East—the course that hosted the 2023 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, and will host the aforementioned ’27 PGA Championship and, possibly, the ’41 Ryder Cup. The East course is walking only (no golf carts) until later in the day, but walking a course—especially of this caliber—is peaceful for me.
Meanwhile, my wife enjoyed her version of peace by sunbathing, reading, and drinking tea-infused cocktails from the leisure pool bar at the ground-level pool running along the 10th fairway. Her favorites were the Tropical Tea Time (featuring coconut rum, hibiscus tea, and a plethora of fruit flavors) and the Deep End (featuring Ketel One Vodka, chamomile lemon tea, and various lemon flavors).
What You Need to Know About the Golf
I played the blue tees, which totaled to about 6,500 yards. Playing the correct tees is imperative on this course as it can become a tall task to play from the longest tees. The course can stretch to 7,800 yards, but outside of championships, playing that distance is rare for resort visitors. The course is golf in North Texas, but I wouldn’t categorize it as “North Texas golf.” Certain holes are visually intimidating and the wind that gusts year-round can make for a menacing day.
The elevation changes throughout the course are striking and difficult to gauge at points. Example A: my approach shot into the 2nd green from 130 actually played 160 uphill—I hit it about 148 and bounced right into a 6-foot deep bunker. The fescue is a threat throughout the course as you can lose a ball on just about every single hole with a wayward shot.
The 1st and 3rd holes are long par 5s and both are dog legs—right and left respectively. A great drive on the first can set you up to reach the green in two, but, on the third, even a great 290-yard drive on the third left me staring down a 215-yard approach shot into the wind with bunkers protecting the green.
The 4th is a fun, downhill par 3—but, again, what isn’t fun is finding the front bunkers should you fail to play gusting wind wrong (speaking from experience). Holes 5–7 are all straight forward par 4s, with the seventh being an opportune time to score. Even from the championship tees, it’s just 330 yards. A stock drive into the wide fairway and a short wedge should set you up for a birdie. Another scoring opportunity presents itself the very next hole at No. 8 with a short par 3—just clear the gully and you’ll be on the green.
Holes 9–12 are all par 4s, and they’re the four holes where I would camp out if I was watching a pro tournament. From the resort, the 9th green and entire 10th hole is in sight—plus the 18th green. Starting the backside is as straight forward as it gets. It’s probably the flattest part on the course, so playing disciplined, simple golf here could result in a couple birdies. The 13th is either a torture or the highlight of your day—for me, it was the latter.
The 260-yard par 3 from the blue tees was playing about 275 with the wind and accounting for a little uphill tilt. From the championship tees its nearly 300 yards. My 3-wood landed pin high on the putting surface about 25 feet right of the pin. Don’t ask me about the putt.
Hole 14 is another long par 5. Protected by a river, this green is not a go-for-it hole. The 15th is the most fun hole on the course. It’s a short, uphill 280-yard par 4 from the blue tees (320 from the tips). If you choose to go for the green, it is guarded by a collection of five bunkers that stretch about 80 yards wide. I opted to go left with a pin high drive that set me up for a 60-yard approach shot.
The 16th is another straightforward par 4, but the green is a reverse redan green forcing a low trajectory approach shot. My shot climbed a little higher than I planned so it rolled off the backside as I was attacking a back right pin. The 17th is an ideal place to log a birdie as from the blue tees, the hole is just a 56-degree wedge away.
Finally, the closing hole is easy to make a mess off if you don’t hit the fairway. Miss left and you’re in a ravine, miss right and you’re in the woods. A second shot from the fairway sets you up to either go for it with a 3-wood or hit a simple 7-iron layup, leaving just a 50–70 yard wedge over the river that splits the fairway.
Fine Dining and Spa Relaxation
After leaving the course, my wife and I made our way to the Mokara Spa, which offers a wide range of recharging services. We went with the Escape Together, a couple’s massage that is a mix between a deep tissue massage and a Relaxing Swedish treatment. Other massage treatments range from the Tee Up, a golfer’s massage, to Mother to Be, a Swedish massage designed to specifically target areas of stress and discomfort for mothers to be (after the first trimester only).
The spa also offers a plethora of body treatments and rituals, ranging from a percussive muscle therapy treatment to a dry body brushing exfoliation. Of course, the spa has facials, skin care treatments, and salon services available as well. After the treatment, my wife and I made sure to extend our relaxing experience by sipping a glass of champagne at the spa pool—reserved exclusively for spa visitors. Inside the spa is also the Green Cactus Café, which offers light bites and fresh bubbles.
Finally, the highlight of the stay was our dinner at the resort’s signature restaurant Trick Rider, a steakhouse which stars a crystal chandelier in the shape of a horse by Czech company, Preciosa, above the bar in the center of the restaurant.
The restaurant’s inspiration is a woman trick rider at a rodeo. As for the huge chandelier, “There’s a woman named Sydna Yokley Woodard who was a rodeo trick rider,” head of design Laura McKoy says. “She also was the founder of the American Quarter Horse Association. We’re saying [the chandelier] is a quarter horse named Cinnamon. That supposedly was her favorite horse’s name. We shipped it to Prague, where that chandelier was made so that they could position each one of those strings that hold the horse on the exact same spot, and then they deconstructed all of it, shipped it here, and then came here and installed it.”
For starters, Trick Rider offers a plethora of seafood shareables; my wife and I went with the crispy calamari. The fried octopus was enough as each table also receives a complimentary bread basket with four types of bread.
Trick Rider’s cocktail menu is split in two parts dividing “New School” and “Old School” sips. I wanted a drink that would pair well with the tomahawk steak my wife and I would eventually split—a drink that would make me feel like John Wayne on a front porch. I went with the Down & Out, the old fashioned swinging for new school influences. It features High West Bourbon, fresh lemon and pineapple, hot honey, orange bitters, ginger beer, and a blood orange wheel. It was tame yet impressive—with a spicy kick due to the hot honey—and it paired perfectly with the steak.
The tomahawk is dry aged for 45 days and was prepared to perfection. The tomahawk, lamb rack, and grand wagyu beef tasting—which features a short rib, a New York strip, and a rib cap—all serve two or three people.
All the sides Trick Rider has to offer come in sizable portions. The tricked up mac and cheese with truffle and parmesan was fantastic—you can also upgrade with butter-poached lobster. We also paired grilled asparagus up with our tomahawk. Whipped potatoes, charred broccolini, and wild mushrooms are all options on the side menu, as well.
Other main hits on the Trick Rider menu include the whole branzino, a European seabass, which sells out fast on the weekends. The 55-day dry-aged 16-ounce New York strip and the 45-day dry-aged 22-ounce ribeye are two of the most popular plates.
There’s no better way to round out a special evening at Trick Rider than with the Holy Sundae—as recommended by my caddie.
The dessert—which features a lit sparkler—sits inside an edible chocolate bowl, and features a pink-sprinkled donut, brownies, ice cream, pretzel sticks, and other tasty treats. According to our servers, they’ve never seen two people finish the dessert and after my wife and I gave it a try, that record still stood.
The Apron is also a hit restaurant on the grounds as it serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A more casual atmosphere, The Apron offers a wide variety of all-day dishes ranging from an ahi tuna bowl and stone fired flatbreads to sandwiches and flat iron steak.
To start each day, Toast and Tee Coffee Collective is the resort’s coffee shop. It also offers select pastries for a grab-and-go breakfast. Inside the clubhouse the Ryder Cup Grille provides the fare prior to and after hitting the links. And a trip to the Omni PGA Frisco isn’t complete without at least one stop in the local ice cream parlor Margaret’s Cones and Cups.
To read more about how Frisco won the PGA of America headquarters click here. To read more about the art and design inside Omni PGA Frisco click here. For an inside look at the PGA of America headquarters click here.
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