North Texas, where golf legends like Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and Lee Trevino hail from, has a huge number of golf courses, from challenging championship courses to comfortable courses suited to players of all stripes. TPC at the Four Seasons Resort & Club (tel. 972/717-2400; greens fees $150), home of the PGA Byron Nelson Classic, is the best and most spectacular course in the area -- but you'll have to stay at the Four Seasons to play. Another hotel golf course, rated among the top 50 resorts in the United States, is Hyatt Bear Creek Golf Club, at the Hyatt Regency DFW, 3500 W. Airfield Dr./DFW Airport (tel. 972/615-6800; greens fees and cart $78-$88, with twilight reduced rates available) featuring two nicely designed championship 18-hole courses.

The City of Dallas operates several courses open to the public. The newest addition is Keeton Park Golf Course, 2323 Jim Miller Rd. southeast of downtown Dallas off I-30 (tel. 214/670-8784), which has pecan tree-lined fairways and numerous ponds. Greens fees are $17. Tenison Golf Course, 3501 Samuell Blvd. (tel. 214/670-1402), just 5 miles east of downtown, has two 18-hole courses divided by White Rock Creek. Greens fees are $14 to $34, on weekends $17 to $39.

Located not so close to Dallas, but the only four-star-rated course in the DFW area to be named among the "Best Places to Play" by Golf Digest (and rated one of the top five public courses in Texas) is Buffalo Creek Golf Club, 624 Country Club Dr., Rockwall (tel. 972/771-4003), near Lake Ray Hubbard. Greens fees, including cart and range balls, are $69 Monday through Friday, $89 Saturday and Sunday. One of the most difficult courses is Sleepy Hollow Country Club, 4747 South Loop 12, just 10 minutes south of downtown (tel. 214/371-3433), which is private but allows the public to play as guests. Greens fees Monday through Friday are $22 before noon and $27 after noon; Saturday through Sunday, $32 before noon, $42 after noon. All rates include a cart; if you're walking, fees are $13 less.

Golf fanatics who like to imagine themselves winning the Masters or British Open may want to venture north of Dallas and Fort Worth, to Flower Mound, Texas, where the Tour 18 Dallas course reproduces 18 of the best-known holes in golf (from courses such as Winged Foot and Augusta National). The course, 8718 Amen Corner, Flower Mound, TX (tel. 800/946-5310; www.tour18golf.com), is west of 35E and 121. Greens fees are $65 to $140.