Dallas Athletic Club

Founded in 1919 as a downtown Dallas athletic club, the Dallas Athletic Club merged with Glen Lakes Golf & Country Club in 1944 and purchased 350 acres of the former Chapman Ranch in 1952 to develop a new facility. Texas Golf Hall of Fame architect Ralph Plummer, who designed around 100 courses including notable Texas venues like Preston Trail Golf Club, Champions Golf Club's Cypress Creek course, Northwood Club, and Colonial Country Club, created the original layouts. The Blue Course opened in 1954, followed by the Gold Course in 1962. The Blue Course hosted the 1963 PGA Championship, won by Jack Nicklaus at age 23 in his first major victory amid 110°F heat and thick rough. Young Lee Trevino began caddying there in the mid-1950s. Nicklaus, honoring his winning site, led renovations to the Blue Course in 1986 and the Gold Course in 1989 through his design firm, with further updates in 2003 including green resurfacing. Both became Nicklaus Signature courses, the first such pair in the Southwest. The club has hosted events like the 1997 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship on both courses, the 1991 and 2003 Texas Amateur on the Blue Course, and maintains ties with SMU golf, where players like Bryson DeChambeau practiced en route to NCAA titles. Recent master plan work included bunker renovations in 2014 and tee box resurfacing in 2017.