This Dallas Cowboys-themed practice range is outrageous in best possible way

You don’t need to spend much time exploring Cowboys Golf Club, an upscale daily-fee in Grapevine, Texas, to know you’re at Cowboys Golf Club. The five replica Super Bowl trophies in a display case in the clubhouse are a gleaming giveaway. So is the fedora in the lobby that honors legendary Cowboys coach Tom Landry; the Cowboys’ trademark star logo on the hillside behind the third green; and the regular Cowboy sightings around the property — on any given day you might spot, say, current Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott or former Cowboys defensive end Ed “Too Tall” Jones.

But perhaps the most striking nod to them ’boys is the expanse of game-used artificial turf from the Cowboys home field — AT&T Stadium — stitched into the practice range. Pay a visit to golf’s only NFL-themed course and you can’t miss it: a 60-yard swatch of field (complete with yardage lines, an end zone and a field-goal post) acquired from the very site where America’s Team cracks pads on Sundays. The revamped range, which opened three weeks ago, is part of a sweeping overhaul of the property by its owners, Arcis Golf, that included a Beau Welling renovation to the golf course; the club also added an 18-hole putting course called The Huddle, which sits adjacent to the range.

The idea for the field infusion came by way of a meeting Arcis reps had with the Cowboys during the redo. When the club’s owners learned that the team had rolls of old, cleat-battered turf sitting in storage at the stadium, their ears perked up. “The conversation turned into, ‘Hey, we have a great place for it,’” Jeff Levine, a senior vice president at Arcis, told me earlier this week. “And so it turned out with our partnership that we were able to buy the field and installed it on the range.” 

The gridiron isn’t just eye candy; it’s very much in play, with the front end of it just over 100 yards from the bays. The goalpost, which is positioned 175 yards from the range’s back tee, also is a gettable target. That much became clear to Levine when he started hearing golf balls clank off the uprights. “When I heard it for the first time, I thought, well, that’s interesting. I’m not sure I’ll ever hear that again. And then the next week I heard it again. It doesn’t sound like when a football hits the goalpost. It’s actually a little louder.”

The Cowboys procure their playing surface from an Austin-based company called Matrix Turf. According to the company’s website, AT&T Stadium’s turf was developed with two different sized fibers in two different shades of green, which gives the fibers “the look and feel of a natural grass surface.” You won’t mistake the surface for a fairway at Augusta National, but it is a rich shade of emerald.

The field is the primary target on the range, but golfers also can take aim at fairways and greens that line either side. Fronting the fairway to the right of the field are 14 Toptracer bays armed with shot tracking and gamification, while the opposing side offers grass tees. The club elected to use only 60 yards of the field instead of the full 100 because the shorter field was more visually appealing from the clubhouse. “That configuration and the framing of it made it really pop,” Levine said.

Traditionalists might turn their noses at a practice facility with sidelines and hash marks, but Levine characterized early customer reviews as “overwhelmingly positive.” He added: “People are kind of blown away. We have people that stop at the end of the driveway and stop and take a picture going back towards it. I see that at least four or five times a day.”

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has not yet visited (“He will,” Levine said). But several of his current and former players have, including tight end Jake Ferguson and back-up quarterback Will Grier — before he was released last week. “We want the club to be an extension of the team,” Levine said. “That’s really important to us.” 

Green fees, which are in the $275-$300 range, include unlimited use of the range and putting course but golfers who only want to experience banging balls through the uprights can do so for rates starting at $25, a value that can be described in just two words: It’s good.