Par 3 golf in the Rio Grande Valley: short courses and nines for practice days

Par 3 golf in the Rio Grande Valley is mostly found inside RV resorts, not on public courses. Tropic Star in Pharr and Trophy Gardens in Alamo each have a par-3 nine inside the park, with outside access not published. For public short golf, use Ebony Hills, the 9-hole city course in Edinburg, the extra nines at Shary and Tony Butler, or Shary's night lighting.

That matters if you are spending a winter here. A short course is where you work on wedges, take a beginner partner, or fit in golf on a day built around something else. This guide lists what we could confirm, what the nines cost, and the short courses whose status is unclear.

Quick facts

• Public par-3 course confirmed open: none found in 2026.
• RV-park par-3 nines: Tropic Star (Pharr) and Trophy Gardens (Alamo); fees and outside access not published.
• Best public short round: Ebony Hills, 9 holes, 3,022 yards, par 35.
• Night golf: Shary Municipal, last tee time 11 PM.
• Cheapest 9 seen: $16 walking at Shary (October 2026).
• Coming: a Lorena Ochoa co-designed short course beside Champion Lakes, no build dates yet.

Par 3 golf in the Rio Grande Valley: what exists

Fees are as seen on October 26, 2026, except where marked. Rates change.

The RV-park par-3 courses

Two parks in the rvresorts.com group have their own par-3 nine.

Tropic Star RV Resort, Pharr. A large gated 55+ park with a 9-hole par-3 inside it, a heated pool and what the park calls the largest ballroom dance floor in the Valley. The official page lists the par-3, but fees and whether non-residents can play are not published, and one golf directory calls it private. RV sites were $55 a night or $300 a week, and a 3-month stay was $2,220 plus electric on the card we read (seasonal plans reference a 2025 window, so the 2026-27 card may differ). Tierra del Sol is about 7 minutes away when you want a full 18.

Trophy Gardens RV Resort, Alamo. Another gated 55+ park with a 9-hole par-3 on site. Fees and access are not published. Its 3-month RV rate was $2,025 plus electric, among the lowest clear season rates found in the Valley, though the plans are labelled for April 2025 to March 2026. Los Lagos is about 15 minutes away and Champion Lakes about 17.

If you are not staying in either park, assume you cannot play their par-3 until the office says otherwise. Our RV resorts with golf guide compares every park with golf on site.

Ebony Hills: the Valley's best public short round

Ebony Hills is Edinburg's 9-hole city course, opened in 1927 to a John Bredemus design, which makes it one of the oldest courses in the Valley. It plays 3,022 yards to a par of 35 from the back, with four tee sets, and is lined with ebony trees. It is not a par-3 course, but it is the closest thing to a quick, low-stakes round the public can book.

• Booking: online on Teesnap.
• Fees: no current rate card found; the city calls it "very affordable".
• Carts: rental carts available.
• Drive: about 15 minutes (9 miles) from downtown McAllen.
• Construction: a new two-story clubhouse with four simulators, a larger cart barn and automated irrigation, under way from August 2026 and due in summer 2027. Expect a temporary clubhouse.
• Management: Troon is set to take over the Edinburg city courses from late 2026, so rates may change.

The city says Ebony Hills is one of the most popular courses with Winter Texans, so a weekday nine in January will not be empty. The Ebony Hills course guide has the layout, and our Ebony Hills golf course in Edinburg post covers status and rates.

Extra nines and night golf

Shary Municipal, Mission

Shary has 27 holes: the main 18 plus a third nine (holes 19-27). It is flat, short (6,025 yards from the back of the main course) and lit for night play, with a last tee time of 11 PM. The driving range is open 7 AM to midnight. On the undated city rate sheet we saw, 9 holes walking was $16 and 18 was $21, with a cart $25 for 18 ($12.50 each when shared).

That makes Shary the best practice-day course in the west Valley. You can hit balls under the lights after dinner, or play a late nine when the Winter Texan morning sheet is full. See the Shary course guide.

Tony Butler, Harlingen

Tony Butler has an 18-hole course of about 6,400 yards and a separate 9-hole course of about 2,600 yards at par 35, per Visit Harlingen. The city once closed holes 19-27 to cut maintenance costs, then reopened them after a split commission vote, so ask whether the nine is open when you call. The course gets about 40,000 rounds a year, much of it from Winter Texans. The Tony Butler course guide has more.

Tierra del Sol, Pharr

Pharr's city course is a full 18, but its rate card makes it a good short-round option: 9 holes is $17 walking or $27 with a cart, and there is a 25-round, 9-hole punch card at $625 with cart. It runs a Friday Night 9-Hole Sundowner event. Range buckets are $5 small and $10 large.

Short courses with status unclear

Directories list several more short or executive courses in the Valley. We could not confirm any of them as operating and open to visitors in 2026, so none are on our map:

• Cottonwood XXI Country Club, Harlingen: status unclear, call first.
• Stuart Place Country Club, Harlingen: status unclear, call first.
• Village Executive Golf Course, Weslaco: status unclear, call first.
• El Nino Golf Course, Palmview: status unclear, call first.
• Adobe Wells Golf Course, McAllen: status unclear, call first.
• Sunshine Country Club Estates, Harlingen: status unclear, call first.
• Valley International Country Club, Brownsville (once with a par-3 nine): status unclear since a 2017 clubhouse fire, call first.

Our closed golf courses in the Rio Grande Valley post tracks these and the courses that have shut.

The short course coming to McAllen

In February 2026 the City of McAllen announced a new short course co-designed by Lorena Ochoa, on land directly west of Champion Lakes (2701-3501 S Ware Rd). No build dates have been published. Until it opens, Champion Lakes' lit range (open 7 AM to 10 PM, Mondays from 11 AM) is the central McAllen practice spot, and the Champion Lakes golf course guide covers its rates.

Building practice days into a winter

A typical Winter Texan week has more golf days than full rounds. A pattern that works:

1. Two or three full 18s on a pass course in the morning.
2. One practice day: range session, then a nine at Shary, Ebony Hills or Tierra del Sol.
3. One evening session under the lights at Shary or Champion Lakes when mornings are booked.

Our snowbird golf schedule lays out full weekly rotations, and Rio Grande Valley golf passes shows which punch cards include nines. If you also winter in Arizona, compare the public par-3 setups in our Foothills par 3 in Yuma guide.

Plan it on the map

Open the Rio Grande Valley golf map to see Ebony Hills, Shary, the RV parks with par-3 courses and every full course with drive times between them. The $30 plan can cover a whole winter stay with a weekly rotation that builds in short rounds and practice days.