TPC Craig Ranch and the Byron Nelson: visitor guide

The Byron Nelson is the oldest PGA Tour event in Texas. It started in 1944 as the Texas Victory Open, was renamed for Byron Nelson — a Waxahachie kid who happened to be the best golfer in the world for a brief, untouchable stretch — and has been run by the Salesmanship Club of Dallas since 1968. For most of its life it was the only PGA Tour event named after a player who was still alive when the name went on the trophy. It's the leading charitable fundraiser on the Tour (more than $190 million across the event's history), and it has now been hosted at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney since 2021 — the year the tournament moved out of Irving's TPC Las Colinas after a 38-year run.

The current title sponsor is CJ — the South Korean food and entertainment conglomerate — so the full official name is now THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. Long-time fans (and a lot of the local signage) still say "the Nelson" or "the AT&T Byron Nelson." All three refer to the same tournament. If you're reading this and you're new to it: it's the Nelson. That's what locals call it.

This guide covers what you actually need to know if you're planning a trip around either the tournament or the course — and the underrated angle: TPC Craig Ranch sits about 30 minutes from PGA Frisco, which means a long weekend can get you onto two PGA Tour venues without renting a car for more than a half-tank of gas.

TPC Craig Ranch: the course

TPC Craig Ranch was designed by Tom Weiskopf (with consulting input from PGA Tour veteran D.A. Weibring) and opened in 2004. It plays as a par-72 of about 7,438 yards from the championship tees, set inside the Craig Ranch master-planned community in west McKinney. Rowlett Creek snakes through the property and crosses the course fourteen times, which tells you most of what you need to know about the strategic premium — water is in play on a lot of holes, and the smart miss isn't always the obvious one.

Weiskopf is best known for his mountain courses (Loch Lomond, Troon North), and the flat-ish North Texas blackland prairie isn't his natural habitat. Even so, Craig Ranch is consistently rated inside Texas's top public-access (now top private) courses. The bones are good. The green complexes are smart. And the routing gives the Tour pros enough room to score — winners here have repeatedly gone deep, including Scottie Scheffler's all-time-Tour-record-tying 31-under in 2025.

A few holes worth knowing:

• The par-4 14th is the signature. It's a drivable par-4 around 330 yards — the kind of risk/reward design that's a Weiskopf trademark on every course he ever built. From the championship tee the bold play is to take dead aim at the green; the smart play is to lay back and wedge it close.
• The par-3s all have teeth. Three of the four measure over 215 yards from the back tees, so you'll see Tour pros hitting irons most amateurs need a hybrid for.
• The par-5 18th is reachable in two for the long hitters at around 552 yards, with nine fairway bunkers in the landing zone and a green pinched by Rowlett Creek and three more bunkers. It's the strategic finishing hole, the one TV cuts to, and the one members talk about most.

The course completed a roughly $22 million renovation in 2025, led by Hall of Famer (and longtime D-FW resident) Lanny Wadkins. Bunkers were redone, greens were softened in places and toughened in others, and the practice facilities got a refresh. Tournament-week TV in 2025 was the first showcase of the new look.

Important: TPC Craig Ranch is now a private club, owned and operated by Invited (the company formerly known as ClubCorp). The course is not open for public daily-fee play. If you are not a member and you want to set foot on it, the realistic options are: (1) be a member's guest, (2) buy a grounds pass during tournament week, or (3) book a stay-and-play package through select corporate partners. We mention this up front because there's a lot of outdated information online suggesting it's a daily-fee TPC; that's no longer the case.

THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson: the tournament

A short tour through the tournament's identity, because it has changed a lot:

• 1944: The Texas Victory Open is staged at Lakewood Country Club in Dallas. The 32-year-old Byron Nelson wins, takes home $2,000, and inadvertently sets up a name change two decades later.
• 1968: The Salesmanship Club of Dallas — a six-hundred-member civic organization — takes over administration of the tournament. The event is renamed the Byron Nelson Golf Classic. Nelson himself is still alive, still local, still part of the event.
• 1983: The tournament moves to TPC Las Colinas in Irving. It stays there for 38 years. Generations of D-FW golf fans associate the Nelson with the white tents on the corner of Highway 114.
• 2021: The tournament moves to TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney. This was both controversial and inevitable — Las Colinas was tired, the field had been weakening, and the move came with a multi-year extension of Tour rights.
• 2024 onward: AT&T's title sponsorship ends; CJ steps in. The event becomes THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson.

The charitable component is the part that doesn't get enough national press. Every dollar of net proceeds goes to the Momentous Institute, a Dallas-based mental-health and education nonprofit for children that the Salesmanship Club founded in 1920. The Nelson is the leading charity fundraiser on the PGA Tour and has been for most of its modern history.

Recent winners at TPC Craig Ranch

The TPC Craig Ranch era has produced a strong list:

• 2021 — K.H. Lee
• 2022 — K.H. Lee (back-to-back)
• 2023 — Jason Day (his first PGA Tour win in five years; emotional Sunday)
• 2024 — Taylor Pendrith (first career Tour win, late-Sunday charge)
• 2025 — Scottie Scheffler (31-under, tying the all-time PGA Tour 72-hole scoring record set by Justin Thomas at the 2017 Sony Open)

Lee's back-to-back at Craig Ranch is one of the more underrated runs of the early 2020s. Scheffler's 2025 was a coronation — he was already world No. 1, this was his hometown event, and he played the par-5s in a combined 14-under for the week.

2026 preview

The 2026 edition runs May 20-24, 2026 — that's practice rounds Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday and tournament play Thursday through Sunday. The full field hadn't been released as of mid-May, but Scheffler enters as defending champion and the clear favorite. The course will look closer to the renovated post-Wadkins layout we saw debut in 2025, with a year of additional maturation on the new bunkering and grass.

If you're reading this guide before play starts, the smart watch points are the par-3 17th (a dialed-in short iron that's been a hospitality-and-leaderboard fulcrum each of the last few editions) and the par-5 18th on Sunday afternoon, where the tournament is usually decided.

We'll update this section with a 2026 recap once the tournament concludes. For full leaderboards, see PGATour.com.

Planning a visit for the 2027 cycle

The 2027 dates haven't been announced yet, but the Nelson has slotted into mid-to-late May every year of its modern existence. Plan around a mid-May weekend and you'll be in the right window.

A few timing notes for visit planners:

• Tickets typically go on sale the fall before the tournament (October/November). Early-bird pricing is real — single-day grounds passes are cheaper if you buy them several months out. Single-day tickets for 2026 ran roughly $62-$130 depending on the day; weekly passes ran $250-$750. Hospitality packages start around $380 and run well into four figures.
• Practice round tickets (Monday-Wednesday) are the underrated buy. They're significantly cheaper, the crowds are smaller, and you can get genuinely close to the players. Wednesday's Pro-Am is especially relaxed.
• Tournament days (Thursday-Sunday) are the full experience but Sunday in particular is hot, crowded, and worth every dollar if the leaderboard is tight.
• Kids 15 and under are free with a ticketed adult — same as most Tour events.
• Active and retired military get two complimentary grounds tickets per day (Thursday-Sunday), with 50% off additional tickets.

If you're flying in: DFW and Love Field are both ~45 minutes from TPC Craig Ranch. McKinney's own small commercial airport (TKI) is closer but limited.

Spectating tips

If you've never been to a PGA Tour event in Texas in May, the most important advice we can give you is assume it will be ninety degrees and humid. The Nelson has been played in 95° heat and in driving thunderstorms — both regularly, sometimes in the same week. Plan accordingly.

What we tell first-time visitors:

• Pick a spot and let the tournament come to you. It's tempting to walk with a group, but at Craig Ranch the best fan experience is to plant yourself at a par-3 (especially the 17th, where the hospitality and grandstand pinch close to the green) and watch wave after wave of pairings come through.
• Shade is the unsung amenity. The clubhouse-side of the course has the most natural cover. The far holes (around 12-14) are largely exposed. If you're spectating a full afternoon, scout for shade.
• Hydrate aggressively. There are water-bottle filling stations on the course. PGA Tour rules generally allow one empty plastic bottle per person (no metal, no glass) — bring it.
• What you can bring: small bags (no larger than 6"x6"x6"), phones (on silent), sunscreen, hats, binoculars. What you can't: outside food and drink, large bags or backpacks, cameras with detachable lenses, signs, coolers, selfie sticks. The Tour's policy page is the authoritative source — check it the week of.
• Storms move fast in Texas. If sirens go off, head to the clubhouse or a hospitality tent. Lightning delays are common and can be long. Bring a small rain shell.

Parking and shuttles

There is no on-site general parking at TPC Craig Ranch. The tournament uses an off-site lot + shuttle system:

• Lot 9 at McKinney ISD Stadium & Community Event Center (4137 S. Hardin Blvd, McKinney, TX 75070) is the main general-admission lot. Shuttles run from approximately 6:30 AM until two hours after play concludes. The ride is around 10 minutes door-to-door.
• Lot 8 parking garage (6092 Millie Way, McKinney) is the closer-to-the-course paid option — a short walk in rather than a shuttle. Costs more but cuts the wait at the end of the day, which is when shuttle lines get long.
• Rideshare drop-off has dedicated zones near the main entrance; this is the easiest option if you don't want to deal with parking at all.

Buy parking ahead of time through the official tournament site. Day-of parking is generally available but at a premium.

Pairing with PGA Frisco

Here's the part that we think gets undersold: TPC Craig Ranch and PGA Frisco are 15 miles apart. Two PGA Tour-grade venues, both in the northern D-FW exurbs, both within 20 minutes of our four StayInFrisco properties.

If you can engineer it, the dream long-weekend itinerary goes:

• Day 1: Land in the morning, play Fields Ranch West at PGA Frisco in the afternoon (the more playable of the two championship courses; resort guests get priority but it's open to public play). Dinner at one of the resort restaurants or in downtown Frisco.
• Day 2: Tee up at Fields Ranch East — the major-championship course (and host of the 2027 PGA Championship). This is the one to plan ahead for; tee times release about 60 days out. After the round, drive 25 minutes east to McKinney for dinner.
• Day 3 (tournament week): Spend the day at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch — grounds pass, walk the course, watch the world's best play.
• Day 4 (any time): Play The Swing (PGA Frisco's 10-hole par-3 short course) in the morning — it's the best lower-stakes, second-round-of-the-trip option in North Texas. Fly home in the afternoon.

You will not find a comparable two-PGA-Tour-venues-plus-major-championship-host setup within a 30-minute drive radius anywhere else in the United States. That is genuinely the case. For Texas golf travelers, this is the play.

See our PGA Frisco visitor guide for the full breakdown on Fields Ranch East, West, The Swing, and the Omni resort.

Where to stay

McKinney itself has limited hotel inventory, and what does exist gets expensive fast during tournament week. The play for groups (and for anyone who wants more space than a hotel room) is a vacation rental in Frisco — 10-15 minutes from TPC Craig Ranch by car, easy access to the Dallas North Tollway for getting in and out of the metroplex, and walking distance to dining and entertainment in The Star and Frisco Square.

Of our four properties, two are particularly well-suited for a golf trip:

• The Palmera sleeps 9 and sits in a golf-course neighborhood — a natural fit for a foursome or a group of buddies looking for some space and a backyard to debrief the round.
• Frisco Waves & Fairways sleeps 11, has a mini-golf course in the backyard, and (as the name suggests) is adjacent to a golf course. This is the larger-group choice — bachelor parties, multi-generational golf trips, the works.

For more options across all four properties, see our Frisco golf rentals hub.

Practical info

• TPC Craig Ranch address: 8000 Collin McKinney Pkwy, McKinney, TX 75070
• Course phone (members): (972) 747-9005
• Tournament site: thecjcupbyronnelson.org
• PGA Tour event page: pgatour.com
• Best time of year: For tournament-watching, mid-May (period). For playing PGA Frisco's public courses in nice conditions, March-May and October-November are peak.

What to expect

The Nelson is a 700,000-fans-across-the-week event. It's family-friendly, it's well-run, and the Salesmanship Club has been doing this since the year man landed on the moon — they know what they're doing. The course is championship-quality and the post-renovation conditions have been excellent. If you've never been to a PGA Tour event, this is one of the better entry points: the field is strong (Scheffler, McIlroy, Spieth historically make appearances), the venue is walkable, the weather is usually cooperative, and the charitable mission is real.

Pair it with a couple of rounds at PGA Frisco, stay 15 minutes away in a house big enough for the group, and you've got one of the best Texas golf trips available.

See also

• PGA Frisco visitor guide — the four-course resort 30 minutes west
• Golf rentals in Frisco — all our golf-oriented properties
• The ultimate guide to visiting Frisco