Landscape Installation, News
From End Zone to Fairway: Inside Southern Botanical’s Work at Cowboys Golf Club
Some projects stand apart from the moment you hear the brief. When Arcis Golf began planning a comprehensive overhaul of Cowboys Golf Club in Grapevine, Texas, it was immediately clear this would be one of those projects. The scope was ambitious. The visibility was enormous. And the expectations, from ownership, from the club, from Cowboys fans across North Texas, were set at the highest level. Southern Botanical was brought in as the landscape partner through our longstanding relationship with Wintergreen Turf, whose team identified us as the right fit for the landscape scope and helped open the door to what became a highly rewarding commercial landscape project.
A Renovation Built Around an Iconic Brand
Cowboys Golf Club holds a distinction that no other golf property in the world can claim: it is the only NFL-themed golf club on the planet. That identity shapes everything about the guest experience, and Arcis Golf’s renovation honored it fully. Beau Welling, one of the most respected names in golf course architecture, led a complete redesign of the championship course. Alongside that work came the creation of “The Huddle,” a new 18-hole putting course, a state-of-the-art driving range surfaced with game-used turf from AT&T Stadium, and extensive improvements to tee boxes, greens, bunkers, and cart paths throughout the property.
Our original scope covered landscape and irrigation design and installation. Over time, that scope expanded to include audio/visual, lighting work, and pavers as well, making Southern Botanical a single-source partner for multiple elements of the club’s outdoor environment. For the lighting installation, we brought in Signature Illuminations, a best-in-class specialty contractor whose craftsmanship matched the profile of the project. Smart Home Solutions handled the A/V work, and PavePro executed the paver installation. Assembling the right subcontractor team for a project of this caliber matters as much as the design itself, and each of these partners delivered.
Designing Around the Original Cowboys Stadium Turf
The most talked-about feature of the renovation is also the one that required the most thoughtful approach: the Cowboys Endzone area. This space incorporates authentic turf from the old Cowboys Stadium in Irving, a piece of Dallas sports history that carries real meaning for fans. Working around an element this significant meant the surrounding landscape needed to support and frame the experience, not compete with it.
Our design team focused on creating a clear sense of arrival and place. Large boulders define the border between the planting beds and the endzone turf, providing a natural, grounding transition from one surface to the next. The goal was to make that shift feel intentional. When you step off the turf, the landscape tells you something has changed.
Beyond the boulders, the design moves into a contrasting fine gravel rather than traditional organic mulch. This was a deliberate, site-driven decision. The property experiences significant wind, and mulch would have migrated onto the putting course and adjacent areas, creating a constant maintenance issue. The gravel solution solves that problem practically while also reinforcing the bold, polished character of the renovation overall.
A Plant Palette Chosen for Texas
Every plant on this project was selected with purpose. The palette is built around tough, proven performers that offer visual interest across all four seasons without placing an unrealistic maintenance burden on the property.
Ornamental grasses, including Blue Oats Grass and Juncus Rush Blue Arrows, bring movement and softness to spaces that are otherwise dominated by hardscape. They handle the site’s wind conditions well and provide texture that reads clearly even from a distance. Flowering perennials, among them Dwarf White Ruellia, Penstemon Electric Blue, Shasta Daisy, and White Gaura, introduce color and pollinator value through the growing season. Yucca anchors several key areas with the architectural structure it is known for, a form that feels native to a Texas landscape because, in many ways, it is.
The tree canopy lends permanence and shade through a mix of Juniper Mint Julep, Crepe Myrtle, Cedars and Cedar Elms, Monterey Oaks, and October Glory Maples. These selections were made with the long view in mind. A well-chosen tree canopy improves with age, and the mix here will give Cowboys Golf Club a landscape that continues to mature and deepen over time. Taken together, the palette delivers year-round color and structure while remaining appropriate for a high-traffic venue where practicality and beauty have to coexist.
Coordinating Across a Complex Site
Large-scale commercial renovations require more than skilled installation. They require coordination. While Southern Botanical’s crews were executing our scope, Arcis Golf’s own teams were simultaneously completing major golf course and practice range construction on the same property. Our subcontractor partners, Signature Illuminations, Smart Home Solutions, and PavePro, were each operating on their own timelines as well. Managing finished work across all of those moving pieces takes discipline, and it takes communication.
This project also involved multiple layers of stakeholder input. The club had a perspective. Arcis Golf, as the client, held final decision-making authority. Keeping those parties informed and aligned, while keeping our own team and subcontractors productive and focused, required the proactive, deliberate communication approach that Southern Botanical is known for.
We held regular on-site update meetings with all contractors and made documentation a consistent priority. Expectations were set clearly from the start, and when conditions shifted, as is expected with projects of this scale, our team had the flexibility to adapt without losing momentum. Good communication is not a soft skill on a job like this; it is an operational requirement. The finished product reflects what happens when everyone on a complex site is working from the same understanding.
The Finished Product
Cowboys Golf Club reopened in late 2025, and the response has been exactly what our team hoped for. Feedback from the General Manager and from Arcis Golf leadership has been overwhelmingly positive. The project represents the kind of work our team is most proud of: a genuinely high-profile site where design precision, quality installation, and collaborative execution all came together at the same time.
We are grateful to Arcis Golf for entrusting us with a scope that grew well beyond the original landscape brief, to Wintergreen Turf for the introduction that made this partnership possible, and to Signature Illuminations, Smart Home Solutions, and PavePro for bringing the same level of professionalism and quality to their respective scopes. If you have not visited Cowboys Golf Club since the renovation, it is worth the trip. The property looks every bit as iconic as the brand it represents.
Southern Botanical provides commercial landscape design, installation, irrigation, lighting, and more across the Dallas-Fort Worth area and beyond. To discuss your next project, contact our team today.
