Summit Rock Clubhouse in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, Places Second Among New Clubhouses in Golf Inc's 2026 Clubhouse of the Year
Three Architecture's German-farmhouse clubhouse for the private Summit Rock course at Horseshoe Bay Resort took second place among new clubhouses in Golf Inc's Clubhouse of the Year 2026. Native limestone, steel accents, and intersecting gables root the house in Texas Hill Country tradition.
The Summit Rock Clubhouse at Horseshoe Bay Resort in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, has taken second place in the New Clubhouse category of Golf Inc's 2026 Clubhouse of the Year competition. Designed by Three Architecture, the building serves the private, members-only Summit Rock course and draws its form from the historic German farmhouses of the Texas Hill Country.
The finish puts Summit Rock immediately behind Frenchman's Creek Beach and Country Club, whose British Regency clubhouse in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, won First Place in the same category. Golf Inc lists the Texas entry as Summit Golf Club at Horseshoe Bay Resort, while the resort's announcement, carried by The Golf Wire, names the building the Summit Rock Clubhouse.
The clubhouse sits on high, rocky Hill Country ground. The design team wanted a house that would feel settled in the landscape and current at once, without leaving the region's building tradition behind. Instead of one large mass, intersecting gabled roofs break the clubhouse into related volumes. Native limestone, steel, and natural wood were chosen for durability, for their ties to the Hill Country, and for the way they weather. Broad glass walls open the rooms to the course and the land beyond.
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Much of the building's character comes from what was left off. Applied ornament gives way to proportion, honest materials, and careful joints. Public rooms face light and long views. Service rooms stay out of sight, and circulation stays compact, so members and staff move through a clear plan.
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Interiors are by Murphy Cramer Design, credited by Golf Inc as MC Design. Partner Geoffrey Cramer, AIA, described the aim as a gathering place tied to the Hill Country landscape and to the area's Texas German heritage, read in a contemporary key. Inside, natural materials, handcrafted details, and mixed furniture and artwork sit against framed views of the course. Jacob White Construction was the general contractor. Brian Walters and Julie Soefer photographed the project for Golf Inc.
Judge Mark Melzer, chairman of MDR Architects & Planners, called the detailing "exquisitely refined, keeping to the minimalist ornamentation used in farmhouse design." He also credited the ownership, the operator, and the design team with a building that works and still suits the club's golf heritage.
Randy Zupanski, managing director of Horseshoe Bay Resort, called the award a tremendous honor and said the clubhouse's design still offers "a warmth and sense of home," helped by natural light and long views over Summit Rock and the Hill Country.
Summit Rock, a Jack Nicklaus Signature course that opened in the fall of 2012, is the private layout at Horseshoe Bay Resort on Lake LBJ, west of Austin. Published accounts of the award do not give a clubhouse budget or a finished square footage.
Golf Inc's editors described this year's winners as clubhouses that invite members to linger as they would at home. Summit Rock reaches that standard through regional construction rather than decoration. Hill Country stone, steel, and timber, cut into the plain gabled geometry of the area's German farmhouses, give the house a clear sense of place. The judges answered that discipline with a Second Place finish among the year's new clubhouses.
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