Royal Oaks Country Club Dallas: The Complete Member Profile

Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas is a private, invitation-only club at 7915 Greenville Avenue, home course to World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler since he was eight. The 2020 initiation fee was $80,000 with $878 monthly dues, and current estimates from membership trackers run $75,000 to $120,000 plus $600 to $1,000 a month.

Ask any low-handicap player in North Texas which private club they’d want a member-guest invite to, and Royal Oaks comes up fast. I’ve spent years chasing tee times on the public tracks around Dallas and tagging along as a guest wherever a member would have me, and Royal Oaks always got mentioned in the same breath as Northwood and Preston Trail: hard to get into, harder to leave once you’re in. This profile pulls together everything publicly documented about the club, the scorecard, who actually plays there, what it costs to join, what the staff gets paid, and what’s on the menu, sourced from the club itself, Golf Digest, the Texas Golf Hall of Fame, and a real Dallas private club directory. None of it requires you to sneak past the gatehouse.

Quick Facts: Royal Oaks Country Club Dallas at a Glance

Every one of those numbers comes from a named source further down this page, not a guess. That matters more than usual here, because Royal Oaks doesn’t publish much about itself beyond a one-page website.

History and Design: How Royal Oaks Became Dallas’s Toughest Ticket

J. Press Maxwell designed Royal Oaks in 1969, working from the same design lineage as his father Perry Maxwell, who co-created Augusta National and Southern Hills. Maxwell partnered with 1967 PGA Champion Don January and touring pro Billy Martindale, both of whom stayed on as members and shaped the club’s early identity.

The course sits in the floodplain of White Rock Creek, and that terrain is not decorative. Water crosses multiple holes, and the routing uses the creek as a genuine hazard rather than a scenic backdrop.

Most 1969-era Dallas designs have been softened into forgettable member-friendly tracks by their third renovation. Royal Oaks did the opposite. Jay Morrish toughened the course in 1985, PGA Tour winner and member D.A. Weibring renovated it again from 1994 to 2001, and architect Chet Williams handled two more passes, in 2013 and again in 2023.

That last project replaced the entire irrigation system and regrassed the course with Tahoma 31 Bermuda on the fairways and tees and TifEagle Bermuda on the greens, chosen specifically because it holds up through both Dallas summers and the occasional hard winter freeze.

In 2024, Royal Oaks was inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame’s Registry of Historic Courses. The induction cites the club’s tournament history, including the 2017 Texas Senior Amateur, the 2015 Texas Mid-Amateur, and the Texas State Amateur in both 1974 and 2010. One detail nobody else covers: in 1983, Hall of Fame instructor Randy Smith started the “Great 108” fundraiser, in which he and his staff play 108 holes in a single day while giving lessons to junior golfers. As of 2024, that event had raised more than $2 million for the Northern Texas PGA Foundation, funding college scholarships and paid internships for junior players.

The Scorecard: Royal Oaks Country Club Dallas Yardage, Par, and Slope by Tee

Par 71 across all 18 holes, and five tee options mean the course plays fair for a wide range of skill levels even though the back tees are genuinely hard.

A quick honesty check on these numbers: Golf Digest’s course card currently lists 7,068 yards for the tips, while GolfPass and 18Birdies both show 7,125. The 2023 regrassing project moved tee positions slightly, and not every database has caught up yet. If you want to know what a 140 slope actually does to your handicap on a given day, we break that down in our guide to what a handicap in golf actually means.

The Signature Hole: No. 13

The par-4 13th is the hole locals bring up first. It plays over 470 yards, doglegs around White Rock Creek, and forces a tee shot over water followed by an approach that has to carry the creek a second time. GolfPass calls it a pro-only hole, and that’s not an exaggeration. It’s the kind of hole where a scratch player and a 15-handicap can both make double bogey for completely different reasons.

Who Plays Here: Royal Oaks Country Club Dallas Members and Famous Alumni

Royal Oaks is Scottie Scheffler’s home club, and it isn’t a marketing claim. Scheffler’s family joined when he was eight years old, reportedly borrowing $50,000 to cover the initiation fee at the time, and he learned the game under longtime teaching professional Randy Smith. He still shows up as just another member for money games, not a celebrity guest.

When he won the 2022 Masters, more than 100 members packed the clubhouse for a watch party, and one member later told a reporter Scheffler still owed him strokes the next time they played. You can read the full story of his rise in our profile of Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler wasn’t the club’s first star. 1997 Open Champion and Texas Golf Hall of Fame member Justin Leonard learned the game there under the same instructor, and Scheffler grew up watching Leonard, PGA Tour winner Harrison Frazar, Ryan Palmer, and Colt Knost practice, occasionally challenging them to chipping contests from age nine. Randy Smith himself is a Texas Golf Hall of Fame inductee (Class of 2011) who has taught at Royal Oaks since the club’s early years, and current Texas Golf Association President Lee Sandlin calls Royal Oaks his longtime home club.

Royal Oaks isn’t a place where you’ll rub shoulders with movie stars, though. It’s a golf family’s club built around a teaching program, not a red-carpet destination. If that kind of star power is what you’re after, a club like Trinity Forest or Vaquero fits the bill better.

Membership Types, Initiation Fee, and Membership Cost

Royal Oaks is an equity club, meaning members hold a stake in the club itself, and it offers several tiers: Full Golf Membership, Sports Membership, Social Membership, Junior Executive Membership, Family Membership, and Single Membership. Golf privileges only come with the higher tiers. Social memberships get you the dining rooms, tennis, and pool without a tee sheet.

The last publicly documented figure, from Avidgolfer Magazine’s 2020 Private Club Directory, put the initiation fee at $80,000 with $878 in monthly dues. Membership trackers estimate 2026 pricing between $75,000 and $120,000 upfront, plus $600 to $1,000 a month, though Royal Oaks doesn’t publish current numbers.

The Avidgolfer figure is six years stale, and anyone telling you they know today’s exact number without an invitation letter in hand is guessing. What’s consistent across every source, official and third-party, is the process itself. Royal Oaks’ own website confirms membership is invite-only and runs through the club’s standard bylaws-based process.

For an equity club like this, that language almost always means a current member has to sponsor you before the board even looks at your application. There’s no online form and no public waitlist, so the actual first step is knowing a member, not filling out paperwork.

Working at Royal Oaks: Jobs, Pay, and What Staff Say

Nobody covers this angle, which is odd, because the club posts openings constantly. Royal Oaks regularly hires for culinary roles (sous chefs and line cooks), dining room servers, bag room and locker room attendants, grounds crew, and front-of-house staff, and current listings show up on Indeed and Hospitality Online. A recent customer-facing hourly posting listed $18 to $22 an hour, plus benefits including health insurance, a 401(k), and paid time off. You don’t need a membership connection to apply.

Glassdoor puts the club at 3.5 out of 5 stars across roughly 40 reviews, and the pattern in those reviews is consistent. Staff describe a family-like culture and real access to high-profile members as genuine perks of the job. The recurring complaint is scheduling: several reviewers mention inconsistent hours, which tracks with a seasonal club where business swings hard between summer and winter. If you’re weighing a hospitality job here against a restaurant gig downtown, that trade-off, steadier prestige against less predictable hours, is the one to actually think through.

The Food: Royal Oaks Country Club Dallas Menu and Dining Program

Royal Oaks runs a genuinely ambitious kitchen for a private club its size. According to Club + Resort Business, a trade publication that covers private club culinary programs, the kitchen operates its own greenhouse and raised beds tended by an in-house horticulturist, growing seasonal organic herbs, lettuces, and vegetables for the dining rooms. The club also keeps beehives on the grounds, maintained by the golf course superintendent, and harvests the honey for use in the kitchen. That’s not something you’ll find at most Dallas country clubs.

Royal Oaks doesn’t publish its current menu publicly, since it’s a private club and the offerings rotate seasonally. Reviewers who’ve dined there as guests describe a wedge salad with applewood-smoked bacon, fried onion strings, and blue cheese, along with grilled salmon, almond-crusted trout, and a house-made nut and snack mix served with cocktails. The club pours its own private-label wine, HG III, and both a casual restaurant open for breakfast and a formal dining room operate on-site, alongside banquet and buffet service for events. If you want to know what’s actually being served this month, your best move is asking a member directly or calling the club’s front desk, since none of that lives on the public website.

How Royal Oaks Compares to Other Elite Dallas Private Clubs

*Source: Avidgolfer Magazine’s 2020 Private Club Directory, the same dataset for every club above so the comparison is apples to apples. These are six years old and don’t reflect 2026 pricing. Call each club for current numbers.

That table tells you something the fee alone doesn’t: Royal Oaks is actually one of the more accessible entry points into Dallas’s old-money club scene, not the most expensive door in town. If you’re curious what elite private access looks like outside Texas entirely, our review of Riviera Country Club covers a club on a completely different level of fee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas private?

Yes. It’s a private, member-owned club at 7915 Greenville Avenue. The club’s own site states membership is by invitation only and subject to its bylaws. There’s no public green fee and no way to book a tee time without a member.

How much does it cost to join Royal Oaks Country Club Dallas?

The last publicly documented figure, from Avidgolfer Magazine’s 2020 Private Club Directory, put the initiation fee at $80,000 with $878 in monthly dues. Membership trackers estimate 2026 pricing between $75,000 and $120,000 upfront, plus $600 to $1,000 a month, though Royal Oaks doesn’t publish current numbers.

What is the initiation fee at Royal Oaks Country Club?

Documented at $80,000 in 2020 by Avidgolfer Magazine. Current estimates from private club trackers range from $75,000 to $120,000 for a full golf membership as of 2026. Social memberships without golf privileges typically cost less.

Who are the famous members of Royal Oaks Country Club?

Scottie Scheffler, current World No. 1 and two-time Masters champion, has belonged since he was eight. 1997 Open Champion Justin Leonard and PGA Tour winner Harrison Frazar are both members, and Hall of Fame instructor Randy Smith has taught there since the club’s early years. Co-founders Don January, the 1967 PGA Champion, and Billy Martindale were both touring pros themselves.

Is Scottie Scheffler a member of Royal Oaks Country Club?

Yes. Scheffler’s family joined when he was young, and the club credits Randy Smith’s instruction there for shaping his early game. Royal Oaks calls him “Royal Oaks’ own” on its own social channels and hosted a clubhouse watch party when he won the 2022 Masters.

How do you get a membership at Royal Oaks Country Club?

Membership is by invitation only. Per the club’s own site, prospective members go through “the normal membership process in accordance with our Club’s bylaws,” which at an equity club like this typically means a current member sponsors you before the board reviews the application. There’s no online application or public waitlist.

What is the par and yardage of Royal Oaks Country Club Dallas?

Par 71 across 18 holes, playing 7,125 yards from the Black tees with a 140 slope rating and a 75.9 course rating. Five tee options bring it down to 4,868 yards from the Orange tees.

Does Royal Oaks Country Club hire people who aren’t members?

Yes. The club regularly posts openings in culinary, dining service, grounds maintenance, and front-of-house roles on Indeed and Hospitality Online, and applying doesn’t require a membership connection. Recent hourly listings have paid $18 to $22 an hour plus benefits like health insurance and a 401(k).

Conclusion: Is Royal Oaks Worth the Wait?

Royal Oaks earns its reputation the hard way, not through a splashy social media presence but through six decades of turning out major champions while keeping its initiation fee quietly out of reach for most of Dallas. The scorecard backs up the difficulty, the membership numbers back up the exclusivity, and the Scheffler connection is the rare case where a club’s own marketing actually undersells the truth. Getting in still takes a sponsor and patience, not an application form. If Royal Oaks isn’t in reach, our review of Riviera Country Club covers what it takes to play America’s other bucket-list private track.