In the fall of 2026, the golf teams will host the inaugural ACU Intercollegiate at Halbert National Golf Course in Granbury.
ACU Athletics, HNS Sports Group and Golf Channel announced on Dec. 3 that the debut of the tournament will take place on Oct. 19-21 at the newly opened course. Founded by David D. Halbert (’78) and designed by renowned course designer Tom Fazio, the course offers a Midwest style of golf, rather than something typical to North or West Texas. Men’s Head Coach Tom Shaw said it also offers firm, fast and complex greens.
“We’ve always wanted to host a big-time event,” Shaw said. “Halbert National came online recently and provided us with an opportunity to have a first-class venue to host a tournament.”
The newly announced tournament has already generated interest across the country, with several teams already committing to play, including Baylor University, the University of Oregon and Purdue University for the women’s golf tournament. Early commitments for the men’s tournament include the University of Houston, Southern Methodist University and Texas A&M University.
“Inviting the best teams in the country helps us in numerous ways,” Shaw said. “It gives our kids a chance to compete against some really great teams, but it also helps with scheduling higher-level tournaments. It also exposes the university and our programs to people that aren’t familiar with ACU.”
Both the men’s and women’s golf teams have previously competed in tournaments with significant Power Four participation, including the Boilermaker Classic, hosted by Purdue.
The tournament was a perfect fit for the course and the programs. Halbert, founder of Caris Life Sciences, recently opened the course, but it remains private. When the university and Halbert connected, it was the right fit for Halbert, as it allowed his course to gain popularity and exposure while also enabling the program to host a high-quality event.
“With David Halbert being the owner of the course and an ACU grad, it was really exclusively up to us to do it,” Shaw said. “So we took it and ran with it.”
Shaw also said they showed Halbert what a typical college golf tournament looks like. After giving him the options, he chose to push the limits of what this event could be.
“We said, ‘You know what, ha-ha fantasy land version, if we want to have it televised on the Golf Channel, that’s what this looks like,’” Shaw said. “He said, ‘Man, I want to do that,’ and signed up for all of it.”
The tournament being televised on the Golf Channel puts it in an exclusive category as it’s hosted by a mid-major school and program. Shaw said not only is it impressive but showcases the university.
“This shows the trajectory we’re on,” Shaw said. “We weren’t even a Division I school 15 years ago. To go from that to the men’s team showing significant growth, adding a women’s team and now to host a tournament that’s on television, anybody who looks at that should be impressed by the direction of our program.”
After the tournament was arranged and finalized, the men’s and women’s golf teams got to play the course, while being joined by Halbert.
“We picked a great day, and the weather was fantastic,” Shaw said. “Mr. Halbert was such a gracious host to us. Our players were blown away by it. Mr. Halbert enjoyed interacting with our players, and again, this wouldn’t have happened without him and his desire to grow the brand for ACU Golf.”
