Lakeside Golf Course, Hot Springs

Hot Springs carries a golf pedigree that most Arkansas towns can't touch. The city's thermal springs and Gilded Age resort culture made it a destination long before golf became mainstream in America, and the game took root here early — drawing visitors who came for the baths and stayed for the fairways. The local golf scene reflects that layered history, with courses ranging from storied private clubs to accessible public layouts spread across the Ouachita Mountain foothills.

Lakeside sits in that public-access tradition, offering Hot Springs-area residents and visitors a full 18-hole round without the barriers of a private club. The terrain around Lake Hamilton and the surrounding hill country gives courses in this area genuine elevation and visual interest — this is not flat Midwestern golf, but a landscape of ridges, pines, and glimpses of water that keep the scenery honest even on ordinary rounds.

For travelers already making the trip to Hot Springs — whether for Garvan Woodland Gardens, Oaklawn Racing, or the national park — Lakeside represents a reasonable way to get a round in without venturing far from the action.