Lake Jackson, TX Outdoor Activities

If your Monday morning already has you waiting for the weekend, today's Groupon will make the anticipation taste better with a drizzle of hot sauce and hope. Today's Groupon makes your weekend plans sizzle with two tickets to the upcoming weekend of hot live music and hotter hot sauce at the ninth annual Houston Hot Sauce Festival. For just $5, you and a friend get a full day (Saturday, September 19, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., or Sunday, September 20, 12 p.m.–5 p.m.) of music, tastings, and shopping. Tickets are normally $5 each, so today's two-for-one deal gives you enough extra dough to buy your favorite salsa, wing sauce, peppers, and spices to bring home for private scorching consumption or to share with fellow tasters of the flame.

Situated northwest of Houston, the Houston National Golf Club and Strategic National Grass Reserve pocks itself with 27 holes, playable, like Voltron, in three possible combinations. Designed by legendary hole artists Von Hagge, Smelek, Baril, and McConaughey, the rolling green is punctuated by varied hazards and distractions like ponds, sand traps, and virtual gazelles. Both beginners and professionals can find something to challenge their walking and bad-shot-excuse-making skills. Houston National's GPS-equipped carts automatically keep the game's score and track your position in case you get lost amidst the unending flatness.

Becoming a stock car racer requires commitment and hard work, but at MSR Houston, all you have to do to ride in a stock car is open its door. Alternatively, visitors can hop aboard 9 HP Honda go-karts, rounding the 0.7-mile karting track’s 17 turns and zooming down its quarter-mile straightaway at top speeds of more than 45 mph. These drives follow a precedent set by professionals; the 383-acre center is a sanctioned test site for the Izod Indy Car Series, Firestone Indy Lights, and Formula 2000, among many others.

Today's Groupon gets you half-priced tickets to catch the Texas A&M Aggies as they face off against the New Mexico Lobos at the Houston Holiday Shoot-Out. For $10, you'll watch the hoop action from first-come, first-served seats in the $20 section at the Toyota Center on Saturday, December 12, at 5 p.m. (doors open at 4 p.m.). Pick up your tickets at the Toyota Center box office on game day.

Heron Lakes Golf Course incorporates an array of water hazards into its 5,240-yard, par 68 executive layout. The course is comprosed mainly of par 3s and 4s, yet features one par 5 on both the front and back nine so players can test their long game and show off new flame decals on their drivers.

Players can stretch out their swings before rounds at Heron Lakes' driving range, which also serves as the classroom for lessons conducted by the course's teaching pros. After a day spent roaming the facilities, golfers can avoid a salad of fairway grass with a meal at The Sandtrap Grill, which slings tequila-lime chicken, baja fish tacos, and hamburgers among a menu of classic American fare.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 68 course

• Length of 5,240 yards from the farthest tees

• Course rating of 72.7 from the farthest tees

• Slope rating of 117 from the farthest tees

• Three tee options

Shankz Black Light Miniature Golf has two locations that encompass 18 holes apiece, with each course set aglow in neon and covered with exotic creatures. As they travel through the indoor facilities, each putter must navigate around wrecked pirate ships, shoot between stubby dinosaur legs, and wrest their clubs from the mouths of tigers in what typically amounts to a 35- to 60-minute round of golf. To accentuate the course's glowing artwork and scenery, golfers can opt to put on a pair of 3-D glasses. Beyond the neon greens, Shankz also features the Balladium and Ballaster game rooms, in which competitors fire Nerf balls from air cannons at targets and at each other to score points and ward off encroaching Nerf army tanks.