Plano Outdoor Activities

The Austin BagTag serves as a VIP pass for golfcionados who wish to muster extra value out of their swinging season. BagTag holders can waltz into any of five participating courses and, with the purchase of a cart rental, can putt and wedge their way through some of the area’s finest golf terrain. Golfers may play one round of golf anytime on Mondays and Thursdays, as well as another on Fridays and Sundays after 1 p.m., for a total of two rounds per course. As you sample the lush courses, you'll have plenty of opportunities to practice using a 7 iron as a machete in thick foliage, “accidentally” cast a crocodile shadow puppet on putting lines, and peruse the latest issue of Golfweek to entertain your eyeballs during especially long cart rides. Embark on a bevy of memorable golf adventures with today’s Groupon, or gift your golf-lovin' pa a birthday present that'll get more use than last year's misshapen ashtray necktie.

When players take a tumble or dive at Gatsplat, they’re cushioned by the same stuff that protects NFL players from harm. Both of Gatsplat’s indoor paintball fields are padded by NFL-quality Astroturf, but these are not the only safety measures the staff puts in place. Professional referees keep watch over games, as opposed to off-duty clowns looking to score some free face paint. Players are also divided by experience level, and standard 68-caliber markers can be swapped out for lighter-weight 50-caliber markers so kids as young as six can play.

The 26,000-square-foot air-conditioned facility also has a comfortable viewing area with wide windows for non-players to keep an eye on the action. Free wireless internet access and a wide-screen television keep them occupied, and between games, players and non-players can discuss strategy or compare paint splatters as they snack at picnic tables.

Grasping hands constantly seek means of ascent as climbers scale the towering crags inside Exposure Rock Climbing's expansive gym. Route setters Kyle Clinkscales and Stan Borodyansky regularly put their USA Climbing certifications to good use, rearranging the colorful hand- and footholds that populate each wall to create fun and challenging routes that appeal to dedicated climbers and beginners alike.

The gym's experienced staff provides gravity-defying guidance during private lessons for climbers of all abilities and unlocks early interest in climbing with classes for juniors. The same savvy instructors have led Team Texas—Exposure Rock Climbing's competitive junior climbing team—to four USA Climbing national championships, including the 2012 title. The facility also hosts group and birthday-party packages and team-building programs for corporate workers, youth groups, and gravity deniers.

Abiding by the Center for Outdoor Ethics’ Leave No Trace principles, the adventurous guides at North Texas Outdoor Pursuit Center train bodies and minds to venture into deep wildernesses or up sheer cliffs without marring nature with evidence of their excursions. A map room and library help climbers plot eco-conscious regional excursions near Mineral Wells or the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge or explore wilderness courses that reveal Guadalupe National Park’s steep summits or Ouachita National Forest’s uniformed raccoon park rangers. Dominated by a soaring 120-foot climbing wall, the center’s gym bustles with preparatory activity as guides test students’ ascent abilities and improve their form with instructive, one-on-one critiques.

Armed with a PADI certification from Adventure Scuba, students dive into the depths, floating past forests of coral or ancient shipwrecks alive with schools of phosphorescent fish. Aspiring human submarines ease into the process during beginning training sessions, testing out the waters, familiarizing themselves with the gear, and breathing underwater in the 18-foot indoor heated pool. For more advanced adventurers, instructors break out world-renowned Technical Diving International courses, teaching divers how to descend 180 feet into the water while managing decompression and oxygen use. They can also help clients plan and navigate cave dives for underwater archeological digs for cave-mermen fossils.

Making the world's waterways accessible to everyone, Handicapped Scuba Association directors teach divers with disabilities to swim open waters during weekend dives at Lake Travis. They also organize scuba travel jaunts to Cozumel, Mexico or Dominica, where world travelers swim alongside sperm whales and reverse-scale down sea walls and past bubbling volcanic vents.

The sun twinkles over the lakefront as a jet ski speeds across the water's surface, churning a trail of foam in its wake. This image is ever-present across Lake Ray Hubbard, where DFWJetskis' fleet of personal watercraft lets visitors steer themselves toward watery adventures and schools of wild goldfish crackers. The CPR-certified staff keeps a watchful eye as high-performance jet skis enter the water for single rides or rentals that last up to a day. For alternate modes of water transportation, staffers can rent out standup paddleboards or help to find a fish that's big enough for a saddle.