Favorite Public Course in the Greater Houston Region

[ND2005]

Wildcat lakes: I was discussing with a friend recently and I realized, there is not a single hole on that golf course that I genuinely "love". There are about 6 holes that I actively dislike, 6 that are just meh, and 6 that are okay to good. None great.

 

The par 5's are terrible. The par 3's except for the water hole #8 are boring.

 

Conditions are usually pretty decent.

 

Pace of play often very slow, haven't played it during Covid.

 

Tends to be the sort of course where people are blaring loud music from their carts and tipping a few too many back.

[CougarRed]

Thanks for the input Scott, Alex and ND, doesn't sound like I am missing much with Lakes.

I classify courses as "Want to Play Again" (WTPA) and "Been There Done That" (BTDT). Life's too short to play BTDT courses.

Scott, I like Forest a little better than Island at Kingwood, but both are solid WTPA courses for me. Have you played Gus since the renovation?

********

Playing Walden Lake Conroe and Eagle Pointe this week for the first time. By the end of summer, I hope to get on Woodforest, High Meadow Ranch and GCOH. Looking forward to adding to my WTPA list...

[SC-TX 88]

I used to be a member at Kingwood when I lived in that area. Forest was my favorite course of the 4 (I didn’t pay the extra monthly fee for Deerwood). Forest offered undulation and made you hit different clubs off the tee.

For the year round climate we have in Houston it’s a shame we don’t have better public courses. I moved down into the loop and haven’t rejoined anywhere and find myself playing mostly Houston National (it’s in okay shape usually, love the routing) Blackhorse North, and Woodforest when I don’t mind the 50 minute drive. I plan on getting out to Memorial for a twilight round after the holiday weekend to check it out since it’s re opened.

[CougarRed]

Thanks SC-TX. Agree on Forest. I'll look at Houston National. BTW - If you are inside the loop, consider putting Gus on your list. It's not the longest course, but it will test every shot in the bag. I'm inside the loop too. Message me if you want to play it sometime.

Played Walden Lake Conroe today (WLC). Great course in great condition with some memorable holes and postage stamp greens.

Ordinarily, I don't like residential courses with houses and out of bounds in play on nearly every hole. Too penal, and usually no fun to walk (WLC is not a great course for walkers). I prefer no houses, although the NIcklaus courses like Tradition A&M and Hills of Lakeway are fine because the houses are usually elevated above & set back away from the fairway.

But I'd rank WLC up there with Champions Jackrabbit in terms of great Texas courses with a ton of residential OB. Of all the Von Hagge designs that I have played, I would put WLC #2 behind Crown Colony in Lufkin.

If I lived in the Woodlands, I'd probably join WLC (despite the Clubhouse that time forgot). As it is, WLC is a long and stressful drive from my house. It will be relegated to a rare treat, but I'll relish each tee time there...

[ND2005]

Agreed. I've been here a little over 3 years (in the loop too) and it's the worst golf city I've ever lived in.

Love Houston but the golf options are the pits. Choices are basically drive an hour each way and a 5 hour round, hope for a decent tee time at Memorial, or play a mediocre track with slow pace of play like Wildcat.

My current solution has been to take as many trips as I can to destination golf resorts (streamsong, pinehurst, SV, etc). But that's not a great option at the moment with Covid.

Trying to decide if it's worth it to bite the bullet and join a club. But River Oaks is the only one super close (I live 2 min from it) and is way outside my budget. I've played and liked Braeburn but it's still enough of a trek that I doubt I would ever be able to get there on a weekday and make the membership worthwhile.

[scott_Donald]

No Gus for me yet, living in the Heights so kind of just gotten in to a routine of where I head; I go to the range at Memorial about 3 days a week, then hopefully play 1 or 2 times a week, with a driving range session at 50/50 Acorn if I can survive the balls doing stupid things.
How easy is Gus to get on as a single on a Wednesday afternoon?@SC-TX 88 I have. friend who is a member at Kingwood but left for Canada for the summer now so will get him to take me there in September. The day we played Augusta Pines we originally were trying o get on WoodForest but it was very expensive that day, they seem to have big fluctuations in price.
I played Houston National once by mistake when our friend booked the wrong course for us! the starter told us the best way of playing there was to get vouchers at the local Costco and golf is far cheaper. I have not been back since then though. It was similar to Cypress lakes but Cypress lakes was much better imo.

[CougarRed]

ND

I quit my old country club when they decided to assess everyone nearly six figures right when I was losing half my assets in a divorce. I don't have any kids who could use it, so I decided if I am going to spend that kinda money on me, I'd rather travel. (Thanks COVID. LOL.)

My solution to private golf was joining the Met Downtown Club (ClubCorp) with ONE golf privileges. Under my plan, for $200/mo dues, I can play 6 rounds a month in the Houston area (2/mo per club), and twice a month at any club outside 100 miles from Houston.

None of the Houston courses are inside the beltway, so that may be a dealbreaker for you. But I play Kingwood/Deerwood mainly, with some rounds at Riverbend and Magnolia Creek. I'm not sure if Deerwood is available anymore. Among the Woodlands courses, I can play Panther/Oaks but not Woodlands CC.

I've really enjoyed playing the Traditions A&M course (5 trips) and the Hills of Lakeway (3 trips) on my membership as courses outside 100 miles. Love those tracks.

Another option I considered was joining the Petroleum Club. It cost about $4-5K initiation and $250 a month dues, but when I was looking at it you got reciprocal privileges at Westwood, Riverbend and the Clubs at Houston Oaks, plus a lot of out of town clubs.

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Scott - you can make tee times at Gus 7 days in advance. And single walk ups usually find a spot quick.

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Scott, ND and SC - since we all live inside the loop, I will shoot you a PM with my contact info if you ever want to play a round. Check your inboxes.

[scott_Donald]

Perfect thanks. Might try a Wednesday afternoon soon.

I am up for a 4 ball - good to play golf with folk from here.

[CougarRed]

Played Woodforest yesterday in the afternoon heat. Had a rough start with the driver, but got around the last 12 in 5 over. That’s a nice facility and layout. Greens as advertised.

At nearly $150 with a small bucket, it’s no bargain however. Twice as much or more compared to Wilderness and Eagle Pointe (similar distances from downtown). Aside from the greens, I like those layouts better.

[cjblake09]

$150 is crazy for the course. They must have just raised the fees as i remember it being around $75-80 on the weekends not too long ago.

[scott_Donald]

I was supposed to play there a month ago but we as you were shocked at 150 so ended up at Augusta Pines.

Needs to be a Monday to Thursday there!

[CougarRed]

They are going private Sept 1. Seem like they are trying to 1) discourage public play, and/or 2) make their $600 monthly dues look more palatable to the members (only 4 weekend rounds a month!)...

Scott - the Monday-Thurs rate is only $25 less if I recall.

[Guest]

Golf Club of Houston and Cypresswood are my votes if we had 2 votes!

[snagy2000]

How is the condition at the golf club of Houston tournament course as of late?

[scott_Donald]

three weeks or so ago it was great.

I see there is good deals for Friday avoiding and very tempted.

[DonatelloNobodie]

Surprised to see complaints about Houston area public golf. I've lived all over the country and Houston had the largest number of options for the public golfer. Low greens fees, and many courses with good design and conditioning. While in Houston, I was a member of a private club, but had occasion to play many of the area publics. Add to that the 12 month golf season. Try living and finding public golf in the NYC or DC areas and you'll appreciate Houston. I drive an hour to find a decent course and pay $120 to play a 5+ hour round (when it's warm enough to play...).

[scott_Donald]

I don't think there is massive complaints really about all the available courses, this thread is about finding the good deals and the best value for money.

I played Cypresswood Cypress course Friday morning, last minute pre edge of hurricane round and it was fun, I played very well but the greens were stupid slow and felt weird. Guess that was to help the greens with the forecasted rain.

[EDT501]

I live halfway between Gus and Memorial and consider myself super lucky to have easy And affordable access to both. I think the newly-renovated Memorial is a tremendous value and haven’t had any round go longer than 4.75 hours. Gus may be short, but is a super fun track with great green complexes. I’ve never had issues getting on a single, I can usually find a weekend morning tee time on Wednesday/Thursday if I miss out on the Memorial 6am lottery.

[ND2005]

Finally made the trek down to Wilderness. Really fun course, enjoyed the Layout a lot. Greens are maybe a 7/10 at best, that was my only complaint. Slow and a little bumpy. If it wasn’t so far I’d play it every day. 
 
Also played Wildcat lakes: my previous  impression is unchanged, but also the starter let a “member” who showed up 50 minutes late for their tee time sneak in between two groups which

totally F****d pace of play. I really don’t know why I keep coming back out here. 

[ND2005]

First time trying out Gus after many many people recommending it

 

Holes 1-4 are a complete drag. Boring, mostly dead straight, no interesting features. And of course running along a busy road with this noxious burnt rubber/trash smell. 
 
The course gets much more fun after that. 

Conditions were okay at best, but we have gotten a lot of rain lately. 
 
Routing is a disaster from a pace of play perspective:

-2 back to back short par 5s - where the hacks wait for the green to clear then duff their second

-multiple short par 4s in a row that aren’t really driveable but people still wait for the green to clear

-230 yard par 3 sandwiched between a short par 4 and a par 5 leads to a massive logjam

 

I’ll be honest after all the recommendations to try this place I was fairly disappointed. I’d rate it as better than Hermann park but that’s about it. Not really in a hurry to head back out there

 

[snagy2000]

Anyone know how the greens at Cypress Lakes faired the storm? 

[snagy2000]

On 4/11/2021 at 5:30 PM, snagy2000 said:

Anyone know how the greens at Cypress Lakes faired the storm? 

Based on recent online reviews, apparently not too well. Sucks, was a fun place to play. 

[RickK]

On 4/11/2021 at 5:30 PM, snagy2000 said:

Anyone know how the greens at Cypress Lakes faired the storm? 

Cypress Lakes advised my traveling league that we should reschedule (was supposed to be this week) because of conditions.  Haven't see it but am assuming since they told us not to bring 100+ people that conditions were bad.

[ND2005]

Seems like a number of courses are struggling with the greens. 

 

I played wildcat a couple of weeks ago and they were awful. I swore off ever playing there again (3rd time I've done that, some friend always drags me back there eventually)

 

Memorial Park having some real bare spots too, especially along the contouring/edges. 

[Lefty_89]

On 4/11/2021 at 5:30 PM, snagy2000 said:

Anyone know how the greens at Cypress Lakes faired the storm? 

I'm on their email list and got one from them on the 12th saying that the freeze hit them pretty bad. Major damage to the putting green, #9, and chipping green. 45 days until a true recovery and they're keeping them closed until then.

 

Sounds like they're aerating all greens today also.

[dugue4]

On 7/30/2019 at 10:17 PM, RickK said:

 

What did I miss...? 

 

High meadow ranch

[dugue4]

2x post

Edited May 3, 2021 by dugue4

[RickK]

On 5/3/2021 at 8:44 AM, dugue4 said:

High meadow ranch

My bad...did not spell out the name.  This is what I said "HMR...is a favorite but not above Wilderness."

 

Also, played there April 29th.  It was in really good shape with exception of sanded greens. 

Edited May 9, 2021 by RickK

[kgk]

On 7/2/2020 at 7:34 PM, CougarRed said:

If I lived in the Woodlands, I'd probably join WLC (despite the Clubhouse that time forgot). As it is, WLC is a long and stressful drive from my house. It will be relegated to a rare treat, but I'll relish each tee time there...

Walden is fun occasionally but it’s too penal to do all the time.  It will kill your inner child.  I was a member there for years.  I don’t miss it.  It’s fun playing places that don’t screw you for missing a target by 10 feet. 
 

In other news, here’s the latest DMN top 50 public list in TX. 

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/golf/2021/05/08/the-top-50-texas-golf-courses-open-to-the-public-ranked-2021/

 

10.  Memorial

23.  GCOH Tournament

25.  Cypresswood Tradition

30.  The Wilderness

36.  Gus Wortham

43.  High Meadow Ranch

44.  Panther Trail

49.  Blackhorse North

[CougarRed]

On 5/11/2021 at 1:15 AM, kgk said:

Walden is fun occasionally but it’s too penal to do all the time.  It will kill your inner child.  I was a member there for years.  I don’t miss it.  It’s fun playing places that don’t screw you for missing a target by 10 feet. 
 

In other news, here’s the latest DMN top 50 public list in TX. 

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/golf/2021/05/08/the-top-50-texas-golf-courses-open-to-the-public-ranked-2021/

 

10.  Memorial

23.  GCOH Tournament

25.  Cypresswood Tradition

30.  The Wilderness

36.  Gus Wortham

43.  High Meadow Ranch

44.  Panther Trail

49.  Blackhorse North

 

Thanks for posting.  IMO Eagle Pointe belongs on that list and Blackhorse does not.

 

I notice El Paso Buttefield dropped from #2 to off the list.  Apparently they closed due financial issues, but Spirit Golf has revived it.  I'm sure it will be on the list next year.  I'd love to play it.

 

Gus Wortham is finally building a clubhouse.  Should be ready in August. 

 

Looking at the list, the price range is quite wide with a low of $42 and a high of $324 (TPC San Antonio Oaks).  40% of the list is $125 and higher.  All of the Houston-area courses are less than $125 except for GCOH.

 

Courses on the list I'd like to play for the first time this year:  High Meadow Ranch, the Squaw Valley courses, Pine Dunes, Vaaler Creek, The Bandit.